So now that the draft withdrawal deadline is passed I thought I’d look at the league and see where we stack up. Somewhat up to change with some guys remaining in the portal yet to find homes, but I’m thinking we have a chance to really compete with anyone in the league
TIER 1
UNC
Lose a lot but bring back RJ Davis(21.2), Elliot Cadeau(7.3), Seth Trimble(5.2), Jae’Lyn Withers(4.2), Jalen Washington(3.9)
Add in some 5* recruits like Ian Jackson(Top 10), Drake Powell(Top 15) plus James Brown(Top 70)
Get some transfers in Cade Tyson 16.2 Belmont and Ven-Allen Lubin 12.3 Vanderbilt
A lineup of Cadeau, RJ Davis, Ian Jackson, Cade Tyson, and Lubin with Drake Powell, Trimble, Withers off the bench. Good team with a legit NCAA POY candidate….but this team feels a little short of last year’s team on paper losing Bacot, Ingram, Ryan.
DUKE
Lose almost everyone
Just get Tyrese Proctor(10.5), Caleb foster(7.7) back
Elite recruiting class Cooper Flagg(#1), Khaman Maluach(Top 5), Isaiah Evans(Top 15), Kon Knueppel(Top 20), Pat Ngongba(Top 20), Darren Harris(Top 30)
Some big transfers like Sion James 14.0 Tulane, Maliq Brown 9.5 Syracuse, Mason Gillis 6.5 Purdue, and Cameron Sheffield 7.6 Rice
A Proctor, Foster, Sion James, Flagg, Maluach lineup with Evans, Knueppel, Ngongba, Maliq Brown, and Mason Gillis bench feels like it can be scary- but that’s a lot of freshmen needing to play big roles and that’s not the way the game goes today in general.
LOUISVILLE
Entire team gone
Only recruit is Top 40 Khani Rooths
Loaded up on transfers like Terrence Edwards 17.2 James Madison, Kasean Pryor 13.0 USF, Reyne Smith 12.8 Charleston, Aboubacar Traore 12.0 Long Beach St,
J’Vonne Hadley 11.6 Colorado, Koren Johnson 11.1 Washington, Kobe Rogers 9.7 Charleston, Chucky Hepburn 9.2 Wisky, Ali Khalifa 5.7 BYU, Noah Waterman 9.5 BYU
R.Smith, Hadley, T.Edwards, Pryor, Khalifa lineup is very talented for sure with a loaded bench…..but it’s just a collection of guys they need to get to come together and buy in and that’s a lot of players who have proven something but only one ball and 200 minutes to go around
TIER 2
MIAMI
Lose most of team
Get Matthew Cleveland(13.7), Nijel Pack(13.3), Paul Djobet(2.4) back
Recruits are Jalil Bethea(Top 10), Austin Swartz(Top 50), Isaiah Johnson-Arigu 4*
Transfers include Jalen Blackmon 21.3 Stetson, Brandon Johnson 14.0 ECU, Lynn Kidd 13.2 VT, Kiree Huie 11.3 Idaho St
An interesting Pack, Bethea, Cleveland, B.Johnson, Kidd lineup lacks a natural point guard but man are they gonna score it. Not to mention Blackmon, Swartz, Huie off the bench.
PITT
Lose Bub, Hinson
Return Jaland Lowe(9.6), Ish Leggett(12.3), Zack Austin(6.5), Guillermo Diaz Graham(6.7), Jorge Diaz Graham(3.5)
Recruits are Brandin Cummings(4*), Papa Kante(Top 100, redshirt), and Euro Amsal Delalic
Two transfers in Cam Corhen 9.4 Florida State and Damian Dunn 6.4 Houston
Lowe, Leggett, Amsal, Austin, Corhen with Dunn, both Diaz Graham’s, Kante, and Cummings off the bench.
CLEMSON
Lose hall, Girard
Get back Ian schieffelin(10.1), chase hunter(12.9), Dillon hunter(2.3), Chauncey wiggins(5.4)
Recruits Dallas Thomas(top 85 recruit) and del jones 4*
Transfers Jake heidbreder 15.1 ppg Air Force 22/23, Jaeden zackery 11.3 bc, Viktor lahkin 9.2 Cincy, and Myles foster 12.4 Illinois st
Thinking a Zackery, C.Hunter, Heidbreder, Schieffelin, Lahkin lineup with Foster, D.Hunter, Wiggins, and the freshmen bench
WAKE FOREST
Lose Miller, Carr, Monsanto
Get Hunter Sallis(18.0), Cam Hildreth(13.8), Efton Reid(9.6), Parker Friedrichsen(5.1) back
Only recruit is Juke Harris Top 100
Transfers TreVon Spillers 12.8 Appalachian St, Ty-Laur Johnson 8.7 Louisville, Davin Cosby 3.6 Alabama, and Omaha Biliew 2.4 Iowa St(Former Top 10 recruit last year)
I feel like the transfers will be even better than anyone knows as that’s the strength of Forbes. A Ty-Laur, Sallis, Hildreth, Spillers, Effon lineup can be very good and Biliew is likely gonna breakout with the change in scenery
TIER 3
NC STATE
Lose most of team
Return Jayden Taylor(11.2), Ben Middlebrooks(5.7), Michael O’Connell(5.7), Dennis Parker(4.7), MJ Rice(4.1)
Recruit is Paul McNeil Top 50
Transfers in Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 12.9 Louisville, Mike James 12.6 Louisville, Dontrez Styles 12.8 Georgetown, Marcus Hill 20.5 Bowling Green
I don’t know what to make of this team at all. Some talented pieces even though they lose all of their key guys from this year. All of the transfers put up big numbers, but did so at loser programs. This could end up being too high or too low depending on how it all fits together.
GT
Lose M.Kelly, Sturdivant, D.Coleman
Get Lance Terry(10.1), Baye Ndongo(12.4), Naithan George(9.8), Kowacie Reeves(8.8) back
Recruits Jaeden Mustaf(Top 65), Darrion Sutton(Top 100) and Doryan Onwuchekwa 4
Transfers Javian McCollum 13.3 Oklahoma, Jalen Forrest 11.3 Presbyterian 22/23, Luke O’Brien 6.7 Colorado
GT is gonna be an interesting team. They lose their best player but get 4 guys back and George and Ndongo are gonna be better as sophomores. Those 4 plus McCollum and Mustaf are gonna make GT pretty solid
SYRACUSE
Lose almost all
Get JJ Starling(13.3), Chris Bell(12.0), Kyle Cuffe(3.2), Naheem McLeod(3.9) back
Only 2 recruits but Donavan Freeman(Top 10-15), Elijah Moore(Top 50)
Transfers Eddie Lampkin 10.6 Colorado, Jyare Davis 17.1 Delaware, Jaquan Carlos 10.4 Hofstra, Chance Westry 2.5 Auburn in 22/23
Thinking Carlos, Starling, Bell, Freeman Lampkin plus Davis as a 6th man is very interesting. Need something out of Cuffe or Westry though because the depth just isn’t there otherwise
TIER 4
NOTRE DAME
Lose Carey Booth
Return Markus Burton(17.5), Braden Shrewsberry(10.2), Tae Davis(9.2), JR Konieczyn(7.7), Julian Roper(5.4)
Recruits Nasir Mohammed(Top 50), Cole Certa(Top 100), and Garrett Sundra(Top 100)
Transfers Matt Allocco 12.7 Princeton, Nikita Konstantynovskyi 9.3 Monmouth, Burke Chebuhar 7.5 Lehigh
Gonna need last year’s two top freshmen to make a jump, but a Burton, Shrewsberry, Mohammed, Allocco backcourt will give them firepower. Outside of Tae Davis at forward I’m not a fan of the frontcourt though. Losing Booth really hurt them
VIRGINIA
Lose Beekman, Dunn, Groves
Get Isaac McKneely(12.3), Andrew Rohde(4.3), Elijah Gertrude(3.4), Blake Buchanan(3.4) back
One notable recruit Jacob Cofie Top 60
Transfers Jalen Warley 7.5 Florida St, Elijah Saunders 6.2 San Diego St, Dai Dai Ames 5.2 Kansas St, TJ Power 2.1 Duke
Talent wise they probably don’t belong this high but Bennett gets the most out of his teams so I’ll push them up a few spots. The offense was bad last year and I struggle to see where it gets better unless TJ Power looks like the 5* he was last year for Duke.
SMU
Lose mostly everyone
Get Chuck Harris(13.4), Keon Ambrose-Hylton(6.9) back
Transfers Kevin Miller 15.6 Wake Forest, Matt Cross 15.3 UMass, Yohan Traore 14.5 Santa Barbara, AJ George 10.6 Long Beach, Kario Oquendo 7.2 Oregon, Tibet Gorener 11.4 San Jose St
Harris, Miller, Oquendo, Cross, Traore with Ambrose-Hylton, George, Gorener should make them somewhat competitive
CAL
Lose everyone
Transfers Rytis petraitis 15.7 ppg Air Force, Bj omot 16.7 North Dakota, Andrej stojakovic 7.8 stanford, Joshua ola-joseph 7.5 Minnesota, Mady sissoko 3.3 msu
Christian tucker(utsa) and dj Campbell(western Carolina) each 11+ ppg
This is an interesting collection of transfers. They’re gonna need Peja’s kid to breakout to have much upside though
TIER 5
VIRGINIA TECH
Lose everyone
Mylyjael Poteat 6.4 PPG one guy back
Recruits Ryan Jones Top 75, Tyler Johnson 4*
Transfers Hysier Miller 15.9 Temple, Ben Burnham 11.9 Charleston, Tobiu Lawal 7.7 VCU, Jaden Schutt 2.1 Duke 22/23
Miller will put up points but this team just lacks a lot
BC
Lose everyone over 5 ppg
Donald hand top ret player 5.0 ppg
Recruit Kany Tchanda 4*
Transfers Chad venning 13.4 ppg st bonaventure, Dion brown 19.0 ppg umbc, Roger mcfarlane 14.8 ppg se Louisiana
A lineup with Venning, Brown, McFarlane, Hand makes them one of the better teams in the bottom tier but there isn’t a ton behind these guys
STANFORD
Lose almost everyone
Get Maxime Reynaud(15.5), Benny Gealer(4.2) back
Transfers Chisom Okpara 16.5 Harvard, Derin Saran 10.1 UC Irvine, Oziyah Sellers 5.2 USC
Reynaud and Okpara are going to be good, but I just don’t see much else going for them
FSU
Lose almost everyone
Only Chandler Jackson(4.9), Taylor Bol Bowen(3.1) back
Recruits DaQuan Davis(Top 100) and AJ Swinton 4* and Malique Ewen- Top JUCO
Transfers Bostyn Holt 12.3 South Dakota, Jerry Deng 10.1 Hampton, Justin Thomas 7.3 UTSA 22/23
FSU just loses so much and doesn’t really add a ton of impact to make up for it
TIER 1
UNC
Lose a lot but bring back RJ Davis(21.2), Elliot Cadeau(7.3), Seth Trimble(5.2), Jae’Lyn Withers(4.2), Jalen Washington(3.9)
Add in some 5* recruits like Ian Jackson(Top 10), Drake Powell(Top 15) plus James Brown(Top 70)
Get some transfers in Cade Tyson 16.2 Belmont and Ven-Allen Lubin 12.3 Vanderbilt
A lineup of Cadeau, RJ Davis, Ian Jackson, Cade Tyson, and Lubin with Drake Powell, Trimble, Withers off the bench. Good team with a legit NCAA POY candidate….but this team feels a little short of last year’s team on paper losing Bacot, Ingram, Ryan.
DUKE
Lose almost everyone
Just get Tyrese Proctor(10.5), Caleb foster(7.7) back
Elite recruiting class Cooper Flagg(#1), Khaman Maluach(Top 5), Isaiah Evans(Top 15), Kon Knueppel(Top 20), Pat Ngongba(Top 20), Darren Harris(Top 30)
Some big transfers like Sion James 14.0 Tulane, Maliq Brown 9.5 Syracuse, Mason Gillis 6.5 Purdue, and Cameron Sheffield 7.6 Rice
A Proctor, Foster, Sion James, Flagg, Maluach lineup with Evans, Knueppel, Ngongba, Maliq Brown, and Mason Gillis bench feels like it can be scary- but that’s a lot of freshmen needing to play big roles and that’s not the way the game goes today in general.
LOUISVILLE
Entire team gone
Only recruit is Top 40 Khani Rooths
Loaded up on transfers like Terrence Edwards 17.2 James Madison, Kasean Pryor 13.0 USF, Reyne Smith 12.8 Charleston, Aboubacar Traore 12.0 Long Beach St,
J’Vonne Hadley 11.6 Colorado, Koren Johnson 11.1 Washington, Kobe Rogers 9.7 Charleston, Chucky Hepburn 9.2 Wisky, Ali Khalifa 5.7 BYU, Noah Waterman 9.5 BYU
R.Smith, Hadley, T.Edwards, Pryor, Khalifa lineup is very talented for sure with a loaded bench…..but it’s just a collection of guys they need to get to come together and buy in and that’s a lot of players who have proven something but only one ball and 200 minutes to go around
TIER 2
MIAMI
Lose most of team
Get Matthew Cleveland(13.7), Nijel Pack(13.3), Paul Djobet(2.4) back
Recruits are Jalil Bethea(Top 10), Austin Swartz(Top 50), Isaiah Johnson-Arigu 4*
Transfers include Jalen Blackmon 21.3 Stetson, Brandon Johnson 14.0 ECU, Lynn Kidd 13.2 VT, Kiree Huie 11.3 Idaho St
An interesting Pack, Bethea, Cleveland, B.Johnson, Kidd lineup lacks a natural point guard but man are they gonna score it. Not to mention Blackmon, Swartz, Huie off the bench.
PITT
Lose Bub, Hinson
Return Jaland Lowe(9.6), Ish Leggett(12.3), Zack Austin(6.5), Guillermo Diaz Graham(6.7), Jorge Diaz Graham(3.5)
Recruits are Brandin Cummings(4*), Papa Kante(Top 100, redshirt), and Euro Amsal Delalic
Two transfers in Cam Corhen 9.4 Florida State and Damian Dunn 6.4 Houston
Lowe, Leggett, Amsal, Austin, Corhen with Dunn, both Diaz Graham’s, Kante, and Cummings off the bench.
CLEMSON
Lose hall, Girard
Get back Ian schieffelin(10.1), chase hunter(12.9), Dillon hunter(2.3), Chauncey wiggins(5.4)
Recruits Dallas Thomas(top 85 recruit) and del jones 4*
Transfers Jake heidbreder 15.1 ppg Air Force 22/23, Jaeden zackery 11.3 bc, Viktor lahkin 9.2 Cincy, and Myles foster 12.4 Illinois st
Thinking a Zackery, C.Hunter, Heidbreder, Schieffelin, Lahkin lineup with Foster, D.Hunter, Wiggins, and the freshmen bench
WAKE FOREST
Lose Miller, Carr, Monsanto
Get Hunter Sallis(18.0), Cam Hildreth(13.8), Efton Reid(9.6), Parker Friedrichsen(5.1) back
Only recruit is Juke Harris Top 100
Transfers TreVon Spillers 12.8 Appalachian St, Ty-Laur Johnson 8.7 Louisville, Davin Cosby 3.6 Alabama, and Omaha Biliew 2.4 Iowa St(Former Top 10 recruit last year)
I feel like the transfers will be even better than anyone knows as that’s the strength of Forbes. A Ty-Laur, Sallis, Hildreth, Spillers, Effon lineup can be very good and Biliew is likely gonna breakout with the change in scenery
TIER 3
NC STATE
Lose most of team
Return Jayden Taylor(11.2), Ben Middlebrooks(5.7), Michael O’Connell(5.7), Dennis Parker(4.7), MJ Rice(4.1)
Recruit is Paul McNeil Top 50
Transfers in Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 12.9 Louisville, Mike James 12.6 Louisville, Dontrez Styles 12.8 Georgetown, Marcus Hill 20.5 Bowling Green
I don’t know what to make of this team at all. Some talented pieces even though they lose all of their key guys from this year. All of the transfers put up big numbers, but did so at loser programs. This could end up being too high or too low depending on how it all fits together.
GT
Lose M.Kelly, Sturdivant, D.Coleman
Get Lance Terry(10.1), Baye Ndongo(12.4), Naithan George(9.8), Kowacie Reeves(8.8) back
Recruits Jaeden Mustaf(Top 65), Darrion Sutton(Top 100) and Doryan Onwuchekwa 4
Transfers Javian McCollum 13.3 Oklahoma, Jalen Forrest 11.3 Presbyterian 22/23, Luke O’Brien 6.7 Colorado
GT is gonna be an interesting team. They lose their best player but get 4 guys back and George and Ndongo are gonna be better as sophomores. Those 4 plus McCollum and Mustaf are gonna make GT pretty solid
SYRACUSE
Lose almost all
Get JJ Starling(13.3), Chris Bell(12.0), Kyle Cuffe(3.2), Naheem McLeod(3.9) back
Only 2 recruits but Donavan Freeman(Top 10-15), Elijah Moore(Top 50)
Transfers Eddie Lampkin 10.6 Colorado, Jyare Davis 17.1 Delaware, Jaquan Carlos 10.4 Hofstra, Chance Westry 2.5 Auburn in 22/23
Thinking Carlos, Starling, Bell, Freeman Lampkin plus Davis as a 6th man is very interesting. Need something out of Cuffe or Westry though because the depth just isn’t there otherwise
TIER 4
NOTRE DAME
Lose Carey Booth
Return Markus Burton(17.5), Braden Shrewsberry(10.2), Tae Davis(9.2), JR Konieczyn(7.7), Julian Roper(5.4)
Recruits Nasir Mohammed(Top 50), Cole Certa(Top 100), and Garrett Sundra(Top 100)
Transfers Matt Allocco 12.7 Princeton, Nikita Konstantynovskyi 9.3 Monmouth, Burke Chebuhar 7.5 Lehigh
Gonna need last year’s two top freshmen to make a jump, but a Burton, Shrewsberry, Mohammed, Allocco backcourt will give them firepower. Outside of Tae Davis at forward I’m not a fan of the frontcourt though. Losing Booth really hurt them
VIRGINIA
Lose Beekman, Dunn, Groves
Get Isaac McKneely(12.3), Andrew Rohde(4.3), Elijah Gertrude(3.4), Blake Buchanan(3.4) back
One notable recruit Jacob Cofie Top 60
Transfers Jalen Warley 7.5 Florida St, Elijah Saunders 6.2 San Diego St, Dai Dai Ames 5.2 Kansas St, TJ Power 2.1 Duke
Talent wise they probably don’t belong this high but Bennett gets the most out of his teams so I’ll push them up a few spots. The offense was bad last year and I struggle to see where it gets better unless TJ Power looks like the 5* he was last year for Duke.
SMU
Lose mostly everyone
Get Chuck Harris(13.4), Keon Ambrose-Hylton(6.9) back
Transfers Kevin Miller 15.6 Wake Forest, Matt Cross 15.3 UMass, Yohan Traore 14.5 Santa Barbara, AJ George 10.6 Long Beach, Kario Oquendo 7.2 Oregon, Tibet Gorener 11.4 San Jose St
Harris, Miller, Oquendo, Cross, Traore with Ambrose-Hylton, George, Gorener should make them somewhat competitive
CAL
Lose everyone
Transfers Rytis petraitis 15.7 ppg Air Force, Bj omot 16.7 North Dakota, Andrej stojakovic 7.8 stanford, Joshua ola-joseph 7.5 Minnesota, Mady sissoko 3.3 msu
Christian tucker(utsa) and dj Campbell(western Carolina) each 11+ ppg
This is an interesting collection of transfers. They’re gonna need Peja’s kid to breakout to have much upside though
TIER 5
VIRGINIA TECH
Lose everyone
Mylyjael Poteat 6.4 PPG one guy back
Recruits Ryan Jones Top 75, Tyler Johnson 4*
Transfers Hysier Miller 15.9 Temple, Ben Burnham 11.9 Charleston, Tobiu Lawal 7.7 VCU, Jaden Schutt 2.1 Duke 22/23
Miller will put up points but this team just lacks a lot
BC
Lose everyone over 5 ppg
Donald hand top ret player 5.0 ppg
Recruit Kany Tchanda 4*
Transfers Chad venning 13.4 ppg st bonaventure, Dion brown 19.0 ppg umbc, Roger mcfarlane 14.8 ppg se Louisiana
A lineup with Venning, Brown, McFarlane, Hand makes them one of the better teams in the bottom tier but there isn’t a ton behind these guys
STANFORD
Lose almost everyone
Get Maxime Reynaud(15.5), Benny Gealer(4.2) back
Transfers Chisom Okpara 16.5 Harvard, Derin Saran 10.1 UC Irvine, Oziyah Sellers 5.2 USC
Reynaud and Okpara are going to be good, but I just don’t see much else going for them
FSU
Lose almost everyone
Only Chandler Jackson(4.9), Taylor Bol Bowen(3.1) back
Recruits DaQuan Davis(Top 100) and AJ Swinton 4* and Malique Ewen- Top JUCO
Transfers Bostyn Holt 12.3 South Dakota, Jerry Deng 10.1 Hampton, Justin Thomas 7.3 UTSA 22/23
FSU just loses so much and doesn’t really add a ton of impact to make up for it
