It’s always portal season, coaches like to say — especially if you’re one of the players listed below.
The transfer portal has become a frequent stop for some college hoopers, many of whom have been in three or four programs in as many years. Some people criticize players who have treated their college careers as a bunch of one-year contracts, but that’s just a reality in the pay-for-play era. And to these players’ credit, they’re quick to adapt — and thrive — in new environments.
It’s fun to play the “what-if?” game. With that in mind, if we had to make teams composed entirely of transfer portal frequent flyers, this is who we’d go with. The only rule was you had to be set to attend (at least) your third school. Sadly, college hoops doesn’t have nearly the grad transfers on their umpteenth school as it used to, on account of all the players with COVID-19 years finally running out of eligibility. There’s no Tyon Grant-Foster — who attended five schools in eight years — in this portal class. But we still had some fun.
Note: The first team is a conventional starting lineup by old-school basketball standards. We had some fun with the second team — who says we want or need a traditional center to own the boards anyway?
First Team
PJ Haggerty, guard
TCU > Tulsa > Memphis > Kansas State > Texas A&M
Does this guy own his own U-Haul? On his fifth school in five years, Haggerty is one of the best bucket-getters in all of hoops — he’s averaged 21 points over the course of his college career — though he doesn’t necessarily do so at an efficient clip, particularly against top competition, nor does it always lead to winning.
His best season was probably at Memphis, where he helped the Tigers earn a No. 5 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, though they were upset in the first round. Still, if you want a scorer, he’s a solid choice. This is the second year in a row he’s ranked in The Athletic’s top 10 of best available transfers; last year he was No. 6, this year he’s No. 8.
Jaland Lowe, guard
Pitt > Kentucky > Georgetown
Is Lowe one of the best guards in the portal — or one of the most overrated? It depends on whom you ask. The 6-foot-1, 170-pounder was considered a major pickup for Kentucky around this time last year, but after playing just nine games because of injuries, there’s skepticism around his game. (He was ruled out for the season in mid-January after surgery on his right shoulder; he averaged 8.0 points and 2.4 assists in the few games he played.)
When Lowe went into the portal last year after two seasons at Pitt, The Athletic had him ranked No. 14 of the best available transfers. This season he didn’t crack the top 50. Still, he was a breakout ACC star his sophomore year, averaging 16.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds, and Georgetown is betting he can be that type of player again.
LeJuan Watts, forward
Eastern Washington > Washington State > Texas Tech > Washington
The 2024 Big Sky freshman of the year, Watts made the jump to a high-major before last season and proved he could still be a regular (and important) contributor, breaking into the Red Raiders’ starting lineup by mid-February and averaging 11.8 points per game.
This came after he chipped in 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game at Wazzu and 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds at EWU. Now he’s on his fourth school in four years, and third in the state of Washington. Can he adjust as quickly there as at his three previous stops? Watts is also going through the NBA Draft process, but we think he’s likely to put off the pros for one more season.
Alvaro Folgueiras, forward
Robert Morris > Iowa > Louisville
The 2025 Horizon League Player of the Year after averaging 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game, Folguerias is part of the Spanish national team system — a huge plus in an era nearly every college program is hungry for recruits with big-time international experience.
Alvaro Folgueiras is on the move again after a star turn for Iowa in the NCAA Tournament. (Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
Folguerias came off the bench last season at Iowa, though no one in Iowa City will remember that. They’ll remember his heroics against Florida, which sent the Hawkeyes to their first Sweet 16 since 1999. He’ll hope to be on the floor more at Louisville.
Moustapha Thiam, center
UCF > Cincinnati > TBD
Thiam might be a little young to be on this list — he’s played only two years of college hoops — but we like him so much defensively, we’re putting him on our first team. It’s tough to find solid bigs in the portal who can play at both ends of the floor, but Thiam can, even if his funky shot release and thin frame mean there’s a lot to improve on offensively.
The All-Big 12 honorable mention selection averaged 12.8 points and 7.1 rebounds for the Bearcats last season after a freshman year at UCF when he averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Defensively, he is the epitome of a rim protector; he can alter shots and block them, and in general he makes people leery to drive to the paint. In the right program, he can be a superstar.
Second Team
Chance Westry, guard
Auburn > Syracuse > UAB > Xavier
Maybe the best pure passer in the portal, Westry had an injury-plagued first two seasons of college basketball but finally got healthy at UAB, where he averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 assists per game. He knows how to get the ball to the right player at the right time: In his final three games for UAB he dished out 11, 10 and 15 assists.
Tyler Lundblade, guard
SMU > TCU > Belmont > Tennessee
Ranked No. 23 in The Athletic’s portal rankings, Lundblade comes from the Missouri Valley, long considered one of the best mid-major conferences in the country. He was a star at that level, connecting on 44 percent of his 3-point attempts (he took 499 of them).
At 24, Lundblade has had a circuitous route through college hoops. He started as a preferred walk-on at SMU, redshirting as a freshman, but after a coaching change moved to TCU. There he earned a scholarship, had it pulled and decided, at least briefly, to pay his own way at Belmont. Now he’s looking to be an important piece for the Vols.
Wes Enis, guard
Division II Lincoln Memorial > South Florida > Creighton
Enis is a flat-out fun story. A 2025 Division II All-American at Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee, he jumped up last season to Division I, where he averaged 16.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists for the Bulls. He drained 107 3-point attempts, the 23rd-most in Division I last season. When his coach left to take the job at Providence, Enis hit the portal and joined the Bluejays, who have a new head coach of their own and are looking to return to their winning ways after struggling last season in the Big East.
Jaylen Carey, forward
JMU > Vanderbilt > Tennessee > Missouri
It’s true that Carey, who averaged 7.4 points and 6.0 rebounds last season, doesn’t necessarily jump out as a top player. But we love his passing ability for a big and think he’ll thrive at Missouri. It’s also easy to get caught up in stats and think they’re the only thing that matters, but Carey is the definition of dependable. In three college basketball seasons, he hasn’t missed a game for any of the teams he’s suited up for.
Logan Duncomb, center
Indiana > Xavier > Winthrop > Notre Dame
The player of the year in the Big South after averaging 18.3 points and 8.9 rebounds — 21.3 points and 10.3 rebounds during conference play — Duncomb finally settled into college basketball the past two seasons at Winthrop. Now he’ll try to be a contributor for a power conference program desperate for production. He played just 18 games total in two years at Indiana, but the thinking is that with increased confidence after two good years at Winthrop, he’ll finally be able to show he is a high-major player.
Honorable Mention
Dai Dai Ames, guard
Kansas State > Virginia > Cal > Tennessee
Described by Vols coach Rick Barnes as an “elite” midrange scorer, Ames goes to Knoxville after averaging 16.9 points on 46.4 percent shooting last season at Cal. Barnes also praised Ames’ ability to score in late shot-clock situations — something Tennessee wanted to get out of the portal this offseason.
Justin Pippen, guard
Michigan > Cal > Ohio State
The son of Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen, Justin Pippen is headed back east after a season at Cal in which he averaged 14.2 points, 4.6 assists and 3.9 rebounds. It’ll be his second go-round in the Big Ten, though he seems better equipped to be a contributor; at Michigan as a freshman, Pippen came off the bench and averaged just 1.6 points in 6.7 minutes per game.
Aaron Bradshaw, center
Kentucky > Ohio State > Memphis > TBD
Bigs are in big-time demand this offseason, something the 7-1, 225-pound Bradshaw knew when he entered the transfer portal roughly 24 hours before it closed. A top-five recruit from the Class of 2023, Bradshaw has not lived up to the hype. He was an OK contributor at Kentucky as a freshman (4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds), missed a chunk of the season as a sophomore at Ohio State for personal reasons and didn’t put up big numbers (8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds) at Memphis as a junior. Still, given his size, he’s sure to be a hot commodity.
