Everybody has a different strategy when they access the college basketball transfer portal. That’s clearly
seen in the updated ACC. Pat Kelsey of Louisville, Andy Enfield of SMU, and Kyle Smith of Stanford
were among the new coaches who essentially had to start from scratch. While he may be starting his second year, Mark Madsen and Cal also had to start over from nothing. Although neither Wake Forest
nor North Carolina are very high on the transfer portal’s team rankings, retention was crucial for these
two of the league’s top teams.
It made more sense for North Carolina to retain RJ Davis for Year 5 than to add any other player
through the portal. Nothing Wake Forest has done in the past year compares to the significance of
keeping Hunter Sallis for a second season.
The ACC will only receive two of the top 50 transfers in the 2024 cycle. Perhaps this indicates that the
ACC was unwilling to pay the large sums of money that certain teams in the Big East, Big Ten, SEC, and
Big 12 were ready to spend. Or does it suggest that there are plenty of sleepers among this group of new
faces and that many ACC transfers are a little bit undervalued?
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