NCAA Basketball: Analyzing 4 teams reportedly in play for UMass transfer Josh Cohen

Former UMass star forward Josh Cohen has entered the NCAA Basketball transfer portal once again. Which teams have started to emerge for him this time around?

A year ago, Josh Cohen was viewed as one of the better players in the NCAA Basketball transfer portal, coming from Saint Francis (PA). He was the Co-NEC Player of the Year and committed to UMass, where he ended up having a big year. The 6'10 big man averaged 15.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg this past season for the Minutemen, including three games of 28 points.

Cohen has decided to enter the transfer portal again, this time with one year left of eligibility. There are already some programs looking to get visits, all in the power conference range.

Here's a look at Cohen's potential fit with each of them, based on current roster construction.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Last season went all the way wrong for Arkansas, for a variety of reasons. Part of it had to do with a lack of consistent offense inside, as Trevon Brazile took a step back. Adding a double-digit scorer in Cohen would be ideal for them on offense, though there are some defensive concerns for him at the SEC level. He can play at the five-spot and with Tramon Mark back could get the team back to an elite offense.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The Irish have a couple of great building blocks on the perimeter in Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry from this past season. Where there needs to be improvement is in the frontcourt. The core of Kebba Njie, Carey Booth, and Tae Davis were very limited offensively, with none averaging more than 9.0 ppg on offense. Pairing Cohen with the freshmen guards would make Notre Dame a legit threat in the ACC next season.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State was in a similar situation as Notre Dame this past season, being a guard-heavy offense with no real frontcourt scoring. And with starting center Qudus Wahab leaving, there's a clear hole at the five-spot. Ace Baldwin showed that you can go from the A-10 to the Big Ten and Cohen can do the same as the focal point of the offense.

Xavier Musketeers

There's been a recent addition to the team in former Furman guard Marcus Foster but the roster questions are mainly in the frontcourt. They've had multiple forward departures, with Lazar Đoković being the only one left. The key is what's going to happen with Jerome Hunter and Zach Freemantle, two starters who missed this past season due to injuries.

The pairing of Cohen and Cross worked at UMass last season but Freemantle is more of a 5 himself and we saw two years ago when Freemantle and Jack Nunge didn't work out for Xavier. If Freemantle decides to move on, then Cohen would be a great option for the Minutemen. But if he does come back, look for the other options to be more appealing.