This Week In The Transfer Portal
The transfer portal is hopping! Here's what happened this week, and how it might affect Louisville.
Welcome to a new series I’ll be doing this offseason around the NCAA basketball transfer portal. With an unprecedented amount of players already in the portal and more sure to come, transfers will have a bigger impact than ever on college basketball. I’m getting my transfer portal info from VerbalCommits.com, and they have archives of prior years as well. I also recommend Bart Torvik’s site for advanced stats on transfers. With that covered, let’s get started.
Total Players in Portal as of 9pm Eastern, March 27th: 947
Total Players Committed to New School: 132
Total Programs With Players in Portal: 311
Programs with most players in portal: Tennessee-Martin (15), Jacksonville (10); in major conferences, Penn State & Indiana (7)
330 new players have entered the portal between March 21 and March 27th so far, so there’s a lot going on. Who are some of the notable new entrants?
What’s new and interesting in the portal?
Mass Exoduses: Several notable programs have lost several players this week. Washington (5), Indiana (4) and UNLV (4) all have had a number of players dip their toes in the portal. The Huskies’ are set to lose their 3rd and 4th leading scorers (Marcus Tsohonis and Erik Stevenson) plus 2 4-star sophomores (Raequan Battle and J’raan Brooks). Indiana looks poised to lose their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th leading scorers (Armaan Franklin, Aljami Durham, Race Thompson) in addition to 5 star freshman PG Kristian Lander. UNLV’s losses are mostly bench players, but the attrition still makes it challenging for next season.
Former Prep Standouts: There are a total of 34 players in the portal who are freshmen or sophomores and were 4 or 5 star recruits coming out of high school. 23 of them entered the portal in the last week. Some of the notable new entrants include Will Baker (#32 in class of 2019, leaving Texas for Nevada), Casey Morsell (#58 in class of 2019, leaving Virginia), Donovan Williams (#68 in class of 2019, leaving Texas), Walker Kessler (#18 in class of 2020, leaving UNC), Jaemyn Brakefield (#33 in class of 2020, leaving Duke), and Kristian Lander (#81 in class of 2020, leaving Indiana)
Some established scorers or high-major contributors have entered this week:
Tanner Groves, Eastern Washington (6’9” Jr F, 16.5ppg)
Timmy Allen, Utah (6’6” Jr F, 16.8ppg)
Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin (6’11” Sr F, 8.5ppg)
Stanley Umude, South Dakota (6’6” Sr G, 21.5ppg)
Jordan Miller, George Mason (6’6” Jr G, 15.8ppg)
Jacob Young, Rutgers (6’2” Sr G, 14.5ppg)
Elijah Oyaniji, Miami (6’5” Sr G, 11.1ppg)
Jemarl Baker, Arizona (6’4” Jr G, 12ppg)
Jalen Cone, Virginia Tech (5’10” So G, 9.2ppg)
Noah Locke, Florida (6’3” Jr G, 10.5ppg)
Wendell Green, Eastern Kentucky (5’11” Fr G, 15.8ppg)
Greg Parham, VMI (6’4” Sr G, 18.4ppg)
Cameron Shelton, Northern Arizona (6’2” Jr G, 20.2ppg)
Ty Groce, Eastern Michigan (6’8” Sr F, 15.2ppg)
Cameron Johnson, Stephen F Austin (6’4” Sr G, 15.3ppg)
Mike Nuga, Kent State (6’2” Sr G, 17.8ppg)
Jarrod West, Marshall (5’11” Sr G, 12.2ppg)
Teddy Allen, Nebraska (6’5” Jr F, 16.4ppg)
Xavier Pinson, Missouri (6’2” Jr G, 14ppg)
Armaan Franklin, Indiana (6’4” So G, 11.6ppg)
Zach Nutall, Sam Houston State (6’3” Jr G, 18.9ppg)
Kellan Grady, Davidson (6’5” Sr G, 17.3ppg)
Some Interesting Names
In each article I’ll pick a couple notable players in the portal and do a deeper dive on their stats and performances at their prior school. Today we’ll start with a couple players linked to UofL
Mason Faulkner: Faulkner is a Kentucky native (Glasgow, KY) and Louisville has contacted his family about a possible transfer. Faulkner played his first two years at Northern Kentucky, then 2 more at Western Carolina where he blossomed; he would have 1 more year remaining. Over his two seasons at Western Carolina he averaged 17.4pts and 5.5 assists per game, and dominated the ball with a near 28% usage rate. Per hoop-math.com, Faulkner took 48% of his shots at the rim, easily more than any Louisville guard while converting at an acceptable 54%. He also shot well from midrange and three, so he’d bring some shotmaking from all over the court.
I have 2 main concerns about Faulkner’s fit with Louisville First, he has struggled mightily in his career against quality opposition. At Western Carolina he played 5 games against “A” level competition per KenPom (effectively top-50 teams). In those 5 games, he hit 19-57 shots (33%) and had 4.2 turnovers per games. He did put up 5.6 assists in these games, including 7 against Florida State in Nov 2019, but I’m not sure he’s quite ready to play top competition night in and night out. Additionally, Faulker may not be strong enough defensively for UofL. He’s only listed at 6’1”, and was graded as a below average defender by BartTorvik.com as well as Synergy. I’m not sure that he is able to fill a major role in Louisville’s backcourt next season, assuming Carlik Jones departs.
Jarrod West: West played point guard for Marshall, and is a senior with 1 year of eligiblity next season. He started all but 2 games in his Marshall career, so he’s got plenty of experience in a large role. Per BartTorvik.com, West is a decent finisher at the rim (54%) but very good from midrange (46%) and three (41%). Only 57% of his threes were assisted, so he can create his own shots from deep and make them. West assisted on 29% of his teammates baskets last season, which would have been the highest on UofL last season. He’s definitely a dynamic playmaker and shooter, which UofL could use.
West also has performed against high level teams. Per KenPom, West has hit 48% of his twos and 37% of his threes in 32 career games against top 100 teams. He also put up 46 assists and 21 turnovers in 8 games against top 100 foes this season. Despite standing only 5’11”, West also brings defensive ability. Per Synergy, West graded out in the 87th percentile as a defender this season. He also recorded a steal on 4% of his possessions, which KenPom ranked 33rd in the entire country. West can bring playmaking, shooting, and pressure defense to the Cards.
Mike Nuga: A player I haven’t seen mentioned for Louisville but who I think would be a great fit is Mike Nuga. Nuga was a senior on Kent State last year after a season at Portland State in 2019 and junior college prior to that. He only played 12 games due to a knee injury in February, but if he’s healthy he could be an impact player. Per hoop-math.com he took all but 1 shot at the rim or from three last season, and was excellent in both areas. He converted 64% at the rim and 39% from 3; that equates to Jaelyn Withers-level at the rim and David Johnson-level from three. Per BartTorvik.com he had a solid steal rate (2.0%, good for 3rd on UofL last year) and a low turnover rate (11.7%). Put together, this indicates that he was on another level from his MAC competition and could be impactful in a bigger conference.
The biggest indicator that he could be an impact player for Louisville to me is that his offensive performances were consistent regardless of opponent. Bart Torvik has Nuga’s offensive rating at 125 last season, and he never dipped below 105 in any game. For comparison,Carlik Jones had an offensive rating of 106 last season and was below 100 in 6 games. Nuga put up 20 points on 8-18 shooting against Virginia and 37 points on 13-30 in 2 games against a solid Toledo team. He is only 6’2”, but clearly has enough length to bother shooters given that he graded out in the 74th percentile defending spot-up shooters per Synergy. The only issue I see with his fit on Louisville is that he isn’t a true lead guard. Nuga only assisted on about 11% of his teammates baskets last season, so he’s really a secondary playmaker. That would put a lot of pressure on El Ellis to be the lead distributor.
I think Mike Nuga could be a worthy successor to Carlik Jones as a scorer for Louisville, but the playmaking and defsnive chops of Jarrod West might be a better fit. Regardless, I think both are a better fit than Faulkner to take on a major role in the Cardinal backcourt.
I hope you enjoyed this look into the transfer portal. I’ll write these regularly (weekly, maybe more often as warranted) and focus on a couple new players of interest each time. If you have any particular players you’d like me to focus on, reach out on Twitter (@HoopsInsight) or by email (sean@hoopsinsight.com). Thanks!