Top 10 college basketball team winners after 2025 transfer portal deadline

The clock struck midnight on April 22, meaning the transfer portal window is all but officially closed. While commitments are far from over and many rosters across NCAA basketball are still plucking away to fill their holes and needs, it's not a matter of if or when a player enters the portal, it's simply a matter of where they will land. A deep breath from head coaches from all over the country, right? 

With the transfer portal deadline closed, let’s take a look at 10 schools that won the 30-day portal sprint.

HM: Creighton BlueJays

The Iowa factory -- Owen Freeman and Josh Dix -- will keep the Blue Jays competitive in 2025-26. Point guard Nik Graves (17.3 PPG at Charlotte) will assume lead guard duties.  Add in former four-star SG Austin Swartz (Miami) rounds out a quality transfer portal class for Greg McDermott & Co.

HM: Oklahoma Sooners

While losing Duke Miles to inter-conference rival Texas A&M certainly hurt, Porter Moser has quietly assembled a quality transfer portal trio with Xzayvier Brown (St. Joe’s), Nijel Pack (Miami), and Tae Davis (Notre Dame) en route to Norman. There's some serious scoring pop here to build off last year's NCAA Tournament apperance.

HM: UNLV Runnin' Rebels

Josh Pastner is back in college basketball as is making an immediate impact in Las Vegas. The upside for the 2025-26 Runnin' Rebels is evident: Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (Illinois), Emmanuel Stephen (Arizona), Naas Cunningham (Alabama), Al Green (Louisiana Tech) and Ladji Dembele (Iowa) enter the fold.

10. LSU Tigers

After a disastrous 2024-25 campaign, Matt McMahon and the LSU Tigers are quietly among the biggest winners in the 2025 transfer portal. Last season, LSU was among the lowest NIL spenders in the SEC. A report in February indicated that will no longer be the case -- and this year's transfer portal class proves that.

Bottom line: this group is a whole lot of stat-stuffers. Dedan Thomas (UNLV) averaged 15.6 PPG and nearly five APG last season. Northeastern’s Rashad King averaged 18.5 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.3 APG. Omaha’s Marquel Sutton -- the 2024-25 Summit League POY -- averaged 18.9 PPG and 7.9 RPG on a team that won 22 games and went to the NCAA Tournament. And that’s not all: Max Mackinnon shot 41% from three at Portland Michael Nwoko (Mississippi State) brings a big body to the floor after starting in 32 of 34 games for the Bulldogs last season.

Don’t expect another 3-15 finish in the SEC this season for the LSU Tigers.

9. Texas Tech Red Raiders

While Texas Tech’s transfer portal class at the deadline may not scream top-10-worthy, retaining one of the best players in the country, JT Toppin, warrants inclusion on this list.

Toppin, the double-double machine, was projected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He decided to forgo the Draft entirely, signing a $4 million NIL deal to return to the Red Raiders. Retaining an All-American means one thing for Grant McCasland: That’s one less hole that needed to be filled this offseason.

But the Red Raiders weren't so quiet in the transfer portal, either. LeJuan Watts (Washington State), ultra-efficient three-point shooter Tyeree Bryan (Santa Clara) and UNC Greensboro’s Donovan Atwell headline this year’s transfer portal class heading to Lubbock, helping raise Texas Tech’s ceiling to a consensus way-too-early preseason top-five team in the country.

8. Auburn Tigers

While Auburn will unquestionably boast a new look next season coming off the heels of their second-ever Final Four appearance, there’s plenty to like with this year’s transfer portal class, making the Tigers among the biggest winners after the transfer portal deadline.

Bruce Pearl will welcome Kevin Overton (7.8 PPG, 3.7 RPG at Texas Tech), ultra-physical KeShawn Murphy (11.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG at Mississippi State), high-flying scorer Keyshawn Hall (18.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG at UCF) and NCAA Division II star Elyjah Freeman (Lincoln Memorial), who averaged 18.9 PPG, 8.7 RPG and 2.3 APG. According to Auburn athletics, Freeman shot 45.6% from three and 58.7% from the field, ranking 25th nationally.

While losing the infectious energy piece Chad Baker-Mazara takes a hit on the Tigers' overall rank, pairing these transfer portal additions alongside the electrifying Tahaad Pettiford immediately injects Auburn into a sure-fire preseason top 25team next season.

7.  Iowa Hawkeyes

I went in-depth with Iowa’s transfer portal class last week, detailing every single newcomer as well as touching on Ben McCollum’s unique ball-screen, pick-and-roll heavy offense (Hint: that offense should bode well with this year’s transfer portal class.) You can view the full article here.

It’s a complete overhaul in Iowa City, literally and stylistically. But the Hawkeyes have put together a strong transfer portal class at the deadline, bringing over three-point sharpshooter Brendan Hausen (Kansas State), the highly-coveted Alvaro Folgueiras (Robert Morris) and mid-major sensation Bennett Stirtz (Drake), alongside a plethora of other Drake players.

While Iowa (basically) lost its entire team from last year, it’s not like many of the transfer portal additions have not played together before, which is crucial in year one from Ben McCollum. Fun fact: McCollum has been a head coach for 16 years. He has yet to lose 100 games. The Hawkeyes are not only big-time winners in the transfer portal but also in the coaching carousel, too.

6. Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns are quietly among the biggest winners after the transfer portal deadline. 

As Trilly Donovan infamously quotes: sometimes the best gets are the ones you already got. That’s been the case for first-year HC Sean Miller, who retained Chendall Weaver, Tramon Mark, Nic Codie and Jordan Pope off of last year’sLonghorn squad -- all of whom will be instrumental in Sean Miller's year one transition in Austin.

While the returnees speak for themselves, Sean Miller has put together a high-quality transfer portal class. Lassina Traore looks to get healthy after averaging a double-double at Long Beach State in 2023-24. Seven-footer Matas Vokietaitis averaged 10.2 PPG and 5.4 RPG as a freshman at Florida Atlantic last season (The next Vlad Goldin?!). Cam Heide (Purdue) joins the mix in Austin. Dailyn Swain took a impressive sophomore-year jump at Xavier last season. Adding another sophomore-year breakout player Simeon Wilcher (St. John’s) is just the icing on the cake.

5. Kentucky Wildcats

Armed with among the highest NIL budgets in NCAA Basketball, Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats wasted zero time to put together an immensely talented transfer portal class.

Last year, Kentucky’s defense wasn't its calling card. While it wasn't bad, it wasn’t cream-of-the-crop, either (mainly due to injuries throughout the season). The Wildcats revamped their frontcourt with defensive versatility, adding Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama) and Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State). While it's unknown (yet) if Quaintance will be available by November after suffering an ACL injury, the defensive upside is evident -- and is precisely what Kentucky needs in year two of the Mark Pope era.

In addition, the Wildcats added Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), pick-and-roll and ball-screen finesser Jaland Lowe (Pitt) and Kam Williams (Tulane) to the roster, making Kentucky’s perimeter among the more polarizing units in NCAA basketball next season.

4. Indiana Hoosiers: 

The Indiana Hoosiers are winners after the transfer portal deadline not because of losing the entirety of its roster, but howtheir transfer portal pieces fit positionally.

First-year HC Darian DeVries has been nothing short of active in the transfer portal, landing a plethora of highly-coveted, high-scoring pieces. Lamar Wilkerson was a 20 PPG player at Sam Houston. Reed Bailey was among the top players in the A10 last season, averaging 18.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 3.8 APG at Davidson last year. Do-it-all guard Tayton Conerway was a defensive menace, averaging nearly three steals per game last season in addition to 14.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 4.8 APG. 

And this isn’t even including Tucker DeVries, who showed can be a superb scorer at the high-major level in just eight games last season at West Virginia before an injury in addition to lengthy guard Jasai Miles, who averaged 15.4 PPG and 6.8 RPG last season at North Florida. Rounding out the transfer portal class is Jason Drake (Drexel) as well as facilitating first guard Conor Enright (DePaul). 

3. Louisville Cardinals

Pat Kelsey went to work early in the transfer portal cycle, landing a trio of pieces that will make an immediate impact at Louisville next season, making the Cardinals among the biggest winners after the transfer portal deadline.

Entering the fold is Xavier’s Ryan Conwell, who averaged 16.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 2.5 APG last season. Adrian Wooley,as just a freshman last season, put up staggering numbers at Kennesaw State: 18.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.6 APG. The 6-foot-5 guard shot 42% from three. Add in three-point sharpshooter Isaac McKneely (Virginia), who also shot 42% from three and suddenly, the Cardinals are looking like a preseason top-five team in the country with the return of J’Vonne Hadley and the addition of five-star PG Mikel Brown Jr.

2. Michigan Wolverines

Dusty May must have a knack for assembling terrorizing frontcourts because that’s exactly what will transpire next season in Ann Arbor.

After losing its frontcourt duo Danny Wolf (NBA Draft) and Vlad Goldin off a team that won a Big Ten Tournament Championship and reached the Sweet 16 last season, Dusty May wasted no time in assembling its next frontcourt duo.

The Wolverines will welcome 7-foot-3 big Aday Mara (UCLA), Morez Johnson (Illinois) Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB) -- among the top players from the transfer portal -- to round out its frontcourt. Recently, Jeff Goodman reported that Lendeborg is leaning toward staying in the draft. It’s unknown whether he will dot the blue, yellow and white just yet.

Even without Lendeborg, the Wolverines’ frontcourt remains just as polarizing. As just a freshman last year, Morez Johnson showed his physicality around the rim, positioning him for a monster sophomore year jump. Aday Mara, marred by inconsistent playing time, showed flashes of brilliance at UCLA, including a 22-point outing over Wisconsin in January.

The Wolverines will also welcome Elliot Cadeau in the backcourt, who averaged 9.4 PPG and 6.2 APG for North Carolina last season. If Cadeau can hone in on his consistency from behind the arc and Lendeborg opts to forgo the NBA Draft, perhaps the Wolverines should be even higher on this list (which is No. 1, of course). But time will tell.

1. St. John’s Red Storm

The St. John’s Red Storm crown the top spot as the biggest transfer portal winners after the deadline, welcoming in the top-ranked transfer portal class in the country according to 24/7 Sports. Incoming to Queens include Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati), Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Oziyah Seller (Stanford), Joson Sanon (Arizona State) and Bryce Hopkins (Providence). 

With Zuby Ejiofor anchored in the frontcourt, there are many ways for Pitino to put the pieces of the transfer portal puzzle together. Former five-star recruit Dillon Mitchell is among the more athletic, fluid forwards/bigs in college basketball. IanJackson showed at times he can light up the scoreboard. Will he move over to PG? He likely will. Oziyah Sellers is a true combo guard after taking a big-time junior-year jump at Stanford. Joson Sanon is a name to watch in the 2026 NBA Draft. Bryce Hopkins, despite being riddled with injuries at Providence, looks to get healthy and be a veteran leader on the team. He averaged 17.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 3.0 APG in just three games last season.

Losing RJ Luis, Vincent Iwuchukwu and Simeon Wilcher understandably put a dent into St. John’s dazzling offseason but the pieces Rick Pitino has assembled is too hard to ignore. The Red Storm are the biggest winner in the transfer portal so far and look the part to be a preseason top-five team in the country next season.