“Forty-eight of the top 61 recruits from the Class of 2023 are expected to return to the college ranks next season. Over half (25 of the 48) are in the 2024 transfer portal.
It's a jarring amount of change, but it didn't just start in this cycle. Only 28 of the top 61 recruits from the 2022 recruiting class returned to the college ranks for their sophomore seasons. Sixteen of the 28 entered the portal, headlined by five-stars Kel'el Ware (from Oregon to Indiana), Arterio Morris (from Texas to Kansas) and JJ Starling (from Notre Dame to Syracuse).
It didn't used to be this way.
Two years ago, 38 of the top 61 recruits from the Class of 2021 returned for their sophomore seasons. Just six hit the portal: Emoni Bates, Tyrese Hunter, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Efton Reid, Jaylon Tysonand Frankie Collins.
Times, they are a-changin'.
Just six of the top-61 recruits from the Class of 2021 are still with the program they signed with out of high school: UConn's Samson Johnson, Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn, Maryland's Julian Reese, Baylor's Langston Love, Texas A&M's Manny Obaseki and Oregon's Nate Bittle.
Former prized 2022 recruits like Duke's Mark Mitchell and Texas' Dillon Mitchellstayed with their respective schools for two years, but they won't be there for a third. Both Mitchell boys (not related) are in the portal. Mark will play at Mizzou in 2024-25. Dillon has not made a decision yet.
Fifty of the top 61 recruits from 2022 haven't made it to their junior seasons without going pro or hitting the portal. The lone 11? Duke's Tyrese Proctor, UNC's Seth Trimble, Houston's Terrance Arceneaux, Arizona's Henri Veesaar, Indiana's Malik Reneau, LSU's Tyrell Ward, Virginia's Isaac McKneely, Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, Illinois' Ty Rodgers, San Diego State's Miles Byrd and Michigan State big man Jaxon Kohler.
Maybe all of this will stabilize a bit when the COVID-year seniors exit the mix after this current cycle. The raw number of transfers will dip in the cycles to come without the 400-plus transfers using the portal to find a place to play that one extra year.
But it doesn't feel like it. This is big-boy basketball with one-year roster renovations happening lickety-split.
Maybe it shines a light on an impressive offseason for Oregon. Dana Altman kept not one, not two but all three jewels from his top-10 2023 recruiting class. Jackson Shelstad, Mookie Cook and Kwame Evans Jr. will all have a major say in how Oregon handles itself in the new-look Big Ten...”
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It's a jarring amount of change, but it didn't just start in this cycle. Only 28 of the top 61 recruits from the 2022 recruiting class returned to the college ranks for their sophomore seasons. Sixteen of the 28 entered the portal, headlined by five-stars Kel'el Ware (from Oregon to Indiana), Arterio Morris (from Texas to Kansas) and JJ Starling (from Notre Dame to Syracuse).
It didn't used to be this way.
Two years ago, 38 of the top 61 recruits from the Class of 2021 returned for their sophomore seasons. Just six hit the portal: Emoni Bates, Tyrese Hunter, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Efton Reid, Jaylon Tysonand Frankie Collins.
Times, they are a-changin'.
Just six of the top-61 recruits from the Class of 2021 are still with the program they signed with out of high school: UConn's Samson Johnson, Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn, Maryland's Julian Reese, Baylor's Langston Love, Texas A&M's Manny Obaseki and Oregon's Nate Bittle.
Former prized 2022 recruits like Duke's Mark Mitchell and Texas' Dillon Mitchellstayed with their respective schools for two years, but they won't be there for a third. Both Mitchell boys (not related) are in the portal. Mark will play at Mizzou in 2024-25. Dillon has not made a decision yet.
Fifty of the top 61 recruits from 2022 haven't made it to their junior seasons without going pro or hitting the portal. The lone 11? Duke's Tyrese Proctor, UNC's Seth Trimble, Houston's Terrance Arceneaux, Arizona's Henri Veesaar, Indiana's Malik Reneau, LSU's Tyrell Ward, Virginia's Isaac McKneely, Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, Illinois' Ty Rodgers, San Diego State's Miles Byrd and Michigan State big man Jaxon Kohler.
Maybe all of this will stabilize a bit when the COVID-year seniors exit the mix after this current cycle. The raw number of transfers will dip in the cycles to come without the 400-plus transfers using the portal to find a place to play that one extra year.
But it doesn't feel like it. This is big-boy basketball with one-year roster renovations happening lickety-split.
Maybe it shines a light on an impressive offseason for Oregon. Dana Altman kept not one, not two but all three jewels from his top-10 2023 recruiting class. Jackson Shelstad, Mookie Cook and Kwame Evans Jr. will all have a major say in how Oregon handles itself in the new-look Big Ten...”
If they don't go pro, elite basketball recruits are more likely to transfer than stay put
Congratulations, you just signed a ballyhooed freshman! Good luck keeping him around in the portal era
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