With all of the attention focused on the NBA Draft deadline, that doesn’t mean that the NCAA Basketball is fully closed. There are still a few good players entering, including Jalen Rucker. He’s a 5’10 guard originally from Baltimore that played at Army for the past three years.
Rucker has been an All-Patriot League performer for the past couple of seasons, coming off averaging 16.6 ppg and 3.6 apg on 46% shooting from the field. He was in double-digit scoring for 31 of 33 games and had some big outings, including a season-high 35 points against Loyola (MD), making 6/9 shooting from three-point range.
Rucker recently entered the transfer portal but it was after the deadline. So he’ll need either a waiver or enough credits to qualify as a grad transfer. Since he’s been at school for three years, there’s a chance that he could be eligible for next season. For this piece, we’ll assume that Rucker can play in 2023-24. Here’s a list of five programs that could be a nice fit for him.
Chattanooga Mocs
One off-the-radar option that could be available is the Mocs, a SoCon program that was around .500 with first-year of head coach, Dan Earl. He’s formerly the coach of VMI so there’s a connection when it comes to being around the Military schools.
The team also has lost plenty of talent, including star forward Jake Stephens and starting guard Dalvin White. They did bring in transfers Trey Bonham and Rudy Fitzgibbons and will have Honor Huff available after sitting out last season due to SoCon transfer rules. Rucker can come in and have a large role in the SoCon, while also not potentially playing in a league above his talent level.