Despite being open for less than a week, literally thousands of players are looking for a new home in the college basketball transfer portal. While some will wait until weeks after the transfer portal closes on April 21 to make a decision, others didn’t need long to find their next stop. Dominos are falling, players are grabbing spots and finding their home for the 2026-27 season.
The biggest winner of the opening week of the transfer portal has been Louisville. Pat Kelsey, who is entering his third season at the helm of the Cardinals, was able to land a pair of star transfers in No. 1-ranked Flory Bidunga (Kansas) and No. 16-ranked Jackson Shelstad (Oregon). Those two took a visit together last weekend and committed shortly after to play for the Cardinals.
247Sports’ full transfer portal rankings can be found here.
Another winner of the portal has been Texas. The Longhorns landed former Colorado guard No. 12-ranked Isaiah Johnson earlier in the week before adding former TCU forward No. 7-ranked David Punch late on Sunday night. Punch should slot perfectly next to Matas Vokietaitis in Texas’ frontcourt, after he announced last week that he was returning to school.
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While there have been clear winners, other schools will look to retool their respective rosters after losing multiple players to the transfer portal. One of them is Kansas. The Jayhawks have already lost Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, Elmarko Jackson, and Jamari McDowell, among others.
Let’s dive into the biggest winners and losers of the portal thus far.
Winner: Louisville isn’t messing around
After Year 2 of Kelsey’s tenure ended with a loss to Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Louisville is going big game hunting and loading up for a big 2026-27. Landing someone like Bidunga is a game-changing addition. Bidunga is capable of anchoring a defense and was one of the best rim protectors in the sport. Injuries derailed Shelstad’s 2025-26 season, as he played in just 12 games. When Shelstad is healthy, he is a very good point guard to have. He averaged 13.7 points while shooting 37.9% from the 3-point line during the 2024-25 season. If Louisville can get that version of him, it will be a major win. If you thought expectations were high last year after Louisville landed Mikel Brown Jr. from the high school ranks and a solid transfer portal class to go alongside him, just wait for Year 3. This will be a roster that garners massive hype and expectations for a top three finish in the ACC and a deep NCAA tournament run.
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Loser: Kansas loses star and depth
For every team that gains a star, there’s another team that loses one. That’s exactly what happened to Kansas. The Jayhawks’ roster is going to look completely different next season after losing Bidunga, Jackson, Tiller, and Darryn Peterson to the NBA Draft. The biggest loss above all is Bidunga, who had a breakout season. He started in 34 games after logging just under 17 minutes per game as a freshman. He also nearly doubled his block total and was exactly the defensive anchor Bill Self needed. With those names gone, all eyes turn to the recruitment of Tyran Stokes. The No. 1-ranked player in the 2026 recruiting class by 247Sports has been trending toward a Kentucky or Kansas commitment for what seems like weeks. If Kansas lands him, it will soften the blow of losing those contributors from last season.
Winner: Bryan Hodgson off to a great start at Providence
The former South Florida coach is wasting no time building an NCAA Tournament-caliber roster. Providence landed San Diego State wing Miles Byrd, who is one of the best defenders in college basketball and the No. 9-ranked player in the 247Sports transfer portal rankings. Days later, Providence landed Dink Pate, who played last season with the Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks G League team). Pate, who was originally part of the 2023 high school recruiting class, signed with G League Ignite instead of playing college basketball. Pate entered the 2025 NBA Draft but was not selected and is the latest G League player to jump from that level back to college.
Loser: Duke sees key bench players depart
Duke coach Jon Scheyer is in wait-and-see mode because some of the biggest stay-or-go decisions from his team haven’t been made. In the meantime, Duke has lost former five-star forward Nikolas Khamenia and Darren Harris. Both players were in Duke’s rotation throughout the season, with Khamenia being a prime breakout candidate if he stayed at Duke. The Blue Devils are now waiting to see who returns from the group of Caleb Foster, Cayden Boozer, Isaiah Evans, Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba II.
Winner: Sean Miller loading up for Year 2 at Texas
Texas is trending toward being a preseason top 10 team after landing Punch and Johnson. The Longhorns still have work to do to round out the roster, but Miller is off to an impressive start heading into Year 2. Johnson averaged 16.9 points while shooting 48.6% from the field, 37.8% from the 3-point line, and 82.1% at the charity stripe. Those are excellent numbers, especially factoring in that he was Colorado’s leading scorer. Punch is a physical forward who is going to pair perfectly next to Vokietaitis. That’s a scary frontcourt. The next domino to fall will be Dailyn Swain’s stay-or-go decision. If Swain returns, that’s going to be a team that’s ranked high in the polls this fall.
Loser: Three leading scorers leave Notre Dame
Notre Dame will be retooling its roster after losing its top three leading scorers to the transfer portal: Markus Burton, Jalen Haralson and Cole Certa. Burton, who played in only 10 games last season due to an injury, averaged 18.5 points and 3.7 assists. Burton averaged over 17 points in each of his previous two seasons at the school. Haralson, a former top 20 high school recruit, averaged 16.2 points in his first season (and only) season with the Fighting Irish. Certa committed to Clemson shortly after entering the portal. That’s a significant amount of scoring power to replace.
Winner: PJ Haggerty finds a home (again)
Haggerty will be at his fifth school in five years after joining Texas A&M. Under coach Bucky McMillan, the Aggies played at a fast pace. Texas A&M averaged 15.7 seconds per possession, which ranked No. 16 among all Division I teams (KenPom). With Haggerty, Kansas State ranked in the top 15 in that stat this season. Last year at Memphis, the Tigers were ranked inside the top 30 in average possession time. Texas A&M’s offense was more of a committee than anything, as five different players averaged at least 10 points per game. With Haggerty, Texas A&M has one of the best pound-for-pound scorers in college basketball.
