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.
UNC roster
(Next season’s classes listed)
| No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshman | Caleb Wilson (5 star) | 4 | 6–9 | 205 | |
| Freshman | Isaiah Denis (4 star) | CG | 6–5 | 175 | |
| Freshman | Derek Dixon (4 star) | CG | 6-3 | 190 | |
| Freshman | Luca Bogavac | W | 6-5 | 201 | |
| Sophomore | Jonathan Powell | G | 6-6 | 191 | |
| 2 | Sophomore | James Brown | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
| 1 | Sophomore | Zayden High | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
| Junior | Luca Bogavac | W | 6-5 | 201 | |
| Junior | Jaydon Young | 2 | 6–4 | 205 | |
| RS junior | Henri Veesaar | 5 | 7–0 | 235 | |
| Junior | Kyan Evans | 1 | 6–2 | 175 | |
| Junior | Jarin Stevenson | 4 | 6–11 | 215 | |
| 7 | Senior | Seth Trimble | 2 | 6–3 | 195 |
| Walk-ons | |||||
| 15 | Sophomore | John Holbrook | 4 | 6–8 | 230 |
| 14 | Junior | Russell Hawkins | 2 | 6–1 | 175 |
| 6 | RS Senior | Elijah Davis | 2 | 6–4 | 197 |
UNC players entering portal
| 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 |
UNC schedule
Oct. 24 — Exhibition vs. BYU at Delta Center in Salt Lake City
Nov. 3 — vs. Central Arkansas (finished 9–24, 349th in KenPom; first meeting)
Nov. 7 — vs. Kansas (21–13; 24th; lost to Arkansas in first round of NCAA tournament; series tied at 6)
Nov. 11 — vs. Radford (20–13, 151st; UNC leads series 3–0)
Nov. 17 or 18 — vs. Navy (15–19, 276th; Navy leads 14–6)
Nov. 25 — vs. St. Bonaventure, likely at 6 p.m. (21–11; 97th; lost to Kent State in first round of the NIT; UNC leads 1–0) in Fort Myers Tip-Off
Nov. 27 — vs. Michigan State, likely 4:30 p.m. (30–7; 7th; lost to Auburn in Elite Eight; UNC leads 13–4) in Fort Myers Tip-Off
Likely December (TBA) — vs. Georgetown (18–16; 90th; Georgetown leads 5–4)
Dec. 2 — at Kentucky in ACC/SEC Challenge (24–12, 16th; UNC leads 25–18)
Dec. 13 — USC Upstate (6–26, 340th; first meeting)
Dec. 20 — CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta against Ohio State (17–15; 37th; UNC leads 13–3)
Dec. 22 — vs. East Carolina (19–14; 176th; UNC leads 4–0)
Date TBA — vs. N.C. Central (10–19; 319th; UNC leads 3–0)
One more nonconference game
Likely Feb. 1 or Feb. 8 — vs. Duke (35–4; 1st; UNC leads 145–120)
Likely March 7 — at Duke
ACC games
Home and home vs. Duke and Syracuse
Other home games against Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Other road games against California, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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