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Mid-Major portal winners
We dive into five mid-major programs who made key additions through the transfer portal. Plus: Washington added an international forward, ESPN's inking of two high school athletes has caused controversy, and more.
Sean Paul
June 17, 2026
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Good morning everyone! Let’s get right to the news.
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1. Which five mid-major teams won the portal?
My favorite thing about college hoops is mid-majors. The landscape has changed in terms of building from within, but teams can re-tool in one year thanks to the portal. Let’s take a look at five squads who look strong thanks to their portal adds.
Southeastern Louisiana
Southeastern Louisiana is coming off a brutal 9-22 season, but things are trending upwards. It brought in a pair of guards in Tyler Rolison and Tybo Bailey, who transferred in from Nevada and ECU, respectively. Rolison could be a superstar in the Southland. SELA also raided the America East. JJ Massaquoi, a 6-6, 235 pound forward from UMass Lowell averaged 8.8 ppg, but offers much larger upside. Plus, Ashley Sims and Quincy Allen from Bryant should give the front court a real boost. Army transfer Jackson Furman is a different player than the others listed. He’s a big-time shooter who could thrive off Rolison and Bailey making plays.
Is this enough to beat McNeese? We’ll see, but this team is top-three in the S’Land good.
Alabama State
How often can a team in the SWAC reel in a pair of 20+ ppg scorers? Not often. In 2024-25, Paul McMillian averaged 20 ppg for Canisius before missing all of this season. He shot 44% from the field, but just 32% from 3. Sure, Canisius was bad, but McMillan can score. The other 20 ppg scorer is Michael James, who tallied 21.8 ppg at Mississippi Valley State.
A transfer from Mississippi Valley State that went 3-30? Yes. Because that number might be zero without James. He also scored 20+ points against Oklahoma, Kansas State and Florida State. The best scorer in the SWAC remained, just in a different uniform and that alone makes Alabama State a huge winner.
Northern Iowa
Year one of the Kyle Green era looks very promising based on the portal moves he and his staff made.
It starts with Greyson Uelman, a guard who averaged 16.8 ppg on 49% shooting at North Dakota. He provided UND with some heroics in the Summit League tourney, scoring 24+ points in all three games, en route to a miracle championship game berth. He’ll be among the top guards in the Valley.
I also really like the incoming duo of St Thomas transfer Isaiah Johnson-Arigu and Austin Peay transfer Tate McCubbin. Johnson-Arigu is a former top-100 recruit that averaged 10.5 ppg for the Tommies last year and McCubbin shot 39.7% from 3 two seasons ago before struggling in 2025-26.
The Panthers also added some front court stability with Tulsa transfer Ian Smikle. He started 28 games two seasons ago and averaged 3.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg for a 30 win Tulsa squad this year.
That group of four should bring some early positive returns for Coach Green.
Little Rock
Welcome back to college hoops, Travis Ford. After a couple seasons off, the highly accomplished coach has the roster needed to battle for a conference crown in year one.
Guard play is the name of the game for Little Rock. The big addition is Aaron Clark, a 6-5 guard who averaged 15 ppg and shot 36% from 3 at Pepperdine. He regularly thrashed WCC foes, so I can only imagine what that’ll look like in the new United conference. Next to Clark is Jah’Lakai King, a proven winner who averaged 14 ppg for a UMBC squad that made the NCAA Tournament.
The potential X-Factors are in the frontcourt. A former top-100 recruit, Papa Amadou Kante just needs to stay healthy. He averaged 5.4 rpg in just eight games this year for Pittsburgh. That’s been his issue, playing just 30 games in three college seasons. I’m also fond of the Jamai Felt addition. The uber-athletic 6-9 forward played key roles for both Bowling Green and Temple and will bring a defensive-minded approach to Little Rock.
Long Island
Rod Stickland is doing it again, folks. Strickland led Long Island back to the NCAA Tournament last year thanks to the trio of Jamal Fuller, Greg Gordon and Malachi Davis, all of whom have exhausted their college eligibility.
That was an absurd amount of talent in the NEC. There’s no way Strickland could replicate it, right?
Well, he went out and grabbed point guard DaQuan Davis from Providence, who played just three games last year but averaged 8.8 ppg as a freshman at FSU. Next to him is Vasean Allette, who averaged 17.4 ppg at Old Dominion as a freshman and 11.4 ppg at TCU as a sophomore.
We’ll see how pieces like Justin Johnson, Kamari Jones and Josh Pickett progress, but Allette and Davis will make for a dominant duo.
2. Washington adds 24-year-old international
Danny Sprinkle struck gold in the international market last year with Hannes Steinbach. So, why not go back to the well?
