NCAA Basketball: Top 25 team winners from 2024 transfer portal results

13. Miami Hurricanes

The Hurricanes are a great example of the positives and negatives of the transfer portal. They lost several players, including a trio of starters (Norchad Omier, Bensley Joseph, and Wooga Poplar), as well as a bunch of players coming off the bench.

The team also landed four transfers, including three likely starters, for next season. The first two transfers came in the frontcourt in Lynn Kidd and Brandon Johnson. Kidd, a 6’10 center from Virginia Tech, is coming off a career year of 13.2 ppg and 6.5 rpg and gives them needed size. Brandon Johnson averaged 14.0 ppg and 8.6 rpg and is a 6’8 forward from East Carolina, shooting 37% from deep.

One of the top scorers to hit the portal was Jalen Blackmon, a 6’3 guard who led Stetson with 21.3 ppg on 38% shooting from deep. His big game that got the senior on the national radar was a 43-point effort in the ASUN title game win over Austin Peay. Joining him is a late pickup of AJ Staton-McCray, a double-digit scoring guard from Samford who also was on the All-SoCon defensive team.

Coach Jim Larranaga has a good history of getting the most out of transfers, including the core that went to the Final Four a couple of years ago. He’ll have to do the same with this group to get back out of the ACC’s basement.