DECEMBER 5: Calbert Cheaney #40 of the Indiana University Hoosiers moves the ball during an NCAA game against the University of Kansas Jayhawks on December 5, 1992. Jayhawks won 74-71. (Photo by Gary Mook/Getty Images)
Rankings for college basketball transfers: Kansas overtakes the top spot in the early 2024 team competition
When the college basketball transfer portal opened a month ago, movement accelerated at a rate never seen before. Over 1,700 players entered during the first four weeks of the spring transfer window, 13 of them were former McDonald’s All-Americans. Even though the pace of entries has somewhat decreased since the 2023–24 season ended, there are still a lot of top–100 transfer portal prospects available.
As commitments mount, the early competition in the 2024 college basketball transfer portal team rankings is beginning to take shape. More than 20 programs have secured two portal prospects thus far, and twelve high-major programs currently have commitments from at least three transfers this spring.
The updated top-100 transfer portal players from this cycle of 2024 still have over half of them available, so there will be plenty of room for movement in the team rankings. The spring transfer portal for college basketball is still open through May 1.
The initial rankings of the top 20 college basketball transfer portal teams as of Thursday, April 18, at 4:05 ET, are shown below:
T.J. Otzelberger is rebuilding the Cyclones roster in an attempt to go far in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, following his successful leadership of Iowa State to its second Sweet 16 appearance in three seasons as head coach. Since the spring transfer window opened, Iowa State has brought in three mid-major transfers. Dishon Jackson, a former big man for Charlotte, leads the early haul.
For the first time since 2014, Nebraska qualified for the NCAA Tournament; however, several of the team’s essential players were lost to transfers or eligibility expiration. With former Rutgers freshman Gavin Griffiths’ Tuesday commitment to the Huskers, Fred Hoiberg is already active in the portal.
T-13. Tigers from LSU — 22.19
Under second-year head coach Matt McMahon, LSU improved in the previous season and intends to carry that momentum into the 2024–25 campaign in an attempt to make it back to the NCAA Tournament. Last week, one of the portal’s top scorers and facilitators, Jordan Sears, a former UT Martin point guard, joined the Tigers via a transfer.
For his 41st season as a college basketball coach—and his 14th at Miami—Jim Larranaga is returning. The addition of former Virginia Tech big man Lynn Kidd, a two-time transfer who is still eligible to play in the ACC, is one of the Hurricanes’ two major spring transfer acquisitions.
T-13. Tigers of Missouri — 22.19
Missouri needs to make major roster changes before the 2024–25 season after going winless against SEC opponents and matching its lowest single-season win total of 8 in nearly 60 years. Two four-star transfers have already committed to the Tigers, including Tony Perkins, a veteran point guard from Iowa.
Alabama’s efforts to make it to the Final Four for the first time in program history this past season were greatly aided by its performance in the transfer portal. With the 2024–25 season approaching, head coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide are now trying to duplicate that. This spring, Alabama has already received commitments from two transfers, both of whom are ranked in the portal’s most recent top 100 prospects. Chris Youngblood, a former small forward for USF and the American Athletic Conference’s co-player of the year, adds another scoring option to the Crimson Tide. Houston Mallette, a former guard for Pepperdine, made Alabama’s first transfer commitment in March, just before the Final Four.
