2026-27 College Basketball Transfer Portal Kombat Update: What A Day of Madness As Many Seniors Seek One Last Season

The college basketball transfer portal was flooded today for various reasons. First, the window to enter the portal closes tomorrow. Second, there is a rumor that college basketball may adopt a rule allowing players to play five seasons in five years, what is being called the "five-for-five." Thus, many seniors who seemed to be out of eligibility entered the portal today, with the hope of possibly getting one more year of college basketball. It is a mad, mad world in college basketball today, though I will say NBA free agency has nothing on the transfer portal. 

Here are some moves that have stood out to me the past few days.

• Experienced seniors who are seemingly out of eligibility flood the portal. Peter Suder from Miami (OH). Cade Tyson from Minnesota. Christoph Tilly from Ohio State. Marcus Hill from Texas A & M. Seth Trimble from UNC. Darrion Williams from N.C. State. Tyler Nickel from Vanderbilt. T.K. Simpkins from Oregon. Jayden Pierre from TCU. These guys may not be superstars, but they would certainly be valuable additions to many teams looking for experience. The allure of one more season in college basketball, and one more payday, is apparently too much to surpass. It shall be interesting to see if these players get a fifth year, and what the market will be. Personally, Suder is my favorite guy on this list. That kid just knows how to play basketball. 
• Forward Eian Elmer transfers from Miami (OH) to Wisconsin. Elmer fits the part of a Badger, as a guy who likes to shoot the three. While phenomenal against SMU in the First Four, Elmer really struggled against the physicality of Tennessee during the first round, throwing up four or five airballs from three. Still. Elmer is a guy whom Badgers' Head Coach Greg Gard will get to work out. 
• Guard Will McClendon transfers from North Texas to Pepperdine. After one season with the Mean Green, the former UCLA Bruin McClendon will be playing in California once again. 
• Forward Sebastian Rancik transfers from Colorado to Florida State. Apparently, Rancik was ready to commit to Kentucky, but Mark Pope is waiting on Syracuse's Donnie Freeman. Rancik ends up with Luke Louks at FSU. It sucks to be Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle, who always seems to find under-the-radar guys before losing them to either the NBA or other programs. 
• Guard Terrence Hill Jr. transfers from VCU to Tennessee. Apparently, Rick Barnes has had enough of losing in the Elite Eight with defensive-minded teams that couldn't score enough. Tennessee has not been close in its last two seasons in the Elite Eight, and Hill is someone with scoring prowess in March. Hill scored 34 points during VCU's upset of North Carolina in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 
• Forward Drew Scharnowski transfers from Belmont to Duke. In this cycle, Belmont has lost four players to bigger programs, Tennessee, Duke, Nebraska and Murray State. Poor Belmont, which always seems to have very smart players who get the most out of their physical limitations. 
• Guard Elijah Crawford transfers from UIC to Villanova. Never in my life would I expect a player to transfer from UIC, my graduate school alma mater, to Villanova. Crawford nearly had UIC in the tournament this year before the Flames fell to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference title game. 
• Guard Nasir Whitlock transfers from Lehigh to Georgia Tech. Whitlock was the best player for Lehigh, but struggled mightily during a First Four game against Prairie View A & M. How will he fare in the ACC?
• Forward Owen Freeman transfers from Creighton to Auburn. Freeman and Josh Dix left Iowa for Creighton last offseason following the firing of Fran McCaffery. Things did not go well for the Blue Jays. Will Freeman be athletic enough to compete in the SEC? 
• Forward Vangelis Zougris transfers from Louisville to St. Mary's. A week ago, my brother told me Marquette was in on a big from Louisville. At first, I thought he meant Zougris, whom I liked for the Cardinals against Michigan State. St. Mary's seems like a great fit for the muscular but undersized big. 
  
• Guard Myles Rice enters the portal from Maryland. The Terps have added Bishop Powell from Tennessee and D.J. Wagner from Arkansas, making Rice on the move for the third-straight offseason. A few seasons ago Rice was supposed to be a huge portal get for Indiana out of Washington State, but it didn't work out that way for all parties involved. 
• Center Eric Reibe transfers from UCONN to USC. Reibe gave Illinois some problems during a Black Friday game at Madison Square Garden. I am not looking forward to him being in the Big Ten, which continues to get bigger and bigger. USC and UCLA definitely got the message after last season, adding size to their frontlines. 
• Guard Roddie Anderson III transfers from Xavier to Seton Hall. Transfers within the same conference always appeal to me. Remember back in the old days when coaches wouldn't let transfers go to programs within the same conference, even when players had to sit out a year? 
• Guard Joseph Pinion enters the transfer portal from South Florida. One fun thing about the portal is that you stumble upon guys whose names you have heard before like Pinion, who once was at Arkansas. 
  
• Center Aaron Bradshaw enters the transfer portal from Memphis. Prior to Memphis, Bradshaw played at Ohio Sate and Kentucky. I thought Bradshaw was going to be a bit of a problem for the Big Ten while at Ohio State, but that also didn't happen. 
• Guard Brady Dunlap transfers from St. Louis to Georgia. Last week Dunlap had committed to UCSB, a move that surprised me. Apparently, Dunlap has had a change of heart, going to Georgia, a school St. Louis destroyed during the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 
• Guard Elijah Perryman transfers from Utah State to Cincinnati. New Bearcats' Head Coach Jarrod Calhoun has now brought Perryman and Adlan Elamin from his old school. Cincinnati looks like it could have a sneaky roster next year, with Eric Mahaffey from Akron also in the fold. 
• Center Mouhammad Diabate transfers from Kentucky to LSU. Don't look now but Will Wade has his first player on his roster. Now he has about 11 more spots to fill. 
  
• Guard Liutauras Lelevicius transfers from TCU to Clemson. I actually liked what I saw from Lelevicius off the bench for TCU during the NCAA Tournament. The kid was not afraid, and I could see him having success with Brad Brownell at Clemson.