The reality of modern college basketball is that every player is a free agent at the end of each season. To compete for a national championship, it isn’t enough to simply out-bid the NBA to keep a star on campus. A program also has to convince its best players to stay out of the transfer portal, and then handpick the right pieces to push its returning core to the next level. Michigan did it all flawlessly this past season to cut down the nets, but every year is a new challenge with different kinds of talent available on the marketplace.

The transfer portal frenzy has mostly settled by now. The only impact players available are still testing the NBA Draft process. At this point, we have a pretty good feel for what the rosters look like heading into next season, and there’s already a clear national hierarchy forming. Read our early top-25 rankings for next season.

It’s time to name our winners and losers from the transfer portal. This is less about the schools who retained their top pieces like Florida with Thomas Haugh, Illinois with David Mirkovic and the Ivisic twins, or UConn and Braylon Mullins, and more about the schools who are bringing in (or losing) the most top-end talent.

Gonzaga’s shot at making a deep NCAA tournament run ended last year the moment star forward Braden Huff suffered a dislocated kneecap during a Jan. practice. The Zags still won their March Madness opener before falling to Texas in the round of 32, but they didn’t look like the same team. Mark Few has now reloaded for next season after beating out St. John’s for star big man Massamba Diop, who comes over from Arizona State. Size is all the rage in college basketball these days, and almost no one is bigger than the 7’1 Diop. The big man is a stout rim protector, shows surprisingly good touch as a mid-range scorer, and has impressive movement skills for someone his size. Huff’s return should make this one of the best frontcourts in America, and there’s more talent where that came from. Davis Fogle returns after a fantastic close to his freshman year, and the 6’7 wing could be in line for a big sophomore leap. Former McDonald’s All-American guard Isiah Harwell transferred in from Houston to give the offense a shot in the arm, while Spanish guard Mario Saint-Supery also returns after hitting 40 percent of his threes and flashing impressive playmaking chops as a freshman. Add in German guard Jack Kayil, and Few looks like he could have a Final Four caliber team once again.

Mark Pope bet it all on Tyran Stokes, and went bust. The Kentucky coach reportedly prioritized the No. 1 overall recruit over other bluechip freshmen he might have had a better shot at, and after Stokes picked Kansas, the Wildcats are scrambling for answers. Kentucky brought in a couple solid guards in the portal in Washington’s Zoom Diallo and Furman’s Alex Wilkins, but both like to play with the ball in their hands and have limited shooting ability. I’m not convinced they’re a good fit together. Getting center Malachi Moreno back for his sophomore year will be critical, but he’s testing the NBA draft process right now. I was high on the addition of Kam Williams in the transfer portal a year ago, but he didn’t do much. Williams is back, and Pope will need to get a much better season out of him this year. Can Braydon Hawthorne be an instant impact freshman despite being ranked outside the top-30 for the incoming class? Can Pope throw a bag at Milan Momcilovic to convince him to abandon his NBA dreams and transfer in from Iowa State? Getting Momcilovic, arguably the best shooter in college basketball, would be a huge boon. Until then, Kentucky feels like it has an uphill battle just to make the NCAA tournament. The pressure is on Mark Pope, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his last year in Lexington.

As Kentucky foundered in the portal, their in-state rival hit the ground running with a plan, and executed it at a high level. Louisville had the best transfer portal haul in the country even before they brought in Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras. Folgueiras is a 6’10 stretch four with a good feel for the game who projects as a perfect match in the frontcourt next to the Cardinals’ priciest addition. Flory Bidunga felt ticketed for the 2026 NBA Draft as a borderline first-round pick, but Louisville out-bid the NBA to likely bring him back to college in the transfer portal. He’s still testing the draft process but everyone expects him to play with the Cardinals next year. Louisville also landed shot-making Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad, athletic Arkansas Karter Knox, and retained guard Adrian Wooley Jr. I feel like this team could really use a pure point guard to set up the bouncy Bidunga for lobs around the basket, and that’s the only thing they’re missing. Otherwise, this team is stacked with veteran talent, and the pieces should fit well together. I’d expect nothing less than a second-weekend tournament run from the Cards, and they have the talent to go even deeper than that.

Yes, I know it’s weird to name Kentucky a loser for missing out on Stokes, and then also name Kansas a loser after they landed him. Stokes is the most talented freshman in the country and should be the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NBA Draft. I’ve been a big fan for a long time. There are still some questions about how he translates to college, and I feel like he has more questions than Darryn Peterson did a year ago at this point, and we all know how that turned out. For as great as Stokes can be, this is mostly about Kansas’ lack of success in the portal. Losing Bidunga really hurts, and there’s no question the Jayhawks will be downgrading at center this year whether they’re starting Paul Mbiya or College of Charleston transfer Christian Reeves. Losing Bryson Tiller to Missouri is another big blow in my eyes, though he never graded out particularly well in the best metrics. The Jayhawks’ two other portal additions — 6’1 Toledo transfer Leroy Blyden and 6’9 Utah forward Keanu Dawes — are solid, but forgive me for expecting a little more from Kansas. I see this KU team as slightly worse than last year’s group that lost in the round of 32. Kansas can make me look dumb if Stokes looks like a top-10 player in the country, if Kohl Rosario takes a big sophomore leap, and if one of the bigs blossoms. I feel like it’s just going to take a lot to go right for it all to come together.

Texas’ Sweet 16 run this past season was a true stunner after entering Selection Sunday on the bubble. No one will be surprised if the Longhorns go even deeper next season. Sean Miller crushed the portal by landing impact talents across the positional spectrum, and it could set up his team to challenge for the SEC crown. After retaining 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis in the middle, Texas added a rugged frontcourt partner in David Punch who should help defensively, on the glass, and with his interior scoring. Isaiah Johnson comes over from Colorado to lead the front court after showing off three-level scoring ability in his freshman season, and Mikey Lewis joins from St. Mary’s to add more shooting next to him. Elyjah Freeman is a long, athletic wing bursting with upside after a solid season at Auburn after transferring in from D2, and should be a critical perimeter defender and transition scoring threat. Add in five-star freshman Austin Goosby in the backcourt, and Texas has a lottery-level talent on the team, too. The Longhorns have always been considered a sleeping giant, and Miller has them awake. Next season’s team is going to be very, very good.

Tennessee almost always has an elite defense with a slightly underwhelming offense under Rick Barnes, but the Vols have had more balance in recent years with three straight finishes in the top-31 of offensive efficiency. It’s no surprise that more scoring power has helped the Vols get to three straight Elite Eights, but now Barnes wants to take the next step. Tennessee’s six-man class adds shooting, ball handling, and should still have enough rim protection on defense. Terrence Hill Jr. was an electric sixth man at VCU last year who hit one of the biggest shots of the NCAA tournament, and he’s about to step into a primary scoring role at Tennessee, where he should blossom. Cal transfer Dai Dai Ames adds another ball handler and playmaker to take pressure off Hill, while Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade adds an elite 43.5 percent three-point shooter on the wing. Jalen Haralson is a high-upside forward who needs to show more defensive grit than he did as a freshman at Notre Dame, but he could lead this team in scoring. Miles Rubin comes over from Loyola-Chicago as a rim protector and lob catcher. This team projects to be better at offense than defense, which never happens at Tennessee. If Barnes can coach them up on the defensive end, look out.

Micah Shrewsberry is on the hot seat after three seasons with three sub .500 finishes, and his work in the portal this year shouldn’t inspire much confidence that things will be better next season. Notre Dame lost its two most promising players in the portal when Haralson committed to Tennessee and Markus Burton left for Indiana. Shrewsberry rebounded with former Gonzaga guard Braeden Smith and 6’10 Winthrop transfer Logan Duncomb, but it feels like he doesn’t have enough talent to compete in an improved ACC. Notre Dame needs more investment in men’s basketball if they want to reach the heights of the Mike Brey era again, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen next season.

North Carolina shocked the college basketball world by hiring former Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone. Malone brings championship credentials to Chapel Hill, but his transition to college basketball will be fascinating. UNC appears to have lost big man Henri Veesaar to the NBA Draft, and that one stings. The Tar Heels were also expected to have potential 2027 top-5 pick Dylan Mingo in the backcourt, but he left for Baylor after Malone was hired. Instead, this roster was entirely remade in the transfer portal, and I could see it going either way. Neoklis Avdalas looked like an NBA lottery pick at times during his freshman season at Virginia Tech last year, but he struggled against good competition and completely lost his NBA momentum. He’s a tantalizing talent as a 6’9 ball handler with pull-up shooting ability, but his scoring efficiency and defense were rough last time we saw him. Matt Able is a promising addition from NC State assuming he opts out of the NBA Draft, and he’ll add microwave scoring ability. Utah transfer Terrence Brown will be an important veteran guard, and retaining forward Jarin Stevenson was a good move, too. The real swing piece is Sayon Keita, a 6’11 big man who comes over from Barcelona. Keita is only 18 years old, but he would have been the top center in the freshman class if international players counted. Keita is a major talent with length, ground coverage, and finishing ability, but is he ready to make an instant impact? Avdalas probably has to make a star turn for this team to be really good, and Keita needs to pop, too. I could see it happening, but it doesn’t feel like a safe bet.