NCAA Basketball: Ideal destinations for Bronny James, Johnell Davis, and other top remaining transfers

With a little less than a week left until the deadline for players to enter the transfer portal (May 1), a little over half of the top rated players have chosen a new school (If you need to catch up, Tristan Freeman has recaps of the first month and last week). There's still a ton of talent left available and just about everyone has a major need still left on their roster (I wrote about the most important needs last week).

We'll start off with a few under the radar players and then get to the remaining big names, picking a team where those players would be a great fit.

*These are not predictions. I don't have a crystal ball rating.
**All players listed are available in the portal as of the night of April 26.

Smaller Schools Hoping To Hit A Home Run

Far too often, players seem to go to the biggest school that shows interest in them. But Jamal Mashburn Jr joining a moribund Temple program and Sincere Parker going to McNeese St and opting to absolutely light up the Southland next year, as opposed to being a power conference reserve, reminded us what The Stranger album declared decades ago, that everybody has a dream. These next five players will probably end up somewhere more esteemed than the school I chose, but sometimes it's good to go where you can be a star.

Miro Little (Baylor, 3 years left)
Preferred Destination: Hofstra

Hofstra has basically become the Borussia Dortmund of mid-major college basketball under Speedy Claxton. A place that can find young players who struggled at the top level (Aaron Estrada, Darlinstone Dubar) or were great but in a conference too small to take them directly to an elite team (Tyler Thomas), turns them into offensive studs and if they still have time, sends them to play for the best. And the Pride come really close but never actually win important trophies.

Hofstra should try for another stud prospect (top fifty in 2023) in Miro Little, who struggled to ever find consistent minutes at Baylor. The flashes of talent were on full display last summer at the FIBA World Cup (senior level, not some U19 tournament), when he averaged five assists a game as Finland's starting point guard, playing with NBA All-Star Lauri Markkanen. A great guard himself, Claxton could potentially be the perfect mentor for Little.

RJ Godfrey (Clemson, 2)
Destination: Saint Louis

An important bench piece who scored 8.3 points per game during Clemson's Elite Eight run, RJ Godfrey is an athletic rebounder at the power forward position. He's not a frequent shooter (career 6-16 from three) but Godfrey would be a great offensive development test for new SLU coach Josh Schertz to turn him into enough of a shooter to thrive. He already checks many of the boxes that the Billikens current roster needs at the forward spot with his rebounding, defense and rim attacking cuts.

Ansley Almonor (Fairleigh Dickinson, 1)
Destination: Merrimack

Merrimack finally became NCAA Tournament eligible last season after an excellent first four years in Division I, and promptly got upset in the championship game of the NEC Tournament on their home floor. It's time for Merrimack to load up and finally hear their name on Selection Sunday, but to find a transfer up, the Warriors basically have to raid the lesser NEC teams.

Ansley Almonor was First Team All-NEC and fits the perfect profile of a big scoring wing (16.4 ppg) that coach Joe Gallo has turned into a conference Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons (Jordan Minor, Jordan Derkack). He'd be an excellent partner for Bryan Etunmu at the forward spot, with the NEC Rookie of the Year, point guard Adam Clark returning as well.

Dji Bailey (Richmond, 1)
Destination: College of Charleston

After three seasons of going in and out of the rotation at Richmond, Dji Bailey finally found a niche as a top defender and off-ball slasher as a senior, winning A-10 Most Improved Player. At College of Charleston, he could reasonably chase an NCAA Tournament berth in a very similar role on an almost brand new roster that already has two big time scorers, with AJ Smith and Derrin Boyd transferring in from The Citadel and Lipscomb respectively.

Bronny James (USC, 3)
Destination: Duquesne

I know it seems like I'm just playing into the Twitter jokes, but hear me out, this actually makes a lot of sense for basketball reasons. The always well thought out Lebron media machine has entered the equation and everything they put out is intentional and meant for analysis. Via Brian Windhorst, who has always been a reliable conduit, scouts felt that the younger James was misused last season because he didn't get to play point guard. They are setting the table for a potential breakout season, and the opportunity to run point is not going to come in the NBA or a power conference, and he's not going to the G-League.

The door is wide open for Bronny James to head to a school where he can be physically dominant as a starting forward, and also be a part time initiator. It just so happens that Duquesne desperately needs another physical wing, and both of the Dukes point guards, Kareem Rozier and Canisius transfer Tre Dinkins, are plenty comfortable playing off the ball and sharing the load at the point. And if coach Dru Joyce III keeps putting out the same tweet when a commit is about to be announced, speculation will run rampant.