Portal Hauls: Looking at the Friar’s Last Few Portal Classes

Transfers in collegiate athletics is nothing new. Former Friar coach Ed Cooley was one of the early adopters of the transfer portal. He added Tyler Harris in 2012 and Carson Derosiers in 2013. Both of them would be major pieces for the Friars 2014 Big East Tournament championship squad. It was Chris Beard who made it fashionable by taking a Texas Tech squad mainly comprised of transfers to the national title game in 2019.

Now in the era of NIL and looser restrictions for players changing schools, the transfer portal has become all the rage. Last season around 1800 players entered the portal. They’ve already passed that mark this year. With the portal closing on May 1st, it seems likely that the number could surpass 2000 players. This has caused high school recruiting services to take their talents to ranking players in the portal and the teams with the best hauls in the transfer portal. As you’ll see below, the accuracy of these rankings leaves a lot to be desired. This goes along with the premise I’ll make that a player fit is more important than their overall ranking or perceived impact. For most teams, transfer portal adds are filling a gap on the roster rather than simply accumulating talent. The latter certainly happens (see Musselman), but most transfer adds plug a hole.

We will evaluate below how the industry perceived the transfer portal classes of the Friars, showing that the transfer portal rankings are much more hit and miss than the high school recruiting rankings.

With Kim English and staff adding four new players to the mix through the portal this offseason, we decided to take a look at where the Friars stacked up against the rest of the nation. We decided to use 247sports rankings considering they were early adopters of ranking the portal.

2021

Note this year there weren’t official team rankings from 247Sports, as they introduced transfer portal rankings in later years.

Aljami Durham– Indiana

Justin Minaya– South Carolina

The Friars made the most of their two portal additions in 2021. Durham was able to provide steady guard play out of the combo guard position and was absolutely clutch from the charity stripe. Justin Minaya surprised a lot of people with his outstanding defense, and his three point shooting was an added bonus. These two only spent one season in Friartown, but made their mark being starters on PC’s first Sweet 16 team since 1997. PC also had Jared Bynum and Ed Crowell who were key reserves that transferred in previously from St. Joe’s and LaSalle, respectively.

Note- CBS Sports did rank the top-85 players in the portal in 2021. Durham checked in at 62 and Minaya didn’t make the cut. This further proves our point of rankings being more miss than hit.

2022

https://247sports.com/season/2022-basketball/transferportaltop

Devin Carter– South Carolina, 4⭐️ #22 overall

Bryce Hopkins– Kentucky, 4⭐️ #26 overall

Corey Floyd Jr– UConn, 4⭐️ #52 overall

Noah Locke– Louisville, grad transfer

Clifton Moore– LaSalle, grad transfer

Team Ranking: 6th in the country

After the run to the Sweet 16, the Friars went to work quickly to reload the roster. They decided to go for younger players with high upside and compliment them with two graduate transfers. Hopkins was the best player of this group in the 22-23 season, earning first team All-Big East honors. Devin Carter had a good year, but would see his stardom rise the year after, especially with Bryce Hopkins tearing his ACL this past January. The Friars were able to get back to the NCAA tournament, but lost in the first round and we all know what happened after that. Hopkins and Corey Floyd Jr are still on the team today and Devin Carter expects to hear his name called in the 1st round of June’s NBA Draft.

If you were to revisit the rankings now, Devin Carter and Bryce Hopkins would be certified locks in the Top 10.

2023

https://247sports.com/season/2023-basketball/transferportaltop

Justyn Fernandez– GMU, 4⭐️ #136 overall

Josh Oduro– GMU, 3⭐️ #151 overall

Ticket Gaines– GMU, 3⭐️ #337 overall

Team Ranking: 52nd in the country.

With Kim English taking over as the head coach of the Friars his first offseason focused on retaining current Friars. He also brought a handful of his George Mason players with him. The Friars highest rated portal add has yet to make his debut, as Fernandez sat all year rehabbing a knee injury suffered the year before. Josh Oduro was grossly undervalued in the transfer portal, as he achieved All Conference Honors in the Big East this past year.

If he didn’t instantly decide to transfer and follow Kim, he would’ve garnered a ton of suitors and would’ve been ranked much higher. Gaines and Oduro started for a Friar team that became a bubble team once Bryce Hopkins got hurt, and they just missed the NCAA Tournament.

2024

https://247sports.com/season/2024-basketball/transferportaltop

Wesley Cardet Jr– Chicago St, 4⭐️ #94 overall

Bensley Joseph– Miami, 4⭐️ #109 overall

Christ Essandoko– St. Joes, 4⭐️ #152 overall

Jabri Abdur-Rahim– UGA, 4⭐️ #192

Team Ranking: 15th in the country*

*=as of this writing

“Tough. Humble. Great work ethic. Dogs. Selfless. Want to guard. Can shoot it. Winners. People that want to be Friars.” #pcbb #gofriars #mindset #lasagna pic.twitter.com/TzTyAwqF8F
— Mike Hopkins (@pcbb1917) April 21, 2024

After losing the regular season finale against UConn, Kim English indicated that he would never put the team in the position he did this year from a depth perspective. They put together a really good team last season but they couldn’t withstand the devastating blow of losing Bryce Hopkins for the year. Kim English wants to make sure one injury doesn’t torpedo a season, so he added high level talent AND depth.

Then after losing to BC in the opening round of the NIT, Kim above said what he was looking for in a player from the portal. Well, Kim appears to have delivered on his promise. The Friars have added size, length, shot making, and defense through the portal. It should also be noted that it’s an added bonus that they added Anton Bonke from the JUCO level mid-season and Fernandez should be healthy at the start of the year.

TLDR: Don’t Read Too Much Into Rankings

I want to preface this by saying this is by no means a full indictment on the recruiting services ranking players and teams in the portal. It’s a really tough job and an absolute necessity to college sports. You have a ton of players searching for a new school and doing so in a short window of time. You’re trying to weigh years of eligibility, potential, and production when making these rankings. Because of this, the rankings tend to be all over the place, understandably so.

In 2022 Emoni Bates was rated the #1 player in the portal. Brandon Murray, Isiaih Mosley, and Matthew Mayer were also featured in the top-10 that year. Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter would prove to be way more valuable than any of those four. This past season there is no debate that Dalton Knecht and Cam Spencer were the most valuable portal adds in 2023. They were ranked 13 and 114, respectively. Only half of the teams ranked in the top-10 of portal classes last year made the NCAA Tournament.

It ultimately comes down to fit with the team that lands the player. Durham and Minaya addressed weaknesses the Friars had and instantly gelled with the team. My advice? Watch tape of players and see what traits they should be providing their new teams. Ultimately, a coach shouldn’t rely on rankings, but should make their own judgements regardless of where a player is ranked in the transfer portal. Fit is most important. Full stop.

Conclusion

The Friars have seen first hand how the transfer portal can pay great dividends for teams. While the Crier may favor adding guys in the portal over high school players, you still need to consistently bring in freshman that you can develop and blend them with portal players that can fill needs. While we won’t fully know until the games are actually played, it seems the Friars hit another home run in the portal.

Providence Crier Recruiting Articles

Wesley Cardet Jr. Commits to Providence: https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/21/wesley-cardet-jr-commits-to-providence-friars-get-their-scoring-guard/

Jabri Abdur Rahim Commits to Providence – Analyzing the Impact – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/18/wing-jabri-abdur-rahim-joins-the-friar-family-analyzing-the-impact/

Crier Recruiting Corner – Introducing BJ Freeman & Anthony Dell’Orso – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/11/crier-portal-spotlight-closer-look-at-wings-bj-freeman-anthony-dellorso/

Analyzing the Impact of Chris Essandoko – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/10/the-return-of-christ-one-time-friar-commit-transfers-to-providence/

Crier Recruiting Corner – Introducing Chattanooga Forward Sam Alexis – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/05/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-chattanooga-big-sam-alexis/

Crier Recruiting Corner – Introducing Miami Guard Bensley Joseph – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/02/crier-portal-guide-spotlight-miami-guard-bensley-joseph/

Crier Recruiting Corner – Introducing Gavin Griffiths – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/04/02/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-rutgers-freshman-wing-gavin-griffiths/

2024 Portal Guide – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/03/26/providence-crier-portal-guide/

2024 Portal Needs – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/03/24/2024-providence-crier-portal-needs/

Garwey Dual Transfers – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/03/22/garwey-dual-reportedly-enters-transfer-portal-analyzing-the-impact/

Crier Recruiting Corner, Introducing Jaylen Harrell – https://theprovidencecrier.com/2024/02/20/crier-recruiting-corner-introducing-2025-wing-jaylen-harrell/