These ACC teams added the most talent in the transfer portal this offseason.
Grant Hughes
The ACC has welcomed an abundance of college basketball transfer portal talent this offseason. Every league member has added at least one transfer this offseason, while 14 of the conference's 17totalteams have added at least three. The league has landed eight programs among top 50 transfer portal team rankings, including North Carolina, Duke, MiamiandLouisville.
The state of North Carolina has long been a haven for elite college basketball talent, and that's still the case in the transfer portal era.The ACC's four North Carolina— schools, UNC, Duke, NC State and Wake Forest— all rank among the league's top 10 transfer portal classes. The Tar Heels, Blue Devils and Wolfpack also signedtop 10high school recruiting classes in the ACC.
Louisville had the most active offseason of any ACC team, adding 12 total transfers, the most in the nation by two. New league members SMU and Cal are looking to make noise in the conference next season after adding strong transfer classes.
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Here are the ACC's top 10 college basketball transfer portal classes, ranked:
10. SMU Mustangs
Overall Rank:No. 53
Incoming Transfers (5):Kevin Miller (No. 157), Matt Cross (No. 227), Kario Oquendo (No. 230),Yohan Traore (No. 364), Jerrell Colbert (N/R)
SMU finished No. 5 in the AAC last season and sought to bolster its roster before making its introduction into the ACC next season. Former Wake Forest point guard Kevin Miller is the highest-ranked of SMU's five transfers. He averaged 15.6 points, 3.5 assists, 2.8 reboundsand1.4 steals as a junior with the Demon Deacons last season.
9. Syracuse Orange
Overall Rank:No. 52
Incoming Transfers (3):Jyare Davis (No. 134), Eddie Lampkin (No. 211), Jaquan Carlos (No. 218)
Syracuse lost nine players to eligibility and the transfer portal this offseason but re-stocked in the portal with a trio of top 250 players.CuseNation's Michael McAllister expects ex-Hofstra guard Jaquan Carlos to start at the pointnext season and former Colorado venter Eddie Lampkin to start down low. Jyare Davis is the highest-rated of the Orange's portal commitsbutisexpectedto come off the bench next season after averaging 17.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assistsand1.6 steals at Delaware last season.
8. North Carolina Tar Heels
Overall Rank:No. 46
Incoming Transfers (2):Cade Tyson (No. 37), Ven-Allen Lubin (No. 116)
UNC jumped into the top 10 following Ven-Allen Lubin's commitment on Thursday. The Tar Heels only have two transfers (the fewest on this list), but they're two of the best. Cade Tyson is the highest-ranked transfer to commit to an ACC school this offseason, while Lubin gives UNC upside in the frontcourt after averaging 12.3 points and 6.3 reboundsas a sophom*ore at Vanderbilt last season. UNC's average rating per transfer (94.0) leads the ACC and ranks No. 7 in the nation.
7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Overall Rank:No. 40
Incoming Transfers (5):Omaha Biliew (No. 82), Ty-Laur Johnson (No. 171), Davin Cosby (No. 298), Tre'Von Spillers (No. 360), Churchill Abass (N/R)
Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes has added five transfers this offseason as the Demon Deacons look to build off last season's 21-14 finishthat did not include anNCAA Tournament bid. Power forward Omaha Biliew, an ex-McDonald's All-American,is the crowned jewel of the bunch. He arrives inWinston-Salemafter a toughfreshmanyear at Iowa State, where he averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game. Forbes has salvaged former top recruitsbeforeand is looking to do it again in 2024-25.
6. Virginia Cavaliers
Overall Rank:No. 38
Incoming Transfers (5):TJ Power (No. 76), Dai Dai Ames (No. 234), Elijah Saunders (No. 294), Jalen Warley (No. 352), Carter Lang (N/A)
Virginiahasn't madeit past the first round of the NCAA Tournament since winning it all in 2018-19 and is coming off one of its worst seasons of the Tony Bennett era in 2023-24.The Cavaliersdidn'tput together agreathigh school recruiting class and will lean on itsfive-manportal group next season.Power, a former five-star recruit at Duke, would have been the highest-rated Virginia signee in the modern recruiting era had he committed to the Cavaliers out of high school. Instead, Bennett gets him after a quiet freshman season in Durham. He has ACC's Most Improved Player written all over him.
5. Miami Hurricanes
Overall Rank:No. 35
Incoming Transfers (4):Lynn Kidd (No. 85), Jalen Blackmon (No. 103), Brandon Johnson (No. 159), Kiree Huie (N/R)
Miami went 15-17 last season and suffered massive blows in the transfer portal, losing star power forward Nochad Omier and versatile shooting guard Wooga Poplar. Reeling off those losses, head coach Jim Larranega responded with three top 200 portal players, highlighted by center Lynn Kidd.It remains unclear whether the Hurricane newcomers will offset the losses of Omier and Poplar. InsideTheU's David Lake told us Miami is still hunting for a point guard in the portal but has come up empty-handed thus far.
4. Cal Golden Bears
Overall Rank:No. 33
Incoming Transfers (8):Andrej Stojakovic (No. 69), BJ Omot (No. 151), Rytis Petraitis (No. 266), Josh Ola-Joseph (No. 268), Mady Sissoko (No. 333), Lee Dort (No. 372), Christian Tucker (No. 404), DJ Campbell (No. 435)
Cal has addeda whoppingeight transfers this offseason after losing seven of its own to the portal. The Golden Bears went 13-19 under first-year head coach Mark Madsen in 2023-24 and re-tooled their roster before entering a tough conference next season. Former Stanford power forward Andrej Stojakovic should help. He's a former McDonald's All-American and bonafide shotmaker despite an underwhelming freshman campaign with the Cardinal last season.
3. Louisville Cardinals
Overall Rank:No. 24
Incoming Transfers (12):Terrence Edwards Jr. (No. 81), Chucky Hepburn (No. 105), Koren Johnson (No. 148), Aly Khalifa (No. 175), Aboubacar Traore (No. 189), J'Vonne Hadley (No. 223), Reyne Smith (No. 278), James Scott (No. 279), Kasean Pryor (No. 288), Frank Anselem-Ibe (No. 389), Kobe Rodgers (N/R), Noah Waterman (N/R)
Louisville neededchangeafter a disastrous two-season stint under Kenny Payne. New head coach Pat Kelsey gutted the roster and built a new team around 12 portal additions, the most in the nation. The Cardinals only return one player from last year's roster, but that's not necessarily a bad thing after last year's squad finished 8-24.
2. NC State Wolfpack
Overall Rank:No. 22
Incoming Transfers (4):Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (No. 55), Marcus Hill (No. 102), Mike James (No. 153), Dontrez Styles (No. 194)
Replacing program legends in DJ Horne and DJ Burns wasnevergoing tobe easy, but Kevin Keatts put his best foot forward this offseason and has put together the second-best portal class in the ACC.Two of the league's top 15 transfers, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and MarcusHill,headline the Wolfpack's four additions and should help offset the losses of Horne and Burns. Former Tar Heel Dontrez Styles is a versatile addition and should add juice to the rivalry matchups next season.
1. Duke Blue Devils
Overall Rank:No. 14
Incoming Transfers (4):Sion James (No. 65), Maliq Brown (No. 70), Mason Gillis (No. 95), Cameron Sheffield (N/R)
Duke signed the nation's No. 1 overall recruiting class and added veteran talentaroundwith the ACC's top-ranked transfer group. The Blue Devils are the only team with three players among the ACC's top 15 transfers. Mason Gillis seems destined for a bench role due to his limited offensive upside, but Brown and James should be instant-impact players in Durham.Brown is efficient on offense,stingy on defense and gives Duke's frontcourt a much-needed veteran presence with 61 career games under his belt.James was the last piece of Duke's offseason puzzle and projects as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league next season.
