Men's transfer portal superlatives: Louisville, Duke, St. John's headline winners

We've passed every major mile marker of the men's college basketball offseason: The transfer portal opened and closed, the NBA draft withdrawal deadline has come and gone, and all of ESPN's top 100 transfers have committed.

Now, Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf are here to make sense of all the player movement and what it means for the teams they joined. From contenders that improved title hopes the most to teams that should have done more, here are the biggest winners and losers.

Single best player addition

Jeff Borzello: Milan Momcilovic, Kentucky

Momcilovic was the top-ranked player in my transfer rankings, the best shooter in college basketball and a proven all-conference performer at the high-major level. There aren't any questions about how his offensive game will translate. He has 6-foot-8 size, and he led the country in 3-point shooting percentage (48.7) and was tied for third nationally in 3s made (3.7 per game).

Mark Pope's best offenses as a college coach have been predicated on being effective from behind the arc at a high volume; that will fit Momcilovic. Incoming transfer point guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins are adept at attacking defenses off the bounce, which should allow Momcilovic to get plenty of open looks from 3. Momcilovic gives Kentucky a focal point on the offensive end, with his commitment vaulting Kentucky into the top 20 of ESPN's latest Way-Too-Early Top 25.

Myron Medcalf: Flory Bidunga, Louisville

Bidunga won't score like some of his portal peers will, but he was arguably the most impactful player available. The nation's top defensive player, Bidunga was the stabilizing force for a Kansas team that weathered the turbulence of Darryn Peterson's availability to finish ninth in adjusted defensive efficiency while holding Big 12 opponents to a 45% rate on shots inside the arc.

Bidunga's presence automatically turns Louisville into a defensive force in the paint, where the Cardinals were vulnerable last season. They allowed shots around the rim to fall at a 73.3% clip in their second-round NCAA tournament loss toMichigan State. And in their final 15 games of the season, the Cards ranked 267th overall on defense inside the arc.

Best overall class

Medcalf: Louisville

Flory Bidunga, C (Kansas)

Alvaro Folgueiras, C (Iowa)

Karter Knox, G (Arkansas)

Jackson Shelstad, F (Oregon)

De'Shayne Montgomery, G (Dayton)

Louisville's class is stacked with the most promising talent in the portal pool. That starts with Bidunga, who averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks as a sophomore at Kansas last season. Folgueiras saved his best basketball for March, when he made the game-winning 3-pointer in Iowa's upset of No. 1 seed Florida in the second round and connected on 38% of his 3-point attempts in four NCAA tournament games. Shelstad was a 2024-25 All-Big Ten third-team honoree who then twice suffered a broken hand in 2025-26 that limited him to just 12 games. Knox, a former top-30 recruit, and Montgomery also will contribute.

The ceiling for this group is high. To earn this title, Pat Kelsey's Cardinals will need Shelstad to bounce back from injury and Folgueiras to replicate his postseason performance across an entire season. But the building blocks are all there.

Borzello: Tennessee

Juke Harris, SG (Wake Forest)

Dai Dai Ames, G (California)

Jalen Haralson, F (Notre Dame)

Tyler Lundblade, SG (Belmont)

Terrence Hill Jr., G (VCU)

Miles Rubin, C (Loyola Chicago)

Braedan Lue, PF (Kennesaw State)

Christian Fermin, C (VCU)

This was a three-way battle between Tennessee, Louisville and Texas. In the end, the Volunteers' five transfers who ranked inside the top 60 of my rankings was the deciding factor -- even if Louisville had the single best commitment of the trio (No. 2-ranked Bidunga).

Rick Barnes put together an elite offensive group, which is a stark contrast to the defense-first system that has brought Tennessee plenty of recent success. Harris was one of the best scorers in the portal. Ames and Hill can create for themselves and others. Lundblade is an elite off-ball mover and 3-point shooter. And Haralson was a five-star recruit who averaged 16.2 points as a freshman. There are obvious questions about how Barnes will get all of them to buy in defensively, though it's worth noting that Rubin and Fermin have years of experience as high-end shot blockers in the Atlantic 10.

National title contender that improved its chances the most

Borzello: Duke

John Blackwell, G (Wisconsin)

Jacob Theodosiou, G (Loyola Maryland)

Drew Scharnowski, F (Belmont)

There are strong arguments to be made for Texas and St. John's, two teams just outside the elite of the elite that landed top-tier portal classes. But Jon Scheyer's Duke squad is in the mix for preseason No. 1, and much of that has to do with the addition of Blackwell, arguably the best guard in the portal this spring.

As good as the Blue Devils were last season, they sometimes lacked a guard who could get his own shot on a consistent basis in the half court. Especially with Cameron Boozergone, Scheyer desperately needed a go-to guy on the offensive end. All signs point to that player being Blackwell, an All-Big Ten third-team selection at Wisconsin who averaged 19.1 points and had back-to-back 30-point outings in the conference tournament.

Scharnowski is an efficient two-way player with size who should add depth and experience to the frontcourt.

Medcalf: St. John's

Tounde Yessoufou, G/F (Baylor)

Donnie Freeman, F (Syracuse)

Kyle Cuffe Jr., G (Mercer)

Rick Pitino's team didn't look like a certified contender before landing the commitment of Yessoufou, who signed with the Red Storm after withdrawing from the NBA draft at the May 28 deadline. For a portion of the 2025-26 season, ESPN projected Yessoufou -- a 6-foot-5 wing who averaged 17.8 points -- as a fringe first-round pick. His decision to delay his NBA dreams elevated St. John's into the top 10 after Pitino lost nearly 50 points per game in production, including Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor,off a squad that reached the Sweet 16.

Freeman also is a major addition. Lower-body injuries cost him nine games last season, but once he returned, the 6-foot-9 forward scored 18 or more points 11 times. Syracuse also held opponents to nearly six fewer points per possession when Freeman was on the floor.

Yessoufou gives the Red Storm automatic star power, and the combination of him and Freeman provides Pitino the juice to compete for the conference title and the national crown.

Team that went from below to above .500 with its portal class

Medcalf: Providence

Malik Mack, G (Georgetown)

Miles Byrd, G/F (San Diego State)

Devin Vanterpool, G (Florida Atlantic)

Arrinten Page, C (Northwestern)

Providence fired Kim English after a 15-18 campaign, the team's second straight sub-.500 season. After new coach Bryan Hodgson's first portal cycle at the helm, the Friars have a case as the Big East's most intriguing squad.

Hodgson went 70-37 in his first three seasons as a head coach -- two at Arkansas State and one at South Florida -- and he has signed a transfer class that should position him to sustain that success and reverse recent fortunes for the Friars. Byrd, last season's Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, is a veteran who should anchor Providence. Mack has averaged more than four assists per game in his first three seasons. Vanterpool, arguably the sport's most improved player last season (from 2.0 PPG in 2024-25 to 15.8 in 2025-26), is a pure scorer. And Page's interior defense (1.2 blocks per game) is a big boost for Hodgson's crew too.

Borzello: Xavier

Chance Westry, G (UAB)

Mike Nwoko, F (LSU)

Tru Washington, G (Miami)

Nikolaos Chitikoudis, F (Robert Morris)

Rubén Dominguez, G (Texas A&M)

Rolyns Aligbe, F (Southern Illinois)

Braden Appelhans, G (Drake)

The two programs that really fit this bill are Providence and Xavier, and since Myron already covered the Friars (whom I also highlighted in my portal class rankings), I'll go with the Musketeers here.

In Richard Pitino's first year at the helm, Xavier finished tied for last in the Big East standings with a 15-18 overall record (6-14 in conference play). He is returning only one player who saw minutes in that campaign, so he landed a seven-player portal class that includes three top-100 transfers and another right on the fringe of those rankings. Westry is a high-ceiling two-way player who was absolutely terrific down the stretch in 2025-26, while Washington, Dominguez and Nwoko all averaged double figures in scoring on power-conference teams last season.

There's size, there's experience and there's proven college production. Xavier should be much improved next season.

Team that hurt its outlook by not doing enough

Borzello: Wake Forest

Coach Steve Forbes earned an early reputation as a portal whisperer, finding under-the-radar transfers and developing them into some of the ACC's best players. Think Jake LaRavia, Alondes Williams, Tyree Appleby and Hunter Sallis. If Forbes has any tricks up his sleeve with that class, I'll have missed on this answer. But Wake Forest is bringing back just one player from last season inIsaac Carr, who averaged 2.2 points and started four games. To counter those departures, the Demon Deacons are welcoming in one top-100 transfer -- Merrimack's Kevair Kennedy (18.4 PPG in 2025-26) -- and one other player who averaged double figures in scoring last season in Monmouth's Justin Ray (11.3 PPG).

Perhaps Northern Colorado's Ring Nyeri takes a huge next step in his development or power-conference transfers Antonio Dorn (Virginia Tech) and Jamari McDowell (Kansas) break out with bigger roles. But on paper, it looks as if Forbes has a difficult task ahead.

Medcalf: Kansas

Top 2026 high school recruit Tyran Stokes is a unique prospect. If you saw Stokes on the grassroots circuit, then you know the 6-foot-7 player should dominate the college basketball scene. But we made the same assumption about Peterson. Last season in Lawrence showed the challenges of leaning on bright young stars in a game increasingly full of veterans: Even the best prospects need time to find their footing.

After losing Bidunga, Bryson Tiller and Melvin Council Jr., coach Bill Self will turn to Stokes and another five-star prospect, Taylen Kinney, in a strong Big 12. Self's only returning veteran is Kohl Rosario (3.4 PPG) after losing the fleet of players who saved the Jayhawks' season when Peterson wrestled through injuries. But Self didn't add the caliber of veterans who can replace the experience his team lost, shifting more of the burden onto the shoulders of his talented young duo.

Biggest surprise

Medcalf: Missouri

Coach Dennis Gates will enter the 2026-27 season with one of the strongest recruiting classes in program history. Five-star recruits Jason Crowe and Toni Bryantalong withreturnee Trent Piercehave all raised expectations for Missouri. It's clear those three will be catalysts for the Tigers.

But it's worth noting how Gates also convinced Kansas transfer Tiller and Tennessee transfer Jaylen Carey to play with that talented trio. Kennard Davis Jr.(BYU) and Jamier Jones (Providence) are in the mix too. All of them could have played more prominent roles at other schools, so it says a lot about Gates' leadership and the culture of his program that veterans from accredited programs picked the Tigers, trusting that they would put it all together and lead this group to its ceiling.

Borzello: West Virginia

I really like what Ross Hodge did in the portal this spring, surrounding incoming five-star freshman point guard Miles Sadler with power-conference-tested players.

Mouhamed Sylla was a former top-30 recruit who had potential one-and-done hype entering last season, but an ankle injury limited him to just 16 games. He has a high ceiling. Finley Bizjack was one of the best scorers in the Big East last season and should balance Sadler in the backcourt. Joson Sanon is an extremely talented scorer, while Seydou Traore started 31 games for Utah and Martin Somerville played 26 minutes a game at FSU. The X factor is Javan Buchanan, who needs a waiver for another year of eligibility.

There's plenty of scoring between Bizjack and Sanon. Sylla has the potential to be one of the best bigs in the Big 12. And the roster is rounded out with high-major transfers who already have shown they can buy into a role.