College Basketball Teams That Won the Transfer Portal This Offseason

The dust is finally starting to settle on this year's college basketball transfer portal cycle.

There are still a few lingering threads, most notably surrounding players who both entered the portal and declared for the NBA draft and must decide if they are staying in the draft by May 27 to retain their eligibility.

But still, over 2,700 players entered the portal this offseason, per ESPN, leaving teams plenty of opportunity to significantly upgrade their roster if they have the resources to make that happen.

So which teams took most advantage? Here’s a look at three teams that have dramatically improved their roster via the portal this offseason:

Louisville Cardinals

An easy first choice here is the Louisville Cardinals.

A once-great program with three national championships hasn’t been to the second week of the NCAA Tournament since 2015.

Entering Pat Kelsey’s third season after back-to-back first-weekend March Madness exits, the Cardinals are assembling an intimidating roster of experienced college basketball players.

Louisville has the top-ranked portal class in the nation, per 247Sports. It’s one of just three schools with a five-star transfer committed in No. 1 overall transfer Flory Bidunga, the former Kansas Jayhawks center who averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks (tied for third nationally).

Then the Cardinals added Oregon Ducks guard transfer Jackson Shelstad (No. 18 player in portal class), Arkansas Razorbacks forward transfer Karter Knox (No. 59 player in portal class) and Iowa Hawkeyes forward transfer Alvaro Folgueiras (No. 65 player in portal class).

They also landed 7-foot-5 USC Trojans center transfer Gabe Dynes.

There’s only one ball, but when you assemble this level of talent, the expectations become quite high.

Indiana Hoosiers

Speaking of once-great programs that have fallen on hard times, hi there, Indiana.

The Hoosiers’ football national championship this past season likely covered up most of the attention which could have gone to a third straight season missing the NCAA Tournament under first-year basketball coach Darian DeVries.

Indiana finished 18-14, one win short of its final two seasons under Mike Woodson. But in an effort to meet the football program’s high standards, the program has landed quite a portal class on the basketball side, ranking third nationally per 247Sports.

Alabama Crimson Tide transfer Aiden Sherrell (No. 12) exploded onto the scene as a sophomore, averaging 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds as a three-level scorer. Notre Dame Fighting Irish transfer guard Markus Burton (No. 24) is a prolific scorer, averaging 17.5-plus points in each of his three seasons in South Bend.

SMU Mustangs transfer center Samet Yigitoglu (No. 36) brings inside presence with a 7-foot-2 frame, and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets transfer Jaeden Mustaf was a 38.9% 3-point shooter.

If the Hoosiers fail to snap their postseason drought next season, it won’t be because of the roster.

Providence Friars

Of the top nine teams in the 247Sports portal class rankings, seven made the NCAA Tournament while an eighth (Indiana) was on the bubble.

The lone interloper that wasn’t particularly close to being a tournament team is Providence, which finished 15-18.

The Friars, led by new coach Bryan Hodgson, have the seventh-ranked class with four four-star signees and seven total transfer additions.

San Diego State Aztecs transfer Miles Byrd (No. 11) is the anchor of the class coming off his second straight double-digit scoring average season. But Malik Mack, Devin Vanterpool and Arrinten Page all rank between 87nd and 102nd in 247Sports’ portal rankings.

Hodgson, who had immediate success last season at South Florida Bulls, seems poised to potentially break the program’s three-year postseason drought in Year 1.