As rosters continue to take shape for the 2025-26 college basketball season, clear-cut winners and losers have emerged from this portal cycle.
In an offseason loaded with NIL-related controversy, recruiting the transfer portal has become tougher than ever. Hoops HQ has partnered with The Portal Report, which has a data-based algorithm to rank every transfer class in the country. In the coming weeks, we will be ranking the men’s and women’s classes from each of the five major conferences. Today, we take a look at the Big 12 men’s classes.
1. Oklahoma State
Incoming transfers: Kanye Clary, 6-foot senior guard (Mississippi State); Christian Coleman, 6-foot-8 graduate senior forward (UAB); Isaiah Coleman, 6-foot-5 senior guard (Seton Hall); Jaylen Curry, 6-foot-1 junior guard (UMass); Parsa Fallah, 6-foot-9 redshirt senior forward (Oregon State); Vyctorius Miller, 6-foot-5 sophomore guard (LSU); 6-foot-9 Anthony Roy, 6-foot-5 graduate senior guard (Green Bay).
The skinny: Looking to right the ship following Oklahoma State’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament miss, second-year coach Steve Lutz and his staff brought in seven transfers. Roy, who will suit up for his sixth school in 2025-26, faced adversity during his time at Green Bay. Although a season-ending injury limited him to 11 games, Roy averaged 25.7 points per contest. Isaiah Coleman led the way in points (15.6 ppg) and rebounds (5.3 rpg) for his Seton Hall squad, while Christian Coleman was an excellent complement to Yaxel Lendeborg, The Portal Report’s No. 2 overall transfer who is headed to Michigan. Miller, a former four-star recruit, may have the most upside. He averaged under 20 minutes per game for LSU this past season but showed flashes, including a 17-point performance against then-No.5 Tennessee. Fallah and Curry averaged 12.8 and 13.3 points for their respective squads, while Clary, who began his career with two seasons at Penn State, suffered an injury that limited him to seven games.
2. Baylor
Incoming transfers: Obi Agbim, 6-foot-3 senior guard (Wyoming); Juslin Bodo Bodo, 7-foot junior forward (High Point); Caden Powell, 6-foot-10 senior forward (Rice); Michael Rataj, 6-foot-9 senior forward (Oregon State); Dan Skillings Jr., 6-foot-6 senior guard (Cincinnati); JJ White, 6-foot-2 graduate senior guard (Omaha); Isaac Williams, 6-foot-2 sophomore guard (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).
The skinny: Despite losing a handful of productive contributors to the portal, coach Scott Drew was able to recoup that talent with five double-digit scorers. A former Division II star at Fort Lewis (Colo.), Agbim handled the transition to Wyoming with ease; he averaged 17.6 points per game for the Cowboys and looks ready for the jump to high-major competition. Rataj was dominant in the WCC with Oregon State, as he averaged 16.9 points and 6.9 rebounds to earn first-team all-conference honors. White emerged for Omaha this past season, averaging a career-high 13.7 points and shooting 49.2 percent from the floor and 44.2 percent from three. Williams proved steady at 10.8 points per game in 19 appearances as a freshman, and Powell was able to find his footing with Rice, averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds. Skillings, a former top-100 prospect, brings valuable high-major experience from within the conference. Bodo Bodo, a two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year, can be a key depth piece. Add it all up and Baylor has the eighth-ranked transfer class in the country.
3. West Virginia
Incoming transfers: Treysen Eaglestaff, 6-foot-6 senior forward (North Dakota State); Jackson Fields, 6-foot-8 senior forward (Troy); Jasper Floyd, 6-foot-3 senior guard (North Texas); Honor Huff, 5-foot-10 senior guard (Chattanooga); Brenen Lorient, 6-foot-9 senior forward (North Texas); Chance Moore, 6-foot-6 graduate senior guard (St. Bonaventure); Harlan Obioha, 7-foot senior center (UNC-Wilmington); Morris Ugusuk, 6-foot-4 junior guard (South Carolina).
The skinny: After a 46-24 mark in two seasons at North Texas, new coach Ross Hodge went to work rebuilding a roster depleted by 10 portal departures. One of the more intriguing prospects in this year’s portal class is Eaglestaff, who had a 40-point outburst against then-No. 6 Alabama in which he hit eight three-pointers. The sharpshooter fielded heavy interest in the portal from the likes of Kentucky, Kansas, St. John’s and Alabama before choosing WVU. Huff and Williams were double-figure scorers this past season, averaging 15.2 and 10.8 points, respectively. Lorient and Floyd bring experience with Hodge’s system from their time with the Mean Green. Obioha was an efficient scorer and rim defender (1.2 blocks per game) this past season, and provides great length in the frontcourt.
4. Kansas State
Incoming transfers: Abdi Bashir Jr., 6-foot-7 junior guard (Monmouth); PJ Haggerty, 6-foot-3 redshirt junior guard (Memphis); Marcus Johnson, 6-foot-7 graduate senior forward (Bowling Green State); Nate Johnson, 6-foot-3 senior guard (Akron); Khamari McGriff, 6-foot-9 redshirt senior forward (UNC-Wilmington); Tyreek Smith, 6-foot-8 senior wing (Memphis).
The skinny: Kansas State struggled in the Big 12 in 2024-25 and lost a lot of veteran talent, leaving coach Jerome Tang to rebuild his roster almost from the ground up. Haggerty, the 2024-25 AAC Player of the Year, and Bashir, a first-team All-CAA selection, look like potential NBA talents. Both tested the draft waters and opted to stay in college. Johnson, Johnson and McGriff have the potential to be featured in the starting five if they can handle the transition to the high-major ranks with similar productivity. Smith, who redshirted this past season at Memphis, was productive with SMU in 2023-24 (8.2 points per game). If he’s healthy, he can be an effective depth piece.
5. Iowa State
Incoming transfers: Blake Buchanan, 6-foot-10 junior forward (Virginia); Eric Mulder, 6-foot-9 senior forward (Purdue Fort Wayne); Dominick Nelson, 6-foot-5 senior guard (Utah Valley); Mason Williams, 6-foot-5 junior guard (Eastern Washington).
The skinny: The lone high-major transfer commitment for the Cyclones, Buchanan has yet to showcase his full scoring potential; his career-high of 17 came in his second game as a UVa freshman in 2023-24. He has the skill and experience to contribute to a frontcourt that returns two starters from this season in 6-foot-9 senior forward Joshua Jefferson and 6-foot-8 junior forward Milan Momcilovic. Mulder, who went to high school at Pella Christian, just south of Iowa State’s campus, will look to work his way into the rotation. Nelson (14.4 points per game) and Williams (13.9) averaged in double figures this past season.
6. UCF
Incoming transfers: George Beale Jr., 6-foot-4 senior guard (Hampton); John Bol, 7-foot-2 sophomore center (Ole Miss); Jordan Burks, 6-foot-9 junior forward (Georgetown); Devan Cambridge, 6-foot-6 graduate senior forward (Texas Tech); Jeremy Foumena, 6-foot-11 junior center (Mississippi State); BJ Freeman, 6-foot-6 graduate senior wing (Arizona State); Themus Fulks, 6-foot-6 graduate senior guard (Milwaukee); Chris Johnson, 6-foot-5 junior guard (Stephen F. Austin); Riley Kugel, 6-foot-5 senior guard (Mississippi State); Carmelo Pacheco, 6-foot-5 junior guard (Mount St. Mary’s); Kris Parker, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward (Villanova); Jamichael Stillwell, 6-foot-8 senior forward (Milwaukee).
The skinny: After finishing in the bottom four of the 16-team Big 12 in consecutive seasons, coach Johnny Dawkins is out to make sure it doesn’t happen again; he has brought in the conference’s biggest transfer class. While 11 transfers joined, the group of Fulks, Freeman, Johnson, Kugel, Stillwell, Bol and Burks should compete for starter minutes, barring any significant developments. Kugel, who began his career at Florida, is an Orlando native. Cambridge looks to be a solid veteran to slot in behind Freeman. Pacheco was key in Mount St. Mary’s MAAC Tournament championship run. Parker is a former top-100 prospect. Stillwell averaged a double-double this past season (13.0 points, 10.7 rebounds), and if he can continue that kind of play next season, the Knights finally may break out of that bottom four.
Ranking All 18 ACC Transfer Classes
Hoops HQ’s partners at the Portal Report have ranked the ACC’s transfer crop from 1 through 18. Here’s how they ordered the classes and why.
7. Arizona State
Incoming transfers: Marcus Adams Jr., 6-foot-8 junior forward (CSUN); Bryce Ford, 6-foot-3 junior guard (Toledo); Adante’ Holiman, 6-foot senior guard (Georgia Southern); Anthony Johnson, 6-foot-2 senior guard (University of the Cumberlands, an NAIA school); Allen Mukeba, 6-foot-6 graduate senior forward (Oakland); Maurice Odum, 6-foot-1 senior guard (Pepperdine); Santiago Trouet, 6-foot-10 junior forward (San Diego).
The skinny: With coach Bobby Hurley back at the helm for his 11th season in Tempe and the Sun Devils coming off the lowest conference win total (four) of his tenure, Arizona State hauled in a variety of mid-major portal players. Odum began his career with two seasons at Pacific before averaging a career-high 13.1 points per game this past season. His electric play in the WCC Tournament (21.5 points per game) helped Pepperdine reach the semifinals as the No. 9 seed. Holiman (16.9 points) and Adams (16.1) led their teams in scoring. Keep an eye on Johnson as a sleeper to earn a spot in Hurley’s rotation. He averaged a team-leading 23.6 points per game at Cumberlands, a large NAIA school (more than 20,000 students) in Williamsburg, Ky.
8. BYU
Incoming transfers: Kennard Davis Jr., 6-foot-6 junior guard (Southern Illinois); Dominique Diomande, 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman forward (Washington); Nate Pickens, 6-foot-4 senior guard (UC Riverside); Tyler Mrus, 6-foot-7 junior forward (Idaho); Robert O. Wright III, 6-foot-1 sophomore guard (Baylor).
The skinny: In his first season with the program, coach Kevin Young turned BYU into a Big 12 contender with homegrown talent. This offseason, he’s trying to keep BYU in the Big 12 mix via an exciting five-man transfer class to pair with A.J. Dybantsa, the nation’s No. 1 recruit. Davis was a second-team All-MVC pick in 2024-25 as he averaged 16.3 points; he will look to bring some of that offensive prowess to Provo. Wright, a former top-100 prospect, has experience in the conference and was selected to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Mrus and Pickens should fill out the rotation while Young tries to work some development magic on Diomande, who redshirted at Washington. No doubt Dybantsa will be the focal point, but he’ll have some talented pieces alongside him.
9. TCU
Incoming transfers: Brock Harding, 6-foot junior guard (Iowa); Liutauras Lelevicius, 6-foot-7 junior guard (Oregon State); Jayden Pierre, 6-foot senior guard (Providence); Tanner Toolson, 6-foot-5 junior guard (Utah Valley).
The skinny: After failing to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three seasons, coach Jamie Dixon and his staff acquired a deep guard class in the portal. With a majority of the Horned Frogs’ returning production in the frontcourt, the Frogs will look for impact minutes from Harding and Pierre, each of whom started a majority of games for their squads this past season. Harding shot just under 40 percent from beyond the arc for the Hawkeyes in 2024-25. Toolson and Lelevicius need to elevate their play to meet the increased competition in the Big 12.
10. Cincinnati
Incoming transfers: Jalen Celestine, 6-foot-7 graduate senior forward (Baylor); Sencire Harris, 6-foot-4 junior guard (West Virginia); Jalen Haynes, 6-foot-8 graduate senior forward (George Mason); Kerr Kriisa, 6-foot-3 graduate senior guard (Kentucky); Baba Miller, 6-foot-11 senior forward (FAU); Moustapha Thiam, 7-foot-2 sophomore center (UCF).
The skinny: Though Dillon Mitchell departed for St. John’s, leading scorer Jizzle James remains; there will be a new cast of co-contributors to fill out the rotation. Haynes (on his fourth school) and Miller likely will lead the frontcourt; both averaged in double figures at well-respected mid-major programs. Thiam looks to be a solid addition who will have time to continue developing and potentially be a critical role player off the bench. Harris or Kriisa can slot in the backcourt alongside James, while Celestine can rotate on the wing when the Bearcats want to bring more size. It’ll be a physical Cincinnati squad built on veteran experience with the offensive capacity to compete against the Big 12’s best.
Ranking All 11 Big East Transfer Classes
Hoops HQ’s partners at the Portal Report have ranked the Big East’s transfer crop from 1 through 11. Here’s how they ordered the classes and why.
11. Utah
Incoming transfers: Terrence Brown, 6-foot-3 junior guard (FDU); Babacar Faye, 6-foot-9 graduate senior forward (Western Kentucky); Jahki Howard, 6-foot-7 sophomore forward (Auburn); Don McHenry, 6-foot-2 graduate senior guard (Western Kentucky); Elijah Moore, 6-foot-4 sophomore guard (Syracuse); James Okonkwo, 6-foot-8 graduate senior forward (Akron); Seydou Traore, 6-foot-6 junior forward (Iowa).
The skinny: Although the Utes managed to land seven transfer commitments, they also had a conference-leading 10 portal departures. New coach Alex Jensen and his staff brought in a solid group. Howard, the son of former NBA All-Star and Michigan coach Juwan Howard, averaged under 10 minutes per game for an Auburn squad that reached the Final Four. But the former four-star recruit has untapped potential. McHenry was Western Kentucky’s top scorer, at 17.0 points per game. Faye was having a big season – 15.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game – but played only 10 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Moore and Traore are relatively inexperienced guards who each averaged just under 6.0 points per game in 2024-25, but likely will compete for a starting spot.
12. Texas Tech
Incoming transfers: Donovan Atwell, 6-foot-5 senior guard (UNC-Greensboro); Luke Bamgboye, 6-foot-10 sophomore forward (VCU); Tyeree Bryan, 6-foot-5 senior guard (Santa Clara); Josiah Moseley, 6-foot-8 sophomore forward (Villanova); LeJuan Watts, 6-foot-6 junior forward (Washington State).
The skinny: Coach Grant McCasland led the Red Raiders to 28 wins in 2024-25, second-most in program history. He did it via the portal, with former transfers JT Toppin, Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian leading the way. With Toppin returning for another season, McCasland added a crop of transfers that should help the Red Raiders maintain their status as Big 12 contenders. Atwell, Bryan and Watts were double-digit scorers at previous stops and should get opportunities to start. Bamgboye and Moseley are exciting prospects who were limited as freshmen. If McCasland can develop the duo into consistent high-major contributors, the Red Raiders’ ceiling rises.
13. Houston
Incoming transfers: Kalifa Sakho, 6-foot-11 senior forward (Sam Houston).
The skinny: For a brief time, it appeared the Cougars were set to land Pop Isaacs, a 6-foot-2 senior guard with big-game pedigree who is The Portal Report’s No. 44 overall transfer. But following the decision of 6-foot-4 senior guard Milos Uzan to stay at Houston and bypass the draft, Isaacs flipped to Texas A&M. Thus, Kelvin Sampson’s lone portal pickup is Sakho, an every-game starter for Sam Houston this past season. A presence in the paint, Sakho averaged 7.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 2024-25. A native of France, Sakho opened his college career with two junior college seasons before suiting up for Utah State as a junior and SHSU this past season.
14. Kansas
Incoming transfers: Melvin Council Jr., 6-foot-4 senior guard (St. Bonaventure); Jayden Dawson, 6-foot-4 senior guard (Loyola Chicago); Tre White, 6-foot-7 senior guard (Illinois).
The skinny: Kansas lost its top four scorers, but with the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class, the Jayhawks are placing more of an emphasis on youth. It’ll be the job of Council, Dawson and White to be effective pieces in Kansas’ rotation. From junior college to Wagner to St. Bonaventure, Council has succeeded at every level and now looks ready for his high-major opportunity. Dawson emerged for Loyola Chicago in 2024-25, leading the Ramblers to a 25-12 record and earning second-team All-A10 honors. White is a proven and accomplished power-conference wing.
15. Colorado
Incoming transfers: Barrington Hargress, 6-foot junior guard (UC Riverside); Jon Mani, 6-foot-6 sophomore guard (Denver).
The skinny: The outlook for the 2025-26 season appears bleak for the Buffaloes, who were 26-11 in 2023-24 but fell to 14-21 this past season. Hargress started all but four games in two seasons at UC Riverside; he averaged 20.2 points per game in 2024-25, which was ninth in the nation. CU needs production from Mani, a former three-star recruit who chose Denver out of high school over high-major offers from Cal and Arizona State.
16. Arizona
Incoming transfers: Evan Nelson, 6-foot-2 senior guard (Harvard).
The skinny: Per 247Sports, Arizona is bringing in the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation. The incoming freshmen plus returnees Jayden Bradley, Tobe Awaka and Anthony Dell’Orso meant coach Tommy Lloyd didn’t need to do much in the portal. Nelson is a three-point specialist who averaged 9.1 points per game and shot 40.4 percent from deep and 91.9 percent from the line in 2024-25. He is returning home, as he is a former standout at Salpointe Christian in Tucson.
