NCAA Basketball: Top 25 high-major Junior College transfers for 2021-22 season
21. F Kaelen Allen – Texas Tech Red Raiders
Junior College: East Los Angeles College
One of the stars of the basketball version of “Last Chance U”, Allen is a former USC commit who switched over to Texas Tech this offseason. The 6’7 forward didn’t play this past season but when we saw him last, was averaging 19.0 ppg and 8.5 rpg in the year prior. He’s an athletic combo forward who likely will be better as a power forward at the Big 12 level but can score in a variety of ways.
Due to wing Terrence Shannon Jr. returning, along with the pickups of senior transfers, Kevin Obanor and Bryson Williams, the outlook for minutes for Allen next season isn’t very promising on paper. However, all three will be gone after a year and Allen will be around for years to come. However, the Red Raiders needs athleticism so there may be a role for him after all if some of the newcomer transfers struggle out the gate.
20. G Aaron Johnson-Cash – Texas A&M Aggies
Junior College: Grayson
Considering that Grayson College had the nation’s leading scorer in Tyrone Williams (27.6 ppg) and another 20 ppg producer in DJ Thomas, Johnson-Cash still carved out his own scoring space. He averaged 15.3 ppg and shot 46% from three-point range, including several 20+ point efforts. At 6’7 and 200 pounds, Johnson-Cash can play both the shooting guard and wing positions and provide needed versatility for the Aggies.
Texas A&M just recently landed Virginia Tech transfer Tyrece Radford, a 6’2 guard that is a quality rebounder. He’s not a good shooter though and neither was the Aggies, who collectively were under 30% from deep as a team last season, Johnson-Cash is an ideal complement to Radford on the court with his size and shooting, which will be needed for this team to be competitive in SEC play.
19. F DJ Patrick – South Florida Bulls
Junior College: Triton College
Patrick is somewhat I think has a relatively high floor among the power conference newcomers, thanks to his perimeter shooting. He averaged 14.6 ppg last season but a sizable chunk came from the three-point line, where he shot around 43% and had numerous games of multiple deep shots made.
As a 6’6 combo forward, South Florida is going to need him to be an instant contributor next season. They lost their two double-digit scoring veterans in David Collins and Alexis Yetna and while they did bring in a lot of transfers, none of them have a history of being strong scoring options. Patrick should get plenty of playing time and could possibly even lead the team in scoring if things go well.