If you ever had doubts about the importance of the men’s college basketball transfer portal, this past season should have put them to rest. After years of being a moderate player at best on the transfer stage, Michigan and then-coach Dusty May made a huge splash during the 2025 offseason — adding four of the top 51 players in Jeff Borzello’s ESPN transfer rankings (No. 3 Yaxel Lendeborg, No. 23 Morez Johnson Jr., No. 36 Elliot Cadeau, No. 51 Aday Mara). Thirty-seven wins later, that quartet led scoring for one of history’s most dominant national champions.
Not every recent champion has been built with quite as much focus on portal talent. But four of the past five national champs have added at least one player ranked among the top 20 transfers from the previous offseason. The exception — 2024-25 Florida — had added a pair of top-25 transfers (Will Richard and Walter Clayton Jr.) in earlier offseasons.
Clearly, the portal is no longer an optional feature of championship roster-building. Teams best positioned to compete for titles are those that can identify and acquire the best talent while minimizing losses to other programs. ESPN introduced a method last year to track each team’s portal “balance sheet” between incoming and outgoing transfers. To measure the amount of talent changing hands this season, players were assigned points based on the ESPN’s 2026-27 transfer rankings:
Nos. 1-10: 5 points
Nos. 11-25: 4
Nos. 26-45: 3
Nos. 46-70: 2
Nos. 71-100: 1
A team also can receive a point for every two “next in line” honorable mentions (marked NR below), capped at two bonus points per team for arrivals and minus-2 points for departures. Add up the incoming talent and subtract the outgoing talent, and you get each team’s net transfer score for 2026-27. The incoming and outgoing scores for 2025-26 and 2024-25 are also included to put this year’s activity in context. Ties in net score were broken by incoming points for gainers and outgoing points for losers, then by the highest-ranked arrival or departure, respectively.
This exercise is intended to measure talent moving through the portal rather than total roster strength. Recruits, injuries, NBA departures, graduates and transfers outside our top-100 athlete lists are not factored into the scoring.
With the rules of the way, let’s see which teams made out best (and worst) in the portal this offseason:
Most transfer talent added
1. Tennessee Volunteers (+14)
2026-27 ranked players added: 17
No. 5 Juke Harris via Wake Forest (+5)
No. 20 Terrence Hill Jr. via VCU (+4)
No. 26 Jalen Haralson via Notre Dame (+3)
No. 43 Tyler Lundblade via Belmont (+3)
No. 59 Dai Dai Ames via California (+2)
NR Miles Rubin via Loyola Chicago
2026-27 ranked players lost: -3
No. 28 J.P. Estrella to Michigan (-3)
2025-26 transfer points: +5
2024-25 transfer points: +1
Squint a little, and Tennessee’s arc looks a bit like Michigan’s from last season — a team that hasn’t traditionally added much net transfer value suddenly starts leaning heavily into the portal. Coach Rick Barnes’ trend began last year with the addition of No. 9 Ja’Kobi Gillespie from Maryland, who led the team in scoring at 18.4 points per game. The Vols are now adding the most net points of any team in the nation, according to ESPN’s model.
Their haul includes three of the top 30 transfers (Harris, Hill and Haralson) and two more from the top 60 (Lundblade and Ames). The added shooting and scoring help from the portal should offset Tennessee’s veteran losses after its third consecutive Elite Eight bid — and might even help the Volunteers improve upon their 31st-ranked KenPom offense from a year ago.
2. Texas Longhorns (+12)
2026-27 ranked players added: 12
No. 7 David Punch via TCU (+5)
No. 12 Isaiah Johnson via Colorado (+4)
No. 66 Elyjah Freeman via Auburn (+2)
No. 75 Mikey Lewis via Saint Mary’s (+1)
2026-27 ranked players lost: 0
None.
2025-26 transfer points: +6
2024-25 transfer points: +2
Texas’ portal history has been all over the place across its many recent coaching regimes. A massive plus-26 net points group from 2021 under Chris Beard that included three top-five transfers and six from the top 30 is the highest-value offseason in our data by far. Recent years have seen more modest figures for the Longhorns, but Dailyn Swain and Matas Vokietaitis (Nos. 43 and 55 in 2025, respectively) were portal successes for coach Sean Miller a year ago, and this time he picks up two of the top 12 (Punch and Johnson) and four among the best 75.
The Longhorns have been a Bubble Watch mainstay in recent seasons. Perhaps these portal additions, plus the return of Vokietaitis and the additional infusion of No. 4 high school recruit Marcus Spears Jr., can help lift UT off the bubble.
3. Indiana Hoosiers (+11)
2026-27 ranked players added: 11
No. 17 Markus Burton via Notre Dame (+4)
No. 19 Aiden Sherrell via Alabama (+4)
No. 29 Samet Yigitoglu via SMU (+3)
2026-27 ranked players lost: 0
None.
2025-26 transfer points: +4
2024-25 transfer points: +13
The Hoosiers have netted 28 value points over the past three offseasons, two under current coach Darian DeVries. Only St. John’s, at plus-31, has added more from the portal over that span. Despite their gains, the Hoosiers haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 2023.
This year’s crop of ranked additions could change Indiana’s fate, though. All three transfers come from power-conference programs, and top-30 talents Sherrell and Burton are a potentially prolific inside-outside duo.
4. Louisville Cardinals (+10)
2026-27 ranked players added: 13
No. 2 Flory Bidunga via Kansas (+5)
No. 11 Jackson Shelstad via Oregon (+4)
No. 60 Alvaro Folgueiras via Iowa (+2)
No. 69 Karter Knox via Arkansas (+2)
2026-27 ranked players lost: -3
No. 30 Sananda Fru to Marquette (-3)
2025-26 transfer points: +9
2024-25 transfer points: +7
Gradually, Louisville has made a habit of adding more transfer talent under coach Pat Kelsey in recent years, rising from plus-4 net points before Kenny Payne’s final season in 2023-24 to plus-7 in 2024-25, plus-9 in 2025-26 and plus-10 this offseason.
This year’s rating is fueled by No. 2 Bidunga from Kansas and No. 11 Shelstad from Oregon, plus two more top-70 transfers who can fill important roles for Louisville right away. It’s also worth noting that the Cardinals signed Seth Trimble from UNC, who wasn’t ranked because of eligibility concerns but has a substantial ACC track record. They did lose their fifth-leading scorer, Fru, to Marquette this offseason, but they return Adrian Wooley, last year’s 28th-ranked transfer. Given Wooley’s presence, Louisville’s true ranking arguably could be even higher.
5. St. John’s Red Storm (+8)
2026-27 ranked players added: 9
No. 4 Tounde Yessoufou via Baylor (+5)
No. 14 Donnie Freeman via Syracuse (+4)
2026-27 ranked players lost: -1 (honorable mention bonus)
NR Dylan Darling to Grand Canyon
NR Joson Sanon to West Virginia
2025-26 transfer points: +14
2024-25 transfer points: +9
As mentioned above, no team has added more net portal talent over the past three offseasons than St. John’s under Rick Pitino. The Johnnies have netted plus-31 points of value since the offseason of 2024.
Last season’s haul was based on volume — five top-100 transfers plus an honorable mention — but this year’s total was based on the additions of two of the top 15 players available in Yessoufou and Freeman. Freeman was subsequently lost for the season with a torn Achilles, which hurts how much this class can functionally help St. John’s this year. But Yessoufou is an NBA prospect at wing who averaged 17.8 points as a freshman at Baylor last season.
Others of note: Miami (+8), Michigan (+8), North Carolina (+7), USC (+6), Missouri (+6).
Most transfer talent lost
1. Saint Mary’s Gaels (-7)
2026-27 ranked players added: 0
None.
2026-27 ranked players lost: -7
No. 8 Paulius Murauskas to Arizona State (-5)
No. 75 Mikey Lewis to Texas (-1)
No. 77 Andrew McKeever to Iowa (-1)
2025-26 transfer points: 0
2024-25 transfer points: -3
This is shaping up to be a major season of upheaval at Saint Mary’s. Gone is longtime coach Randy Bennett, who left for Arizona State in March after building the Gaels into a perennial NCAA tournament fixture. And at the same time, the Gaels lost the most net transfer talent of any team, saying goodbye to three of their top four scorers from a year ago.
Returning first-team All-WCC guard Joshua Dent will try to stabilize things under new head coach Mickey McConnell, who was associate HC under Bennett. But without any ranked transfers to fill gaps, McConnell is starting at a disadvantage.
2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (-7)
2026-27 ranked players added: 0
NR Colby Garland via San Jose State
2026-27 ranked players lost: -7
No. 23 Mouhamed Sylla to West Virginia (-4)
No. 38 Baye Ndongo to Pitt (-3)
2025-26 transfer points: -4
2024-25 transfer points: +1
Tech had been a net importer of top-ranked transfer talent early in the tenure of former coach Damon Stoudamire, but the Yellow Jackets crashed to minus-4 last year after losing Naithan George to Syracuse. They fell even further this year with the departure of a pair of top-40 transfers.
New coach Scott Cross arrives from Troy with the task of rebuilding the program. He added honorable mention guard Colby Garland from San Jose State, who could lead the team in scoring this season, and a handful of unranked transfers to go along with returnee Kam Craft. But lately, the Jackets have been among the most-raided teams in the transfer process.
3. Georgia Bulldogs (-7)
2026-27 ranked players added: 0
NR Freddie Dilione V via Penn State
2026-27 ranked players lost: -7
No. 24 Somto Cyril to Miami (-4)
No. 27 Jeremiah Wilkinson to Arkansas (-3)
2025-26 transfer points: -1
2024-25 transfer points: +1
Much like their rivals from Atlanta, the Bulldogs used to be a mild net importer on the transfer-ranking ledger, but coach Mike White’s team has gone backward in that regard recently. Last year, it almost broke even with the addition of a couple of ranked names, including eventual leading scorer Wilkinson, to offset the loss of Silas Demary Jr. to UConn.
This year, though, UGA added only honorable mention Dilione from Penn State against the loss of two top-30 transfers in Cyril and Wilkinson. White’s cupboard is far from bare. Blue Cain, Marcus Millender and Kanon Catchings return after averaging double figures a year ago. But transfer wise, the Dawgs are in the red.
4. Kansas State Wildcats (-6)
2026-27 ranked players added: 0
None ranked or next in line.
2026-27 ranked players lost: -6
No. 6 PJ Haggerty to Texas A&M (-5)
No. 92 Abdi Bashir Jr. to LSU (-1)
2025-26 transfer points: +6
2024-25 transfer points: +7
K-State saw massive transfer-talent influxes in each of the previous three offseasons, racking up a combined plus-21 net value in 2023, 2024 and 2025. But the aggressive portal strategy didn’t work for former coach Jerome Tang, who was fired in February after compiling a 71-57 record with an NCAA berth.
During Tang’s tenure, the Wildcats’ revolving door brought in such talents as Keyontae Johnson, Haggerty, Tylor Perry, Coleman Hawkins, Arthur Kaluma and Nate Johnson. Now, new hire Casey Alexander from Belmont faces the exodus of Haggerty and Bashir, and has added no ranked players to offset it — though the unranked players he has brought in (Colorado State’s Brandon Rechsteiner and Virginia Tech’s Jaden Schutt) are respectable.
5. Providence Friars (-5)
2026-27 ranked players added: 4
No. 15 Miles Byrd via San Diego State (+4)
NR Malik Mack via Georgetown
2026-27 ranked players lost: -9
No. 9 Stefan Vaaks to Illinois (-5)
No. 41 Jamier Jones to Missouri (-3)
No. 90 Oswin Erhunmwunse to Creighton (-1)
2025-26 transfer points: -1
2024-25 transfer points: 0
With nine points of ranked talent lost, no team was hit harder by transfer departures than Providence. The losses included its third- and fourth-leading scorers (Vaaks and Jones, respectively) and 6-foot-10 interior presence Erhunmwunse. That doesn’t even include the graduations of the Friars’ top two scorers, Jaylin Sellers and Jason Edwards.
With former coach Kim English also out, new boss Bryan Hodgson has turned over the roster with a number of notable additions, headlined by former SDSU wing Byrd. That helped offset the Friars’ numbers some, as might unranked transfers Mack from Georgetown, Arrinten Page from Northwestern and Devin Vanterpool from FAU.
Others of note: Oregon (-5), Notre Dame (-5), Wisconsin (-5), TCU (-5), San Diego State (-5), Seton Hall (-5), Utah (-5).
