NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 options for Oral Roberts transfer Kevin Obanor
Kevin Obanor is one of the top remaining players in the NCAA Basketball transfer portal after recently pulling his name out of the NBA Draft. The power forward became a national name after starring in the NCAA Tournament for Oral Roberts, averaging 23.3 ppg and 11 rpg for the team’s historic Sweet 16 run this past season.
The 6’8 power forward put up similar numbers as a star for the Golden Eagles as a junior, putting up 18.7 ppg and 9.6 rpg, on a very efficient shooting split-line of 50-46-88%. While teammate Max Abmas led the country in scoring last season (24.6 ppg), Obanor’s consistency and efficiency makes him an incredibly good player to add to a team looking to fill a missing void.
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With 10 programs officially in play, which of them has the best shot at adding Obanor? Here’s how I would rank them in terms of fit, reported odds of landing him, and which one represents the best chance of getting back to the NCAA Tournament in 2022.
10. Texas A&M Aggies
The loss of star sophomore forward Emanuel Miller creates a gigantic void in the frontcourt for the Aggies. They did land a couple of transfers in Ethan Henderson (Arkansas) and Henry Coleman (Duke) but neither had large roles last season off the bench.
Obanor can be a focal piece offensively for Texas A&M and along with Wyoming transfer guard Marcus Williams can form a nice 1-2 punch. However, even with the Oral Roberts star, this team has little hope of making the NCAA Tournament out of the SEC as an at-large team. In fact, he may have been better off staying in the one-bid Summit League.
9. Florida Gators
With big Colin Castleton back, the Gators are already in solid shape in the frontcourt but lack a ton of depth at the power forward outside of Boston College transfer CJ Felder, who is more of a defender/rebounder than a skilled scorer. There’s also the status of Keyontae Johnson, a combo forward who missed last season after a heart issue caused him to collapse on the court. He hasn’t been completely cleared yet and Florida can’t fully count on him at the moment.
Adding Obanor would solve a number of potential issues but under head coach Mike White, the team’s offense has had some issues. If he joins the program, his stats could very well fall off for a team projected to be on the bubble. Compared to the other options, Florida doesn’t offer as much for the transfer.