We can discuss transfer portal news here. For a reminder on last year’s portal madness, here’s the link to the 2024 Transfer Portal thread.
The portal officially opened on March 24.
So far from the WCC (per mix of Verbal Commits and 247Sports):
SCU:
- Sophomore C Luke McEldon
- Junior C Christoph Tilly
- Junior SG Kosy Akametu
- Senior SG Tyeree Bryan
WCC: (Impact players in bold)
- Sophomore SG Ashton Hardaway (SMC)
- Sophomore SG Dusty Stromer (Zags)
- Junior SF Jun Seok Yeo (Zags)
- Senior PF Michael Ajayi (Zags)
- Frosh PF Tyrone Riley, IV (USF)
- Frosh PF Karl Markus Poom (USF)
- Frosh PF James O’Donnell (USF)
- Soph SG Jason Rivera Torres (USF)
- Junior PG Drew Ardouin (USF)
- Super Senior(?) PG Malik Thomas (USF)
- Frosh PF Maxim Logue (OSU)
- Soph PG DaJohn Craig (OSU)
- Soph SF Liutauras Lelevicius (OSU)
- Junior PF Michael Rataj (OSU)
- Junior C Parsa Fallah (OSU)
- Senior SG Nate Kingz (OSU)
- Senior PF Damarco Minor (OSU)
- Junior PG Nate Calmese (Wazzu)
- Soph PG Isaiah Watts (Wazzu)
- Soph SF LeJuan Watts (Wazzu)
- Frosh SG Marcus Wilson (Wazzu)
- Senior SF Cedric Coward (Wazzu)
- Sophomore SF Jovan Ristic (LMU)
- Senior PG Will Johnston (LMU)
- Junior PF Jevon Porter (LMU)
- Sophomore C Matar Diop (LMU)
- Frosh SG Jaxson Olvera (Pepp)
- Frosh C Martin Gumwel (Pepp)
- Frosh PG Taj Au-Duke (Pepp)
- Soph PF Dovydas Butka (Pepp)
- Senior PG Moe Odum (Pepp)
- WCC FOY PF Austin Rapp (Portland)
- Junior SG Max McKinnon (Portland)
- Sophomore SG Andrew Younan (Portland)
- Frosh SG Niyol Hauet (Portland)
- Frosh PG Vincent Delano (Portland)
- Junior SG Vukasin Masic (Portland)
- Frosh PF Todd Jones, Jr. (Portland)
- Frosh SF Jude Harris (Portland)
- Soph PF Bol Dengdit (Portland)
- Junior C Mezziah Oakman (Portland)
- Frosh SF Jinup Dobuol (Portland)
- Frosh C Solomon Ominu (Pacific)
- Frosh SG Carter Benton (Pacific)
- Frosh PG Amare Campbell (Pacific)
- Frosh PG Eddie Jallow Hedqvist (Pacific)
- Junior SG Elijah Fisher (Pacific)
- Junior PG Donyae May (Pacific)
- Junior C Burke Smith (Pacific)
- Junior PG Seth Jones (Pacific)
- Junior C Jazz Gardner (Pacific)
- Frosh C Kean Webb (USD)
- Frosh PG Chas Lewless (USD)
- Frosh SG Jackson Gaffney (USD)
- Sophomore PG Dragnos Lungu (USD)
- Sophomore PF Santiago Trouet (USD)
- Sophomore SG Keyon Kensie (USD)
- Sophomore PG Joey Chammaa (USD)
- Sophomore C David Simon (USD)
- Sophomore SG Keyon Kensie (USD)
- Junior C Steven Jamerson (USD)
- Junior SF Colby Brooks (USD)
Note that not all of the players listed are scholarship players. USD, especially, had several walk-on players that got meaningful playing time this past season, so not every transfer represents an open scholarship for that team.
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I was pretty certain that was coming… nobody wants to stay at Pepp
I suspect its less about not wanting to stay at Pepp and more about having significant suitors for his services after his outstanding WCC tourney. $$$ coming his way.
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Definately that is part of the equation.
All year he was kind of a pill on the court… then he started playing rather well in the tourney and acting like less of an ass to his teammates and being more of a rah rah guy. I figured it was a little bit of over-acting hoping for some NIL dinero.
Honestly, he kind of seems like adding a cancer to wherehever he lands from my perspective.
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Yeah, I would not be in favor of adding Odum–not that I think he’s looking for his third WCC school anyways.
But Alvaro Cardenas, formerly of SJSU, was identified last year as a good option for SCU. He had a good year at Boise State. Boise probably cut him a slightly better deal than SCU could have, if he was ever even a target. But a guy like Cardenas would have been a huge asset this year and would be yet again next season.
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He will transfer and disappear. His attitude won’t be tolerated.
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100% agree with this.
Cardenas would have been an excellent fit at SCU, filling an important need.
Not unexpected:
McEldon will enter the transfer portal. I wish him the best. He seemed like a good fit for one of SCU’s critical needs going forward: strong and physical big men. But alas, it’s not the right opportunity.
Other WCC names announced so far:
- Senior PG Will Johnston (LMU)
- Sophomore PG Isaiah Watts (Wazzu)
- WCC Freshman of the Year Austin Rapp (Portland)
The Rapp loss is devastating for Portland but not unexpected. Santa Clara should definitely see if Rapp picks up the phone, but I’m sure he’ll have a high major suitor or, as an Aussie, may be partial to SMC despite their newfound love of Lithuanians.
Isaiah Watts is interesting as a PG. He had a rough time coming back from injury but has lots of raw talent. SCU needs another PG. But Watts has a pretty pedestrian assist rate and underperformed against better teams. Probably good for a look and then move priorities elsewhere. He’s also a WA guy by blood and may want to stay in his home state.
Putting Moe Odum announcement down here to keep master list at the top post.
Mahi has been given huge incentive to stay. Tilly will be moving on.
Guesses: Knapper, Ensminger and Bryan stay. Kosy out and Maybe even Bukke too.
So very different landscape next year. Best wishes to future success.
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Bryan, Mahi and Knapper would be a good nucleus to build from and also assuming Hammond and Graves return plus what appears to be a talented incoming recruiting class.
Would prefer that Bukky stays, a unique skillset that you can’t easily duplicate, just has to be used correctly and paired with another physical/strong forward.
Mixed feelings on Tilly…skilled 7 footers who can face the basket and drive or hit 3’s and run the floor reasonably well are not easy to come by. But the value of that skillset is diminished when you don’t do the other things expected of a 7 foot center (not good in the post defensively, so-so offensively in the post, subpar rebounder, mediocre rim protector and shot blocker). And he’s 3 years in with plenty of court time…will his MO change over the next 8 months???
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Not surprised about Tilly. Bronc is spot on. Cam was a better inside scorer, rebounder and defender while giving up 3-4 inches.
Worried about Bryan and maybe Graves.
Feels like there’s a fair amount of angst within this roster whether from internal competition or coaching with some players maybe not happy with their role/minutes and seeing others on the floor when they’re sitting, yet in their view performing better….
We’ll see…
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Sendek was asked about the roster next year towards the end. He agreed when asked about Graves being one of the best players in practice.
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Is Herb entering the transfer portal?
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Just read on Twitter Tilly has officially entered the portal according to his agent
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LOL, I did see this – both sad & funny. Hoops version should come out at some point.
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There are over a dozen WCC players now in the transfer portal. The biggest new names to join are LMU’s Jevon Porter and Wazzu’s PG Nate Calmese. That means that Wazzu, which is still set to play in the Crown tournament, has lost two starters to the portal before their season is even officially over.
Multiple players from USD and Portland are in the portal, which isn’t surprising, though I’m not sure how Lavin thinks he can build his program like this. No one from Pacific has joined the portal yet which is surprising. I suppose the new coaching staff gets a bit of a honeymoon period, though I’m not sure that program actually wants to keep everyone on the current roster.
Moves yet to come from any of the top-4 teams that finished up yesterday (save potentially Tilly). OSU’s squad seems intact for the Crown next week, at least for the moment.
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Seems pretty clear that this was in the works for a while. I’m sure he saw the money commanded by good big men like Great Osobor and Oumar Ballo and figured he was best off chasing that. My guess is someone will give him close to $1 million. Hard to compete with that. Best of luck to Christoph.
Also, merely rumored at this point: Braden Huff out at Gonzaga.
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Wondering if Tilly is optimized to be a #4/PF type anyways. At SCU, he’s a center, but somewhere else he can play with a Dirk Nowitzki skill set…
Tilly is a tough case for us because he is good enough to be in a rotation anywhere but not so good that he would merit us using a large chunk of our NIL budget on him. I don’t see him battling it out with the length of the SEC on an every game basis but think he could be well suited for the ACC.
I just assume we will have to turn over a roster pretty much every year now and we will get our usual suspects.
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A former 4/5 star that wants a larger role and might value on court usage more than NIL because he views himself as an NBA prospect.
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A non Top 150 program double digit scorer that wants a step up but is realistic Power 4 teams might just want him for bench depth
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A Graduate Transfer who either wants a larger role or who values the Silicon Valley/California location for education and lifestyle purposes.
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