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ACC Basketball: Ranking the top 10 impact transfers of 2021-22 season

By Cooper Watson

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - JANUARY 15: Alondes Williams #31 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons holds the ball during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 15, 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - JANUARY 15: Alondes Williams #31 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons holds the ball during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 15, 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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ACC Basketball Armaan Franklin Virginia Cavaliers (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
ACC Basketball Armaan Franklin Virginia Cavaliers (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

The NCAA’s new one-time transfer rule has opened up a new era of college basketball. Almost every team in the country now has multiple transfers on their roster, aided by the almost free-agent-like approach facilitated by the transfer portal.

There were 36 players who transferred into ACC Basketball this season. According to Verbal Commits, 1,464 Division I players found new collegiate homes via the transfer portal in the 2021 cycle. When divided evenly among the 358 DI teams, that works out to just over four per team. At that rate, there should, in theory, be 60 transfers in the ACC this season, making the actual number of 36 seem relatively low compared to other leagues across the country.

In this new era of college basketball, a coaching staff’s ability to effectively recruit more than just high schoolers is necessary. A coach’s ability to recognize talent from other teams and successfully recruit and implement them into a new system can be challenging, but the potential rewards are immense.

Wake Forest is one of the most notable transfer portal success stories of the season. Steve Forbes has seemingly turned around an entire program over the course of one summer with the addition of five impactful transfers, two of whom are featured in this piece.

With that in mind, here are the ACC’s top 10 transfers of the 2021-22 season (so far).

10. Armaan Franklin – Virginia

Franklin is the second-leading scorer on a Virginia team that has rallied to a 9-5 record in ACC play after Tuesday’s road win over No. 7 Duke. The Indiana transfer is averaging 12.3 points on the season, a slight increase from his numbers at IU in 2020-21.

Although he’s shooting just 41.7% from the field, his ability to create offense as a wing is something that UVA has desperately needed this season.