With Michigan crowned and the 2025-26 season in the books, it’s time for the game to move off the court.
This time last year, Wolverine coach Dusty May fished a prize piece from the transfer portal: UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg. The championship team Lendeborg helped to the title Monday night included four starters who transferred in this season.
In the NIL era, seasons are won and lost in the portal.
At midnight Monday, hundreds of coaches began contacting more than 1,000 declared transfers — some of them good enough to help a team vie for a national title. Here are a handful of the shiniest pieces and plotlines from Day One.
The new best guard in the portal
Monday’s bombshell entrant was 6-foot-4 junior guard John Blackwell, who enters the portal after a standout season at Wisconsin. Blackwell averaged 19.1 points and 5.1 rebounds on his way to an All-Big Ten selection. He now is the highest-rated guard in the portal.
Blackwell will go through the NBA Draft process, but reportedly has eyes on Duke, Michigan, Alabama and Illinois. In a Monday interview, he described his ideal destination as “a place where I compete for a national championship. A place where that’s the standard.”
In three seasons at Wisconsin, Blackwell established himself as a capable postseason player, but never ventured past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He logged 22 points and 10 rebounds in the fifth-seeded Badgers’ first-round loss to 12th-seeded High Point.
Tennessee’s roster is gutted
Coach Rick Barnes is hemorrhaging talent. After a run to the Elite Eight, Tennessee is set to lose its entire starting lineup: Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Felix Okpara to graduation, JP Estrella and Bishop Boswell to the transfer portal and Nate Ament to the NBA Draft. In addition, two more depth players (and counting) are portal-bound.
Barnes has indicated a desire to bring in high-volume scorers, which he did in 6-foot-5 Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade, who has shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc in each of the past two seasons. Per On3’s Chris Lowe, Barnes is prepared to “pay, but not overpay.”
Boswell is a physical, 6-foot-4 two-way guard with a confidence deficiency. The 6-foot-11 Estrella is an oversized forward who averaged 10.0 points and 5.4 rebounds in 18 minutes per game this season. Both are worthy additions to a top roster, with plenty of room for growth.
K-State guard on the move again
You have to wonder if registrars hate him: Redshirt junior guard PJ Haggerty is bound for his fifth school in five seasons.
As a sophomore at Memphis last year, Haggerty, a 6-foot-3 guard, led the American Conference in scoring (21.7 points) and earned second-team All-American honors before transferring. He was named the 24th-best player in the portal by Hoops HQ and signed with Kansas State. Haggerty suffered on an uncompetitive Wildcats squad, but increased his efficiency and ranked fourth nationally in points per game (23.4) in 2025-26.
This three-level scorer, defensive threat and All-Big 12 honorable mention is a gamechanger searching for the right program. Haggerty, a Houston-area native who also played at TCU and Tulsa, has received interest from LSU, Texas and Gonzaga, among others.
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Gonzaga splinters, transfers and graduates
As a redshirt junior this season, 6-foot guard Braeden Smith shot well and passed well but was eclipsed by superior floor general Mario Saint-Supery. Smith, a former Patriot League Player of the Year at Colgate, has proven his ability at the high-major level, and will be a hot commodity among point guards.
Smith is joined in the portal by two other Zags: 6-foot-5 junior wing Emmanuel Innocenti and 6-foot-5 freshman guard Cade Orness. But Mark Few’s bigger issue is his five outgoing seniors, including wing Tyon Grant-Foster and big man Graham Ike. Expect an aggressive Gonzaga presence in this year’s portal.
Arkansas loses 2 guards
Former five-star recruit DJ Wagner made a name for himself at Arkansas, but got antsy sitting behind freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. this season.
Wagner, a 6-foot-4 junior guard, followed John Calipari from Kentucky and led the Razorbacks down the stretch last season after an injury to Boogie Fland. On that Sweet Sixteen team, Wagner averaged 43/35/72 shooting splits and guided the Razorbacks’ offense. This season, Wagner lost starts and minutes with Acuff in the driver’s seat. With a lucrative NIL package guaranteed at Arkansas, his priority in the portal will be usage.
He is joined in the transfer portal by 6-foot-6 Razorbacks guard Karter Knox.
Jayhawks’ flight continues
After an awkward season for Kansas, the Jayhawks’ mass exodus into the portal is underway. Friday, 6-foot-10 sophomore center Flory Bidunga, the Big 12 defensive player of the year, became the highest-rated player on the market, though he also is testing NBA Draft waters. Monday, he was followed by 6-foot-11 freshman forward Bryson Tiller and 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Elmarko Johnson, gutting Kansas’ young core and sending Bill Self back into the portal.
Two All-MAC selections transferring from Miami
Bad news for Miami (Ohio), as two starters are transferring. Sophomore wing Brant Byers and junior guard Eian Elmer were integral in running the RedHawks’ fast-paced offense and both were named second-team All-MAC in March. At 6-foot-8, Byers shot 38.4 percent from three-point range and has elite positional size. Elmer, who is 6 feet 6, is a whopping 66% true shooter and one of the purest glue guys in mid-major basketball.
With two of his key outside shooters gone, MAC Coach of the Year Travis Steele will head back to the drawing board ahead of Year 5.
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