NCAA Basketball: Top 10 remaining 2023 offseason battles to watch

1. Grant Nelson – North Dakota State Bison

2022-23 season stats: 17.9 ppg and 9.3 rpg

Recruiting battle: Alabama vs Arkansas

Nelson might be the most talented player that entered the transfer portal this offseason. He’s a near 20 and 10 guy in the Summit League, including a couple of 30+ point games. The 6’10 big man even made an all-defensive team in the league as well. He was viewed as a surefire NBA Draft pick but opted to come back for another year.

Once the deadline passed, there were four teams linked to Nelson. The two SEC programs listed above, as well as Baylor, Iowa, and Florida State. However, Grant recently canceled a visit with the Bears and nothing has come regarding the other two. The transfer does have a pair of visits scheduled with both the Crimson Tide and Razorbacks, making them the defacto finalists.

As I’ve mentioned before, Alabama is looking to replenish its frontcourt and seems to have a solid shot at both Jarin Stevenson and Arthur Kaluma. But if they had to prioritize the options, Grant would be preferred to either. And Arkansas landed five guards but hasn’t landed a transfer in the frontcourt. And with Trevon Brazile coming off a season-ending injury, having a skilled offensive player to help balance out the lineup makes sense for them.

There are multiple recruiting battles that the SEC is involved with and depending on what happens, would make the conference even tougher to deal with nationally. Alabama is the team to watch for in the next month but several programs could see their respective fortunes change depending on what happens next.