Welcome to the Wild West (Southeast)
Another season has come and gone, and UConn currently sits on the college basketball throne. With the end of one season begins another, however, and really, it’s been going on for about a month now anyways.
Transfer Portal.
Old heads, avert your eyes; it’s time to go portalling.
The portal’s short history has seen it sparsely used and proven ineffective for Rick Barnes and Tennessee while it helped create a monster in Tuscaloosa and continues to in Fayetteville. We saw teams ushering in new coaches like Missouri with Dennis Gates thrive in the portal and make a tournament team out of thin air while other new coaches such as Matt McMahon at LSU who tried to do the same and completely fell flat.
As of now, Tennessee’s biggest headline has been that Olivier Nkamhoua has entered his name into the portal. The Vols have also been in on a few names, primarily guards, but they missed out on Washington guard, Keyon Menifield, to Arkansas. Last week, Tennessee hosted Harvard transfer Chris Ledlum. Most recently, they’ve been linked, along with other teams, to North Texas point guard Tylor Perry. Perry won Conference-USA Player of the Year and NIT MVP this past season in a loaded conference that saw North Texas win the NIT, Charlotte win the CBI, and, of course, Florida Atlantic make the Final Four.
In the table below are the names among SEC players from this past season who have entered the transfer portal, and newcomers who will be joining the conference this upcoming season. You’ll also see players who have been linked to SEC teams in the portal that haven’t transferred yet. This will be updated as often as I possibly can, most likely right away.
UPDATES: APRIL 5
— Hunter Dickinson (★★★★★, 96.0) had a zoom meeting with Kentucky today, per Jeff Goodman. Dickinson is the top player currently in the portal.
— Vanderbilt’s Jordan Wright (★★★★☆, 85.0) will head down to Baton Rouge, leaving Vanderbilt for LSU, per Jon Rothstein. Wright will be on his final year of eligibility.