'Cats vs. 'Dogs, a dream matchup

A marquee non conference matchup is solidified, three big recruiting wins and a look back at the winningest transfer portal programs from the offseason

August 03, 2022

As the kids say, Tuesday went from “0 to 100, real quick.” College hoops fans were gifted three big recruiting wins, two different reasons to love John Calipari, and now…one Wednesday newsletter summarizing it all.

What more could you ask for?

STARTING FIVE

1. Mark your calendars, Timme vs. Tshiebwe is coming

Last week John Calipari teased “big scheduling news” and … he wasn't kidding. Gonzaga and Kentucky will partake in a home and home, beginning with UK traveling to Spokane on November 20.

Calipari announced this live to a crowd at Rupp Arena (more below), complete with a Jumbotron FaceTime from Mark Few, who “just got done surfing” and had “a pickleball match” coming up shortly.

Kentucky already had a claim for “country’s toughest schedule,” but this solidifies it. The ‘Cats will play Michigan State in the Champions Classic, Gonzaga in Spokane, Michigan in London, UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic, Louisville and Kansas all outside of SEC play.

On the court, this matchup gives hoops fans something we never knew we needed — the two best bigs in the country matching up for 40 minutes. Oscar Tshiebwe is the reigning National Player of the Year, but Drew Timme is no slouch, seeking to make three consecutive All-American teams. Tshiebwe’s sheer force and endless motor vs. Timme’s relentless array of scoring moves may be the most aesthetically pleasing personal matchup we see all next season.

Get your popcorn ready. And share some with your cats and dogs, half of them will be going to sleep sad on November 20.

BONUS: Another reason to love John Calipari right now

Millions of Kentuckians were recently affected by ravaging floods in Eastern Kentucky. Calipari and his team took action to help. Yesterday’s “Kentucky Flood Relief Telethon” raised more than $2.4 million, and featured an open practice with proceeds going to relief funds. Kentucky players even signed autographs with proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

While this goes far beyond basketball, Kentucky’s MBB twitter account did share eight minutes of footage from the scrimmage. You can donate to the American Red Cross to help people affected by the floods in Kentucky here.

2. A look back at transfer portal winners

Earlier this summer, we ranked our Top 25 Impact Transfers. (For the full list, follow us on Instagram.) Time to play Transfer Trivia (answers at the bottom of this section). Can you guess the players who made our Top 5?

  1. a point guard who could exceed 30% usage

  2. a stretch four auditioning for the role of ‘Brady Manek’

  3. a starting wing departing the Big 12 for the Big 12

  4. the $800,000 man

  5. the man who prompted Hunter Dickinson to call an opposing coach a ‘coward’

While the rules for future NCAA transfers remain up in the air, we now have enough data to give a few programs their flowers for the way they played the portal this offseason. Here are the three biggest transfer portal ‘winners’ heading into next year:

Miami

Miami dropped a hurricane of bags to secure Kansas State’s Nijel Pack, who will pair with Isaiah Wong as one of the country’s most potent backcourts. Pack is an elite shooter who can play both on and off ball, but he’s not the only key add — they also landed rebounder extraordinaire Norched Omier from Arkansas State. Losing Kam McGusty and Charlie Moore would have been a big obstacle if not for some successful portaling. Now the Canes have enough firepower to muster up another March run.

Illinois

Brad Underwood’s team loses a historically special Illini player, and also Kofi Cockburn. Lucky for Illini fans, Underwood went to work this summer, securing commitments from Texas Tech’s Terrence Shannon and Baylor’s Matthew Mayer. There are legitimate questions about whether Shannon and Mayer can be go-to guys on a great college team, but they’ve already proven themselves as quality starters on two of the sport’s most successful programs. If Underwood’s vision of “positionless basketball” comes true, Shannon and Mayer will be two of the main reasons why.

Florida

When Todd Golden took the Florida job, he spoke about how being associated with a program as prestigious as Florida offers a head coach opportunities to recruit players at the highest caliber. He backed that up instantly, landing three impact rotation players at three different positions — ex-St. Bonaventure point guard Kyle Lofton, ex-Belmont shooting guard Will Richard and ex-LSU wing Alex Fudge. Add in the return of the Gators’ best player Colin Castleton, and Golden now has a roster that may be able to turn some heads in his first year in the SEC.

Answers from Transfer Trivia:

  1. Memphis’ Kendric Davis

  2. North Carolina’s Pete Nance

  3. Kansas’ Kevin McCullar

  4. Miami’s Nijel Pack

  5. Illinois’ Terrence Shannon

TOGETHER WITH FAST MODEL SPORTS

The right fit for any program

Keeping tabs on college basketball’s transfer portal is an impossible task without the right tool. But now? Keep up with Jeff Goodman's transfer updates with FastRecruit.

FastRecruit’s specific transfer features allow coaches and staff to monitor transfers and add them directly to a transfer watch list or database from FastScout. From there, view player stats, add information about the player, add film, and assign tasks to your staff to optimize recruiting.

Take advantage of the mobile app to view this information anywhere.

3. Ducks get a 5-star (again)

Consensus top-five forward Kwame “KJ” Evans committed to Oregon. The Ducks held off a strong push from Arizona and ultimately earned Evans’ trust by demonstrating that they were the best option to prepare him for the NBA.

Evans, a 6-9 small forward, is widely considered one of the highest upside players in the 2023 class. While he already has a smooth offensive game, scouts believe he is far from his eventual ceiling on that end. Defensively, he can guard all five positions and has the length to alter shots at the rim mixed with the quickness to stay in front of guards on the perimeter.

That’s back-to-back classes where coach Dana Altman signed a top 10 player in the class, following five-star center Kel’el Ware in 2022. Another five-star, Mookie Cook, recently de-committed from Oregon but is reportedly ‘heavily considering’ re-joining Altman’s program. Ducks fly together.

4. Johnson joins Jayhawks

Not to be out-done by someone who isn’t a defending national champion, Bill Self secured his own commitment in 4-star guard Chris Johnson.

Johnson chose the Jayhawks over practically every team in the SEC — highlighted by Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss before Auburn and Kentucky made late attempts to enter the recruitment.

Johnson is a 6-4 guard from Montverde Academy who has the strength and athleticism to do a little bit of everything on both sides of the ball. He is at his best in the open floor, and told Sports Illustrated he likes Kansas because “they really let their guards hoop.”

In related news tied solely to the quote above, I just ordered a Chris Johnson jersey.

5. Tom Izzo is doing things again

For the second time in three days, Tom Izzo has signed a transfer (just kidding he would never) recruit in the class of 2023. Four-star wing Gehrig Normand visited East Lansing over the weekend and less than 48 hours later, became the third member of the Spartans’ blossoming ‘23 class that includes Jeremy Fears and recent 4-star commit Xavier Booker.

Normand chose Michigan State over offers from Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, Texas and Missouri. The 6-6, 180-pound sharpshooter is ranked 89th overall by the 247 composite.

For lack of a better term, Normand “has some shit to him.” He plays with an edge and isn’t afraid to let his defenders know that he just put the orange thing through the 10-foot thing. He told On3, “Michigan State fans, be ready, we’re coming for that National Championship!”

He conjures up comparisons to previous Spartan shooting guard Matt McQuaid, who is now on Izzo’s staff and played a major role in Normand’s recruitment.

The good news for Spartan fans? It seems Tom Izzo got his juice back. The bad news? After running some tests late last evening, it appears impossible for Spartan fans to simulate the 2022-2023 season where their team enters the year with nine (9) scholarship players and just skip ahead to 2023-2024.

THE DTF PODCAST

Is the best 2023 recruit overrated?

On the latest DTF podcast, the aforementioned D, T and F debated whether the current number one ranked prospect in the class of 2023, DJ Wagner, actually deserves that honor.

I won’t spoil anything because it’s a wildly entertaining discussion, but my take?

The 2023 class is “down” as a whole, so scouts, analysts, fans, podcasters and all of the above are hesitant to stick with any one name at the top because none of them feel right. Wagner’s still my guy (for now).

THE FAST BREAK

Links to peruse while you catch up on season two of Fboy Island:

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