NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 8 finalists for Marshall transfer Micah Handlogten

One of the bigger team turnarounds in NCAA Basketball was the Marshall Thundering Herd. The Sun Belt program went from 12 wins the year before to 24 wins this past season. A huge part of the success came from the defensive play, which was largely due to the play of freshman Micah Handlogten.

The 7’1 center was 5th on the team in scoring at 7.6 ppg, but was averaging over 10 rpg for 95% of the season. He had back-to-back double-doubles early on against Chicago State and Morehead State to get on the map, before pulling down 16 rebounds and three blocked shots in a road win at Duquesne.

The best performance by Handlogten came in a home win over Coastal Carolina. He produced 19 points, 19 rebounds, and five blocked shots in 37 minutes played. Due to Marshall having a pair of 20 ppg scorers in Taevion Kinsey and Andrew Taylor, his offense wasn’t needed but he still was able to go for 10+ points nine different times.

After the season, the freshman big man opted to enter the portal, where he got a ton of interest. The native of Huntersville, North Carolina has a couple of local options, along with others in the region.

With a list of eight contenders, which of them makes the most sense? Here’s a closer look (and power ranking) at each of the options, using the likelihood of playing time, ability to win, and style of play.