NCAA Basketball Transfer Portal Update: April 6

Story posted April 6, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Lucas McDowell

The UConn Huskies were just recently crowned national champions.

This usually would signify a period where coaches and programs begin to take a break before gearing up for the next season. In the new era of college basketball however, this means all of the coaches have to get in on the transfer portal action. Some of them may already be too late.

One of the first big names to enter the portal this offseason was Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson played three seasons with the Wolverines and in that time, he earned multiple First-team all-Big Ten honors along with winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year and being a consensus second team All-American in his first year.

Currently, Dickinson is projected to go to Maryland, but he is receiving a lot of attention from all of the high-major schools and his decision has not yet been made.

Skyy Clark will be heading to Louisville after his freshman year at Illinois where he played in 13 games before leaving the team for personal reasons. Clark will be looking for a fresh start with the Cardinals as the former four-star recruit is joining the sixth-best recruiting class to help Louisville rebound from its pitiful 2022-23 season.

Keyon Menifield will be going to play for Eric Musselman as he committed to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks after his freshman season at Washington. At Washington he averaged 10 points per game and will look to help the Razorbacks reach their fourth consecutive Sweet 16.

Menifield isn’t the only Pac-12 guard on the move as Kerr Kriisa is heading to Morgantown to play for West Virginia.

Kriisa was the starting point guard at Arizona for the last two seasons where the Wildcats received a No. 1 seed in 2022 and a No. 2 seed in 2023. He, however, was only able to achieve a combined two wins in the tournament in those two seasons and will now be looking to make a deeper run under West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.

Caleb Love is also looking to make a move as he will be leaving North Carolina after the Tar Heels failed to make the tournament. Love is coming off of his junior season where has averaged 17 points per game.

Currently the two front runners for Love are the Missouri Tigers and the Michigan Wolverines. Love is originally from Saint Louis, Missouri and he may be looking to head home for his season and play for the Tigers in his senior season.

Just five days after Love entered the portal, fellow guards Max Abmas from Oral Roberts and LJ Cryer from Baylor entered the transfer portal.

You may remember Abmas from his run with the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in 2021 where they knocked off No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida becoming just the second ever 15-seed to make the Sweet 16.

In his college career Abmas has been named Summit League Player of the Year twice and was also the NCAA scoring leader in 2021 where he averaged 24.5 points per game. Many believe Abmas will be following former Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills to Wichita State but only time will tell.

LJ Cryer will be leaving Baylor after three seasons with the Bears. Cryer averaged 15 points per game last season and in Baylor’s round of 32 loss to Creighton, he left it all on the floor as he scored 30 points.

Cryer has heard from at least 15 high-major schools and he will have a tremendous impact on whatever team lands him.

There is no doubt that the transfer portal along with NIL has changed college basketball. We are only a week removed from the season and there are a large number of talented players looking for a change in scenery. Only time will tell which schools take advantage of the portal and turn their programs into powerhouses.

Lucas McDowell is a first-year majoring in accounting. To contact him, please email lvm5808@psu.edu.