Arizona's hot move

The best player in the transfer portal will (finally) announce his decision today. At least, that’s according to a graphic Hunter Dickinson posted to his social media accounts last night. Wonder if he’ll also teach a class in promotion and marketing at his new school?

Let's get to Wednesday’s news.

1. Arizona beefs up its backcourt

After missing on point guard Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga) two weeks ago, Arizona landed a pretty solid consolation prize.

Bradley started 22 games for the Crimson Tide as a freshman, posting 6.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He faded a bit toward the end of the season but proved to be a capable SEC player when asked to play significant minutes after Nimari Burnett’s injury.

At Arizona, Bradley and fellow sophomore Kylan Boswell will form a dynamic backcourt duo as ball-handlers who attack the game in different ways. Bradley is more physical than quick and likes to get downhill to create plays, while Boswell uses his lightning quickness to impact the game.

The starting trio of Boswell, Bradley and Pelle Larsson (seems probable he’ll withdraw his name from the NBA Draft) gives Arizona the best perimeter group in the Pac-12. Factor in All-Pac-12 big man Oumar Ballo, and the Wildcats will be a team that should be Top 25-worthy.

And if Azuolas Tubelis somehow returns … well, might need to pencil in another 30-win season for Tommy Lloyd.

In other transfer news:

• Houston Christian sharpshooter Brycen Long will return home to Arizona State. The 6-2 guard shot 41 percent from deep this season.

• BYU will partner Dawson Baker and Dallin Hall with Samford transfer Ques Glover, an All-SOCON selection two seasons ago.

• Loyola Marymount added some backcourt scoring pop with the addition of Will Johnson from UTRGV. The Aussie guard averaged 14 and shot over 40 percent from deep.

• Evan Mahaffey transferred from Penn State to Ohio State, which prompted Coleman Hawkins to tweet about his dismay at intra-conference transfers.

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2. Go, go Gauchos

Here’s the thing about the transfer portal: It’s an opportunity for every program to bolster its roster. Even the mid-major schools.

UC Santa Barbara won 27 games last season and secured its second NCAA Tournament berth in the past three seasons. And now the Gauchos will lose three starters and might be better in 2023-24 thanks to the portal. Let’s discuss:

UCSB returns one of its top players, Ajay Mitchell, a 6-foot-5 junior guard who averaged 16.3 points, five dimes and snagged Big West POY. He’s not a great shooter, but his size and incredible feel for the game, coupled with his European style of play (subtle start-and-stop movements, often in the lane), can make him a load, which opens things up for others.

But Mitchell isn’t so good that he can solely offset the loss of key frontcourt players Miles Norris (14.1 points) and Andre Kelly (9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds). So the Gauchos reached into the portal and snagged two players with massive potential: Yohan Traore and Zach Clemence.

Traore is a former 5-star recruit who couldn’t get on the floor with Auburn last season. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound center played in 25 games, was a DNP in nine of the Tigers’ last 15 games, and averaged just 10 minutes per game behind Johni Broome. He has the physical gifts to be a dominant post threat in the Big West. Most likely? He just needs the reps.

The other addition? Former Kansas forward Zach Clemence. The 6-10 sophomore provided size off the bench for the Jayhawks, but his lack of perimeter mobility kept him from any significant playing time. He projects as a stretch 4, but he’ll have to improve his perimeter shooting (he’s 25 percent beyond the arc for his career.) Still, he’s a smart player who could pair with Traore, or they could split time, depending on what Mitchell needs from game to game.

The Gauchos already have a defensive stopper in wing Josh Pierre-Louis and shooting in Cole Anderson. If both big men play up to their potential, expect to see UCSB do more than just challenge for the Big West title.

3. Five basketball brains are better than one. Probably.

Celtics-76ers wasn’t the only elite basketball show on Wednesday.

The Field of 68 ran a special show, Grading the Coaching Carousel, that featured Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman, plus Goodman’s former co-workers, Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish, the co-hosts of CBS Sports Eye on College Basketball podcast, and ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

If you didn’t watch (full show is below), the opening two minutes will almost certainly entice you to watch more as Goodman immediately launched into alpha dog mode.

No? Not enticing? How about I highlight some of the key parts of the hour-long discussion that covered the best and most questionable coaching hires of the past few months, and the past 10 years, among other things?

• Dauster’s interested in how Rodney Terry’s tenure plays out at Texas, given the odd offseason thus far for the Longhorns.

• Goodman’s continued admiration for Rick Stansbury’s recruiting ability; he called him the best hire of the carousel.

• Everyone agrees that Kelvin Sampson was the best new hire of the past decade, though Norlander made the case for Dan Hurley — the only new hire from the past decade who’s won a national title.

• Who’s had the better tenure thus far: Nats Oats or Eric Musselman?

• Parrish makes the case for Tubby Smith’s time at Memphis as the worst of the last decade.

• And what’s Louisville going to do under Kenny Payne? Borzello isn’t optimistic.

And that’s just the coaching conversation. These guys also discussed the transfer portal winners and losers and managed to confuse Goodman with the closing. Actually, the closing is what’s worth a listen.

Shrewd move

St. John’s earned most of the offseason praise for the best coaching hire. But lauding Rick Pitino’s track record is an easy call. Robbie Hummel’s here to say that Notre Dame made the top move when it grabbed Micah Shrewsberry.

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Links while 76ers fans try erasing yesterday’s game from their memory.

• Which coaching changes paid dividends from the jump? Matt Norlander breaks it down.

• Highly-recruited center Yves Missi, a Baylor commit reclassifies from 2024 to 2023.

• Two New Mexico State players spoke at length about the alleged abuse they endured at the school.

• ESPN is still an option for the Pac-12 media rights.

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