By R.L. Bynum

College basketball is becoming increasingly similar to pro basketball in many ways, so why not examine transfer portal transactions in the same light?

Carolina lost five players to the men’s basketball transfer portal and brought in five. What if you looked at that as a five-for-five trade? How did the Tar Heels fare?

There are other intangible factors at play, but you can compare the groups by using the player rating that 247Sports assigns to all players who enter the transfer portal.

This doesn’t account for five-star freshman wing Caleb Wilson, whose 99 rating is higher than any of the 10 players in this transfer discussion. However, the metric suggests that the trade would have been fairly even, with UNC coming up on the short end.

While the five players who transferred out have an average rating of 93.4, the five players transferring to UNC have an average rating of 92.2. The margin narrows if you only look at the top four players in each group — the outgoing group would be at 94 compared to 93.25 for the incoming group.

That doesn’t account for UNC going from an undersized center in 6–8 Ven-Allen Lubin to a taller center with a higher ceiling in 7–0 Arizona transfer center Henri Veesaar.

Here’s how that group of five players would be matched up ratings-wise, going from highest to lowest:
— St. John’s-bound guard Ian Jackson is at 98 while Veesaar (top photo) is at 96.
— Michigan-bound point guard Elliot Cadeau is at 94, while Colorado State point guard transfer Kyan Evans is at 93.
— The next two players in both groups are at 92: Vanderbilt-bound Jalen Washington, N.C. State-bound Lubin, Alabama transfer Jarin Stevenson and West Virginia transfer Jonathan Powell.
— The lowest-rated players in the two groups are Cade Tyson, who will play at Minnesota, with a 91, and Virginia Tech transfer Jaron Young at 88.

Team-wise, 247Sports ranked Carolina’s nine newcomers, including the three freshmen and Luca Bogavac, as the No. 7 group of newcomers in the country.

Where are the former Tar Heels’ teams in that ranking? Cadeau’s Wolverines are No. 10, Lubin’s Wolfpack are No. 14, Jackson’s Red Storm are No. 21, Washington’s Commodores are No. 60 and Tyson’s Gophers are No. 77.

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No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

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Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo via @UNC_Basketball