A few stragglers are still hanging out on college basketball’s free agent wire, mulling where to play during the 2024-25 season. But as mid-June arrives, the overwhelming majority of players in the transfer portal have announced their destinations. Rosters around the country are coming into focus, and it’s becoming more obvious who the winners and losers were during the 2024 offseason.
It was a period marked by a record number of coaching changes, and those changes led to major roster overhauls around the country. While John Calipari’s move from Kentucky to Arkansas and Mark Pope’s subsequent jump from BYU to Kentucky stole the spotlight, there were 68 Division I job changes in total.
As expected, the Razorbacks and Wildcats have done well for themselves on the transfer market with the backing of strong NIL collectives. Slightly more surprising is how strong of a class first-year USC coach Eric Musselman has assembled after leaving the Arkansas job. Musselman worked the portal well during his time in the SEC and used it to build a pair of Elite Eight teams.
Now, it’s becoming clear he’ll have a chance to do the same with the Trojans as they transition to the Big Ten. The Trojans are among our winners.
Let’s take a deeper look at the winners and losers of college basketball’s 2024 portal cycle.
Winner: Oats rebuilds Alabama roster again
Alabama’s roster was already shaping up nicely when the May 1 deadline to enter the portal arrived. Then, Nata Oats received a commitment from elite shot blocker Cliff Omoruyi (Rutgers) and got Mark Sears back from his NBA Draft exploration. With Auburn transfer guard Aden Holloway, 2023-24 AAC co-Player of the Year Chris Youngblood (South Florida) and sharpshooting wing Houston Mallette (Pepperdine) also in the fold, the Crimson Tide will be Final Four contenders once again. Key returners Latrell Wrightsell Jr. Grant Nelson and Jaren Stevenson round out what…
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