NCAA Basketball: Arkansas leads transfer team rankings for 2022 offseason
By Ryan Kay
. . Gators . 2. team. 526.
Incoming Transfers: Alex Fudge (LSU) and Will Ricard (Belmont)
Entered the Transfer Portal: Tuongthach Gatkek and Tyree Appleby
Key offseason takeaways: Florida hired a new head coach in 36-year-old Todd Golden after their previous head coach Mike White left to become the head coach of Georgia. Golden was the coach of San Francisco this past season and was the head coach of the Dons for the past three seasons. Florida added Fudge from LSU as well as Ricard who is a proven scorer from Belmont.
The Gators did lose Gatkek in the transfer portal but he only averaged 1.7 points per game. Losing Appleby hurts a little as he average over ten points a game last season for Florida but the Gators bring in a versatile guard in Denzel Aberdeen in the 2022 recruiting class and they also bring in top 100 and four-star recruit Jalen Reed for the upcoming season.
With White leaving the program to take another job some may have expected more players to have entered the portal but it appears new head coach Golden has Florida heading in the right direction for the 2022-23 season.
3. team. 2368. . . . Blazers
Incoming Transfers: Eric Gaines (LSU), Ledarrius Brewer (East Tennessee State), and Tyron Brewer (East Tennessee State)
Entered the Transfer Portal: Josh LeBlanc (Texas Southern)
Key offseason takeaways: UAB was ranked No. 8 in the final mid-major power rankings and made the NCAA tournament this past season. The Blazers got a big-name player to transfer to their school in Gaines from LSU who knows how to get to the basket. UAB also got a pair of players from ETSU in Ledarrius and Tyron Brewer. Tyron averaged just under ten points last season while Ledarrius was the leading scorer last year for ETSU and was a first-team SoCon selection by both the coaches and media.
UAB did have Josh LeBlanc transfer to Texas Southern but the Blazer brings some quality players back from last season’s team and should be one of the favorites to win in Conference USA next season as they prepare to make the transition to join the AAC in the future.