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.
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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.
Roster assuming all players with eligibility other than Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar and the seven players who entered the transfer portal return, which would put UNC one under the 15-player limit. The class for next season is listed.
| No./ Stars | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 star | Freshman | Maximo Adams | SF | 6–7 | 205 |
| 3 star | Freshman | Malloy Smith | CG | 6–5 | 190 |
| 5 star | Freshman | Sayon Keita | C | 7–0 | 215 |
| 4 star | Freshman | Kevin Thomas | W | 6–7 | 190 |
| Freshman | Alexandros Samodurov | C | 6–11 | 212 | |
| RS freshman | Cade Bennerman — W | C | 7–0 | 205 | |
| Sophomore | Neoklis Avdalas — X | G | 6–9 | 215 | |
| Sophomore | Isaiah Denis | G | 6–4 | 180 | |
| Sophomore | Matt Able — Y | G | 6–5 | 196 | |
| 1 | Senior | Terrence Brown — Z | G | 6–3 | 174 |
| 4 | Senior | Jaydon Young | G | 6–4 | 200 |
| 15 | Senior | Jarin Stevenson | 4 | 6–10 | 215 |
| Walk-ons | |||||
| 25 | Junior | John Holbrook | 4 | 6–8 | 230 |
| 32 | Senior | Evan Smith | 2 | 6–1 | 195 |
W — Northwestern transfer. X — Virginia Tech transfer; Y — N.C. State transfer; Z — Utah transfer
Michael Malone’s coaching staff: Chuck Martin, Bryan Tibaldi, Sean May and Pat Sullivan; Deon Thompson will be a graduate assistant, and Brandon Robinson will reportedly have a support staff position.
Players who left for the transfer portal
| Player | Class next season | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt | Next school |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luka Bogavac | Senior | W | 6–6 | 215 | Oklahoma State |
| James Brown | Senior | C | 6–10 | 240 | Howard |
| Derek Dixon | Sophomore | G | 6–5 | 200 | Arizona |
| Kyan Evans | Senior | G | 6–2 | 175 | Minnesota |
| Zayden High | Junior | C | 6–10 | 230 | South Florida |
| Jonathan Powell | Junior | G | 6–6 | 190 | Pittsburgh |
| Ivan Matlekovic | Junior | C | 7–0 | 255 |
Schedule so far
(Other than the ACC/SEC Challenge, games without links revealed from reporting by Alex Rosinski or Rocco Miller)
(11 of 14 games)
Nov. 2 — vs. Western Carolina
Nov. 6 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 10 — vs. Wyoming
Nov. 13 — vs. Georgia
Nov. 20 — vs. Marshall
Nov. 27 — vs. West Virginia at the Dick Vitale Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center
Dec. 1 — vs. Arkansas in ACC/SEC Challenge
Dec. 12 — at Georgetown
Dec. 19 — vs. Kentucky in CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 — vs. The Citadel
November or December — vs. Butler
ACC games
Home and away: Duke, Louisville
Home only: California, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, SMU, Stanford, Virginia
Away only: Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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