When looking at the college basketball transfer portal saga, some players' respective recruitments have seemed all over the place. None, maybe more than PJ Haggerty, one of the best pure scorers in the sport. After averaging 20+ ppg at Tulsa, the 6’3 "guard transferred to Memphis, where he got on the national radar for his stellar play.
Haggerty led the Tigers with 21.7 ppg and 3.7 apg, earning both All-American and AAC Player of the Year honors. He was the reason why the Tigers won the American regular season and conference tournaments and got a five seed in the NCAA Tournament. When he opted to enter the transfer portal, he was expected to land with a high-level team and have plenty of interest.
However, that hasn’t worked out in those simple terms. Early teams that were reportedly involved included Ole Miss and Texas, but they moved on. A new team emerged in NC State, a team with a new head coach (Will Wade), who wanted to make a splash. But they did in the past few days, landing Texas Tech star transfer forward Darrion Williams.
The likely expensive move may have taken the Wolfpack out of the Haggerty sweepstakes. But with teams like Florida (Boogie Fland) also not set to be involved, what options are left for him? One team that is reportedly coming into the mix is Kansas State, which was late to the party a year ago, landing some of its top additions later in the offseason as well.
And now, the Auburn Tigers could be a team to watch as well. However, their potential involvement will likely depend on what rising sophomore guard Tahaad Pettiford does in the next few days. If he opts to stay in the NBA Draft, Auburn wouldn’t have another proven ball-handler on the roster and would be in big need of someone to run the offense of the new-look roster.
Is the Haggerty recruitment now down to Kansas State and Auburn? It’s hard to see which other teams will get in the mix, and one of them could not be involved if their key guard comes back. It’s another chapter in this fascinating recruitment, and we expect next week to provide another development.