NCAA Basketball: 10 teams who should target transfer Elijah Olaniyi

Stony Brook star forward Elijah Olaniyi has entered the NCAA Basketball transfer portal. Which teams are should be after the All-League player?

In a span of a couple of days, the three leading scorers for the Stony Brook Seawolves entered the NCAA Basketball transfer portal. Makale Foreman and Andrew Garcia are grad transfers eligible for next season, while Elijah Olaniyi is currently due to sit out for a year. However, the one likely having to sit may be the best overall player in the group.

In the two seasons as a starter for the Seawolves, Olaniyi has been named to the All-America East team. This past season, the 6’5 forward averaged a team-leading 18.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg, good for 4th and 10th in the league respectively. In games he played fully, Olaniyi reached double figures in all but one game and eclipsed the 20-point mark 15 times, including a career-high 33 points in a win over UMass Lowell. There was even a stretch where he went for 20 and 10, doing it four times in a row during conference play.

After originally entering the NBA Draft after the season, Olaniyi will be coming back to college. It’s hard to envision him getting a waiver to play so a team will have to have him in waiting for the 2021-22 NCAA Basketball season. He’ll be worth it though, as someone capable of playing both the wing and power forward positions at a higher level. And evident by his 25-point effort against Providence months ago, don’t expect Olaniyi’s scoring to take a drastic dip at his next step.

A number of teams have reportedly already reached out the star forward, with plenty more expected to shortly. While there hasn’t been a list of finalists for Olaniyi yet, there’s no reason why not to speculate as to which programs would be the best potential fit. Under the assumption he has to sit out a year, here are 10 specific programs that could use the former Stony Brook forward on their roster.