NCAA transfer portal offers quick fix for NC State, Wake Forest basketball rosters

It’s safe to say the NCAA’s transfer portal is redefining the “one-and-done” concept in basketball.

No longer is it just five-star high school recruits using college ball as a one-year way station before the NBA. The one-and-done types now can be older players using the portal for one last year, one last stop in their college careers.

Jarkel Joiner of N.C. State and Tyree Appleby of Wake Forest are prime examples, to name two.

They’re similar players, two point guards who wear No. 1. Both are graduate transfers on their last year of eligibility, having already battled each other before on the court — albeit in the Southeastern Conference.

Joiner was at Ole Miss before transferring into the Wolfpack program before the 2022-23 season. Appleby was at Florida, leaving after last season. The two will face off for the first time in the ACC on Saturday in Winston-Salem.

Both NCSU coach Kevin Keatts and Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes have liberally used the portal to transform their teams for the better. They’ve embraced the possibilities and will continue to do so.

“It just gives you some guys who are ready to play,” Forbes said this week. “Some freshmen aren’t ready to play and might need a little longer. We’ll continue to recruit high school players, but the portal gives you the chance to get a little older player, and older is pretty good in a league like this.”

A year ago, Forbes plucked Alondes Williams out of the portal. The Oklahoma transfer used his last year of college eligibility to average 18.5 points and was named ACC Player of the Year. Wake Forest, which finished 6-16 in Forbes’ first season as coach in 2020-21, went 25-10 and won 13 ACC games as season ago.

Appleby is the leading scorer this season for the Demon Deacons, averaging 17.7 points, shooting 38.7% on 3-pointers and 82.7% at the free-throw. He has an ACC-high 127 assists.

Coming off a poor shooting game in the Deacons’ loss to Virginia, Appleby had 15 points and seven assists Wednesday in the 81-79 loss at Pittsburgh. He missed a 3-pointer at the final buzzer as Wake Forest (14-7, 6-4 ACC) dropped a second straight game after a four-game ACC win streak.

“Ty got a good look. I’ll take that every time,” Forbes said after the game. “Ty makes those kind of shots, so you put it in your best player’s hands.”

Joiner has had the ball in his hands a lot for the Wolfpack (16-5, 6-4). He’s a quick-on-quick kind of player who can score and defend, but also keep his cool when things get a bit crazy on the court.

Joiner had a game-high 28 points Tuesday — “Just taking what the defense gives me,” he said simply — as the Pack edged Notre Dame 85-82 at PNC Arena. Sophomore Terquavion Smith, the ACC’s leading scorer, missed 12 of his 14 shots, but Joiner was 9-of-18 from the field and made all nine of his free throws.

A year ago, Keatts had to ask 6-foot-7 Dereon Seabron to be the principal ball-handler for the Pack. By bringing in Joiner, he added an experienced player with a winning attitude and quickly handed him the responsibility of running the team at point guard.

“I accept the challenge,” Joiner said in preseason. “We’re going to surprise some people.”

The Wolfpack was 11-21 last season and caught shorthanded when center Manny Bates was injured in the first minute of the first game, lost for the season. Bates then transferred to Butler, and Keatts turned to the portal to add two bigs in DJ Burns and Dusan Mahorcic, both graduates looking to step up in competition and play in the ACC.

“Typically you only have one center, but we ended up with two with DJ and Dusan,” Keatts said. “I was gun shy because of what happened (with Bates).”

Good decision, too. Mahorcic suffered a knee injury Dec. 6 and has been sidelined. Burns, the 2022 Big South Conference player of the year, has been a dependable low-post scorer.

“I don’t know that there’s a model,” Keatts said of using the portal. “We all have transfers. We just hope they fit our style and that they can come in and contribute.”