The season may have ended with UConn’s dominant championship run, but players across the country have already begun to shift next season’s landscape by entering the transfer portal and committing to new schools. Here are some of the offseason’s most notable transfers thus far and how they might impact their new squads.
Kylan Boswell: Arizona to Illinois
6-foot-2 guard
After two consecutive disappointing postseason finishes with the Arizona Wildcats, Kylan Boswell entered the transfer portal and promptly committed to the Illinois Fighting Illini.
As a freshman, Boswell came off the bench for Arizona, averaging fewer than five points per game in about 15 minutes of game action per night. However, he became the starting point guard as a sophomore and upped his scoring to 9.6 points per game with 3.6 assists per game, as well.
In the Wildcats’ opening round win against Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament, Boswell scored a career-high 20 points with eight assists. However, in Arizona’s next two games–including their season ending loss to Clemson–Boswell scored a combined five points and only recorded three assists.
Despite his lackluster performance in March Madness, Boswell’s move to Illinois puts the Fighting Illini in a position to be a top three offense in the country for the second straight season. Boswell is one of the most efficient isolation scorers in the country and Illinois will likely use him as their primary ball handler next season, given Terrence Shannon Jr.’s impending departure.
And with Zach Edey NBA-bound, Boswell immediately makes Illinois a serious threat to win the Big Ten next year.
Zeke Mayo: South Dakota State to Kansas
6-foot-3 guard
Unlike Boswell, Zeke Mayo’s college career has already exceeded expectations.
After three seasons, Mayo has started in 87 games for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, including two NCAA Tournament appearances. Last year, Mayo averaged 18.8 points per game and led the Summit League in 3-pointers made (92) and 3-point percentage (39.2%) en route to winning Summit League Player of the Year honors.
As a senior, Mayo will be taking his talents away from the Summit League and into the most competitive conference in the country, as he joins the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12. In a down year, Kansas finished with 23 wins and won their first round matchup in March Madness. However, the Jayhawks opened the AP’s Preseason Poll ranked No. 1 and fell short of the expectations that came with landing last season’s top transfer, Hunter Dickinson. Head coach Bill Self’s crew never found an offensive identity and injuries derailed their chances of making a deep postseason run.
With Mayo on board, Self’s squad will inherit a true three-level scorer and pick-and-roll ball handler, who can also play iso-offense and is an elite cutter.
Mayo gives the Jayhawks something they were missing last year: a player who can create their own shot in a close game.
Darlinstone Dubar: Hoftra to Tennessee
6-foot-6 guard
The most impactful transfer in college basketball last season was the Tennessee Volunteers’ versatile grad student Dalton Knecht. For the second year in a row, head coach Rick Barnes has made a splash in the portal, this time with Darlinstone Dubar from the Hofstra Pride.
As a freshman, Dubar averaged three points per game in his seven starts with the Iowa State Cyclones. To make matters worse, in his last four games there, he recorded 41 straight minutes without scoring a single point and the Cyclones went 0-4 to finish Big 12 conference play with a winless 0-18 record.
After that disastrous season, Dubar transferred to the Hofstra Pride, where he has rebuilt his college basketball career. In three seasons in Long Island, Dubar played in 100 games, averaging 13.2 points per game on a wildly efficient 53.1% shooting from the floor. Dubar does most of his work off the ball, which will make his transition to SEC basketball as easy as it comes. He may not be as gifted a scorer as Knecht—few are—but his ability to cut to the rim is as good as anyone’s in the country, which will give returning Volunteer Zakai Zeigler a dream target in two-man pick-and-roll actions.
The last time a team won back-to-back outright regular season titles in the SEC was Florida in ‘13 and ‘14. Eleven years later, will Tennessee accomplish the same feat on the back of another elite transfer?
Kentucky’s incoming freshmen
The biggest story in college basketball (other than its reigning back-to-back champion) is superstar head coach John Calipari’s departure from the Kentucky Wildcats to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Calipari is arguably the best recruiter in the history of the sport, with names like Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Julius Randle and Malik Monk coming through the Kentucky program during his tenure in Lexington. Due to his sudden departure, there are now four incoming freshmen (three of whom are five-star recruits) that have reopened their recruitment.
These players are Somto Cyril, Karter Knox, Boogie Fland and Jayden Quaintance.
Will they follow Coach Calipari to Arkansas? Or will they spread out across the rest of the college basketball landscape?
We will find out soon, along with the results of the rest of the transfer portal.