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

Auburn Tigers

This team is going to have to replace their top six leading scorers from the past season, including five graduating seniors and freshman wing Isaac Okoro, who is off to the NBA Draft as a possible lottery selection. That leaves incoming five-star recruit Sharife Cooper, along with top-50 forward JT Thor and returning guard Devan Cambridge as the key pieces on next year’s squad.

Auburn has been after several transfers this offseason to add some kind of experience to the 2020-21 roster, with no current seniors projected to be on the team. The Tigers could use Figueroa to essentially replace Okoko and with both he and Cambridge on the perimeter shooting a bunch of three-pointers, Cooper can thrive on his own for Coach Pearl’s offense.

Baylor Bears

Right now, the Bears don’t really need to add Figueroa to next season’s roster, which is projected to be ranked in the preseason top-10. But that depends on the return of guards Jared Butler and MaCio Teague, who were all-Big 12 players and led the team in scoring. If one of them leaves though, there would be a need for a “true” wing at the three-spot, who can help out on the boards and play the kind of defense that this program is used to.

“If” Figueroa would have to sit out next season per NCAA rules, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world having to redshirt with the Bears. They’ve been great with development of under the radar players and turning them into legitimate pros, with former D-III transfer Freddie Gillespie being the recent example of this past season. There are too many moving parts to see this match up but from a fit standpoint, it would be a nice pairing.