Situation is everything in the college basketball transfer portal. The infrastructure can help determine whether a transfer is a success or a failure. It’s heightened even more in the free agency era with big-money deals on the table.
“Nobody is good enough to pick the wrong school,” Texas Tech general manager Kellen Buffington says.
Wise counsel.
Let’s dive into four players who did not live up to the hype last year but have pivoted to a new opportunity. Can they get back on track? As usual, the data rarely lies.
Portal travels: From St. John’s to Wisconsin to Kansas to Ole Miss
The scoop: AJ Storr has made a career out of debatable school-hopping, so it’s ironic that his final portal stint may have resulted in his best decision yet. Storr is leaving a Kansas offense that had the lowest isolation rate in college basketball last year for an Ole Miss club that rated in the 98th percentile in isolation frequency, per Synergy.
The ‘Do Him’ offense is right up Storr’s alley, and it’s been a staple of Chris Beard’s teams for a decade.
Frequency of isolation possessions by a Chris Beard-coached team, according to Synergy:
2024-25 Ole Miss: 98th percentile 2023-24 Ole Miss: 99th percentile2022-23 Texas: 62nd percentile2021-22 Texas Tech: 55th percentile2020-21 Texas Tech: 98th percentile2019-20 Texas Tech: 95th percentile2018-19 Texas Tech: 97th percentile2017-18 Texas Tech: 99th percentile2016-17 Texas Tech: 93rd percentile2015-16 Arkansas Little Rock: 99th percentile
This scheme, combined with the opportunity on this depth chart, just screams major bounceback for a talented wing who was buried in Bill Self’s doghouse. There is no…
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