Quick change

Transfer portal dominoes keep falling. But how do the coaches, particularly those below the power conference level, feel about it?

Let's dive in.

1. WVU quickly gets Quinn Slazinski out of portal

When former Harvard forward (and brief Tennessee transfer) Chris Ledlum announced he was joining St. John’s, it gave the Johnnies 15 players on the roster. Someone was going to leave the crowded frontcourt. It ended up being Quinn Slazinski, a 6-8 forward who had followed coach Rick Pitino from Iona.

He entered the transfer portal Thursday afternoon and had a new home that evening, down in West Virginia. It’s ideal for both sides.

For Slazinski, there weren’t many power conference programs that could realistically offer him a potential starting role next season at the four-spot.

And for the Mountaineers, there aren’t many power forwards available in the portal who can play in the Big 12. After losing both Tre Mitchell and James Okonkwo, it left Josiah Harris and Pat Suemnick, who scored a combined 69 points last season.

It’s not a guarantee that Slazinski is the answer for WVU either. The former 4-star prospect had limited production in his first two years at Louisville, before averaging 8.4 ppg and 3.1 rpg in his lone full season at Iona.

Also in Thursday’s portal activity:

• New Mexico State landed Kent State transfer Robert Carpenter.

• Mylik Wilson exited the portal and will remain with Houston.

2. Mid-major coaches and the portal process

The latest edition of the Goodman and Hummel Basketball Podcast discussed the transfer portal process, joined by four coaches from the mid-major ranks. Each of them has had their ups and downs (more downs) when it comes to the portal, including in the past couple of months.

All four coaches have lost players to the portal, including Fairfield coach Jay Young, who lost his best player, Supreme Cook, at the very end of the deadline for undergraduates. And since the backup big man had left earlier, the Stags were left without frontcourt depth late into the process.

It’s a good listen when it comes to how coaches at the lower levels are dealing with the new era of the portal, NIL, and even the extra COVID years still affecting the sport. It’s impacted how they’ve recruited overall, with Howard coach Kenny Blakeney saying that he hasn’t even been on the high school trail this summer.

While agreeing that there aren’t a ton of viable options to alleviate the constant roster movement, one thing they all agreed on was changing how long players have to make a decision on whether to portal. They supported moving it up from 60 to 30 days, which is something that’s reportedly in the works.

Check out the video above for the entire discussion and insight behind the scenes of the portal process.

3. Betting favorites for National POY Award

For the degenerate gamblers out there (looks around for Dauster and Waddell), early odds are out on who’s most likely to win next year’s National Player of the Year Award. The obvious favorite is Zach Edey, who swept every award last season.

However, most thought Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe was in position to do the same thing for 2022-23, and he wasn’t even in the running by the end of the season. So there’s a chance that someone could take the top individual award in 2024.

The biggest threats would be top players from Duke (Kyle Filipowski) and Kansas (Hunter Dickinson), two of the consensus top 3 preseason teams. The next two options from that list are interesting in Armando Bacot and Max Abmas. There’s no debate on the ability to produce gaudy stats from the UNC big man but will the Tar Heels be good enough for him to have a chance?

Abmas is the top returning scorer in college basketball, coming off 21.9 ppg and 4.0 apg this past season at Oral Roberts. However, will his scoring translate smoothly to the Big 12? Donovan Clingan may have the best value of the bunch if he indeed has the breakout sophomore campaign many expect at UConn. Plus, his defensive impact could be what separates him from the other bigs in the mix.

One player that wasn’t listed but should be is Ryan Kalkbrenner. He’s a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year winner at Creighton and averaged 15.9 ppg and 6.1 rpg last season. With Arthur Kaluma gone, he should get even more touches inside and improve those stats to the point where an All-American spot could be within reach.

Back to Bucknell

John Griffin knows a little something about winning at Bucknell. As a player, he was part of teams that won two NCAA Tournament games, and perhaps the best squad in school history, the 2005-06 team. He also was an assistant at the school for four season. So how will the Bison alum adjust in his first year as the head coach? Let’s ask.

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Links as plan out a sleep schedule for those 3 am Women’s World Cup games.

• Dedric Willoughby, an Iowa State star in the mid-90s and a member of the program’s All-Century team, died Wednesday night. He was 49.

• 3-star 2024 guard Dayton Forsythe committed to Oklahoma.

• Jerome Tang and Kansas State are working on a contract extension.

• FSU coach Leonard Hamilton has no plans on retiring soon.

• Conference opponent pairings are set for Big 12 play next season.

• The CAA changed its name to the Coastal Athletic Association.

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