Indiana made a major splash on the transfer market Monday by landing a commitment from 7-footer Kel’el Ware, who played his freshman season at Oregon after ranking as a five-star prospect in the Class of 2022. Ware ranks as the No. 3 transfer of the offseason at CBS Sports and showed glimpses of an appealing all-around skillset while playing 15.8 minutes off the bench for the Ducks in the 2022-23 season.
His addition comes as the Hoosiers grapple with the departure of star center Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was a CBS Sports first-team All-American this past season — his fourth season as a starter. Replacing him will be the responsibility of multiple players, but Ware should be able to handle many of the 34.5 minutes per game that Jackson-Davis played in the 2022-23 campaign.
In his reserve role at Oregon, Ware averaged 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while backing up leading scorer N’Faly Dante at center on a team featuring another towering former five-star prospect, Nathan Bittle, as part of the rotation. There is no such logjam of bigs at Indiana, though coach Mike Woodson has also secured a commitment from Ball State transfer big man Payton Sparks.
Ware has the potential to blossom into one of the Big Ten’s top shot blockers during the 2023-24 season and could also cement himself as a true stretch center if he can improve upon the 27.3% 3-point shooting mark that he posted during his true freshman season.
Well over 1,000 Division I players have entered the portal and there are still weeks of player movement ahead before 2023-24 rosters will be even close to settled. Here at CBS Sports, we have distilled the massive number of transfers to a handful of names to know. For starters, here are the top 30 transferring players. This list will grow and player rankings will change as the May 11 deadline for players to enter the portal approaches.
1. Hunter Dickinson
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