Nevada Basketball would be an ideal spot for transfer forward AJ Bramah

When AJ Bramah left Robert Morris over a month ago, he became one of the best transfers that entered the portal at that time. He had plenty of interest and offers from the power conference and high-level mid-major programs, before coming down to a final list of options. Among them including Arizona State, St. Bonaventure, Western Kentucky, and Nevada Basketball.

In the end, it was the Pac-12 program Arizona State that won out on Bramah’s services. The 6’9 forward was set to be one of several incoming transfers as the program looked to retool its roster after this past season’s disappointing performance.

However, things must have changed since Bramah’s commitment to the Sun Devils. Whether it had anything to do with the pickup of JUCO transfer and former Ohio State forward Alonzo Gaffney or something else not publically known, the former All-Northeast star has decided to become a free agent again.

This news now puts Bramah among the top 10 available transfers currently in the portal. However, many teams have since landed players of their own and probably will stay out of the new race. But there certainly will be some new contenders looking to take advantage of a 20 ppg and 11 rpg contributor entering the portal in late May.

When it comes to looking at who’ll be potentially involved, the first look would have to be at the three other finalists a month ago; Nevada, Western Kentucky, and St. Bonaventure. All three certainly wouldn’t be against adding a talent of Bramah’s caliber but circumstances have changed a bit for each.

Take the Hilltoppers for example. They recently landed 6’8 combo forward Jairus Hamilton from Maryland, who plays a similar game as Bramah. It’s hard to envision them alienating their power conference transfer pickup while then trying to figure out how to play both of them on the court. The Bonnies situation was always clear; would Bramah want to come off the bench? Because the Atlantic 10 program returns all five of their starters from last season.

Then there’s the Wolf Pack of Nevada. They too recently landed a transfer in Kenan Blackshear, a 6’6 guard that averaged 9.4 ppg and 5.3 rpg this past season at Florida Atlantic. But more notably, the team lost Trey Wade, a 6’6 forward from Wichita State that recently de-committed from the team around a week ago. Bramah plays a position closer to Wade than Blackshear so there would still be a place if he wanted to revisit the other west coast option.

After a good past season, Nevada has a real opportunity to get back to the top of the ladder of the Mountain West in 2022. They return their top four scorers, led by all-conference performers, Desmond Cambridge, and Grant Sherfield. The Wolf Pack’s main issue was the lack of offense beyond their top two guys but the hope is that incoming transfers Will Baker and Addison Patterson can help provide that.

Bramah can do that as well. The Mountain West is a leap from the Northeast and Horizon League but not as much as the Pac-12 would’ve. If the former Robert Morris star can be a double-digit contributor and remains good on the boards, Nevada’s offense would easily be the best in the conference and be a heavy favorite to win the league.

For Bramah, he would not only be able to stay out west (originally from California) but he’d be able to play and have a role on a really good team that’ll have NCAA Tournament at-large aspirations. He could opt to play for one of the bottom-tier Pac-12 teams but that may not be as fulfilling.

Who knows if we’ll get another list of new contenders for AJ Bramah this time around but if he and the Wolf Pack re-connect, this would be a nice potential pairing for both sides. Nevada has benefitted from transfers in the past and could do so again with this one, if they opt to take advantage of this newfound second chance.