NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest transfer winners of 2021 offseason so far

2. Arkansas Razorbacks

Eric Musselman and the Razorbacks had success in the transfer portal a year ago, and are arguably having an even better offseason in the portal this year. Arkansas this offseason so far has added to their backcourt mainly with a few notable additions including South Dakota transfer Stanley Umude, Miami transfer Chris Lykes, and Pittsburgh transfer Au’Diese Toney.

While Lykes will primarily takeover as the Razorbacks point guard, Umude and Toney are bigger guards that are capable of playing multiple positions. This group combined to average 51.4 PPG during the 2020-21 season, with Umude ranking ninth in the country averaging 21.5 PPG. Transfers played a massive role for an Arkansas team last season that reached the Elite 8, will the same happen in 2021-22?

1. Kentucky Wildcats

After arguably one of the worst seasons in the long and storied history of Kentucky Basketball, the Wildcats have re-loaded for next season through not only their usual phenomenal recruiting class but by adding two instant impact transfers. The first of these additions came during the 2020-21 season when the Wildcats secured a commitment from West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe. Tshiebwe has started in every game during his college career so far and could be a double-double machine for the Wildcats next season.

The move that may have the biggest impact however is Kentucky adding Davidson transfer Kellan Grady. You could argue that Grady, a 4-year starter at Davidson, is the top transfer of the offseason, and now brings experience and instant scoring as he is a career 17.4 PPG scorer. With these additions, you can expect Kentucky to once again return around the top of the SEC next season.

The NCAA Basketball Transfer Portal will still most likely see more high-profile names enter the portal throughout the offseason with these teams still looking to add. When it comes to the first couple of weeks of the offseason, however, these teams have certainly been the “winners” of the transfer portal.