NCAA Basketball: 10 teams with most pressure to score in 2023 transfer portal
The offseason is here in NCAA Basketball and there have already been some major moves made when it comes to the transfer portal. Over 1,000 D-I players have entered, with around 100 already picking new homes.
Many teams are in need of multiple players from the portal to be competitive but for multiple reasons, some programs will have to do better than others. Based on some storylines, here are 10 teams to watch (in alphabetical order) that need to have a good offseason.
1. BYU Cougars
The Cougars are one of four teams to join the Big 12 for the upcoming season. The Houston Cougars will be able to make the transition easily, while BYU, Cincinnati, and UCF have some work to do in order to get competitive. The ladder three could easily be projected to finish at the bottom of the standings in 2024.
The reason why I have the Cougars specifically on this list is that they have the biggest questions of those three when it comes to succeeding at the power conference level. Due to the school’s religious affiliations and strict honor code, they’re not going to be in the mix for a lot of prospects. And outside of in-state recruits, BYU doesn’t get many top-100 talents to come there.
That’s not going to be good enough going forward. And they have lots of holes on the roster, including size up front, a point guard to run the offense, and shooting overall. That doesn’t even include the question of who is good enough to play in the Big 12. It might end up being a rough year overall but a couple of key newcomers could at least make them a threat.