NCAA Basketball: 20 teams who should target St. John’s transfer LJ Figueroa

West Virginia Mountaineers

Of all of the teams this offseason, I would’ve thought that the Mountaineers would have tried to find a guard with immediate eligibility to provide a scoring lift. The team had no perimeter player who averaged in double figures last season and loses previous starting wing, Jermaine Haley.

With Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver coming back, West Virginia will have one of the best frontcourts in all of NCAA Basketball next season. But without improved guard play, they’re ceiling will be low in both the Big 12 and their chances of making a run in March. If they could somehow land a high-scoring guard/wing like Figueroa, the Mountaineers could be really dangerous in 2021.

USC Trojans

With Elijah Weaver transferring out to Dayton, that makes the top five contributors for the Trojans now gone. That left a ton of roster space that needed to be filled up this offseason, including a number of mid-major grad transfers. Tahj Eaddy and Isaiah White are the guard/wing pickups, with Drew Peterson likely having to sit out. There’s also Noah Baumann, a guard transfer from San Jose State who’ll be part of the rotation next year.

Outside of sophomore point guard Ethan Anderson and top-5 incoming forward Evan Mobley, there are a ton of questions and unknowns throughout the roster. Adding Figueroa on the wing would be a major boost, someone who has proven their ability to play at a high level in a power conference program. Playing in Los Angeles would boost his individual profile as well, although the city and their response to Covid-19 may hurt his case for a waiver.

At this point, I have no clue where LJ Figueroa will end up, either in college or in the pros next season. Quite frankly, we may not know how this saga ends until right before the 2020-21 NCAA Basketball season starts. This could be the last offseason that the NCAA has to deal with waivers and it’s going to be a messy process all summer.