The portal's filling up

Good morning! We’ve got basketball games today with the College Basketball Crown starting in Vegas. Wonder if it’ll deliver the same good mojo to this year’s winner that Nebraska got.

Let’s get to Tuesday’s news.

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1. No shortage of players planning to portal

The transfer portal opens in less than a week. And it’s going to quite the onslaught of entries into the portal when it does. More than 800 players have indicated they’ll see what the market’s like.

Tuesday was no different with some defensive-minded players, mid-major scorers and the biggest player in the game.

One of the most talented guards planning to enter is Furman freshman Alex Wilkins. The 6-5 guard had a brilliant season, averaging 17.8 ppg, 4.7 apg. He scored 21 points in the NCAA Tournament against UConn. Wilkins is a big guard who can score in myriad ways with three years to play. He'll be coveted.

Speaking of stud mid-major guards, Central Arkansas guard Camren Hunter is back in the portal. Hunter averaged 21 ppg and won ASUN POY en route to leading the Bears to a share of the conference regular-season title. He also scored 48 points in an ASUN championship game loss to Queens.

The issue? He's not eligible (for now). Hunter will try to get a waiver for his 2024-25 season at Wisconsin. He played 11 games, but he wasn't hurt, just not in the rotation. That feels unlikely he'll get a waiver, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Finally, the biggest player in the portal isn’t the most talented, but he’s a great story. Oliver Rioux, the 7-9 center from Florida announced he'd leave. He was a walk-on at Florida and wasn't a great system fit, but someone will likely take a chance on the tallest player in college hoops history. And it was time for him to move on.

"I know he's sitting over there probably like, 'Damn man, I didn't know all these guys were coming back,'" Florida coach Todd Golden told ESPN earlier this season. "So it's going to be a tough one this year to play. It really will be. But ... I do think he has some really good basketball ahead of him, whether it's here at Florida or somewhere else."

Other players intending to enter the portal:

• Wes Enis, junior guard, South Florida (16.4 ppg)

• Mo Sylla, freshman forward, Georgia Tech (9.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg)

• Baye Ndongo, junior forward, Georgia Tech (11.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg)

• Legend Smiley, freshman guard, San Francisco (8.1 ppg)

• Tyrone Riley IV, sophomore wing, San Francisco (12.2 ppg)

• Roman Siulepa, freshman forward, Pittsburgh (10 ppg, 5.5 rpg)

• Noam Dovrat, freshman guard, Miami (3.8 ppg)

• Brant Byers, sophomore forward, Miami (OH), (14.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg)

• Cooper Schwieger, junior forward, Wake Forest (5.1 ppg)

• Carson Schwieger, sophomore forward, Queens (10.1 ppg).

• Jace Posey, sophomore guard, TCU (4.6 ppg)

• Malik Mack, junior guard, Georgetown (13.2 ppg)

• ND Okafor, junior forward, Washington State (11 ppg, 5.7 rpg)

• Brandon Benjamin, freshman forward, Fairfield (14 ppg, 10.4 rpg)

• Daniel Freitag, sophomore guard, Buffalo (19.8 ppg)

• Somto Cyril, sophomore forward, Georgia (9.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

• Brandin Cummings, sophomore guard, Pittsburgh (12.5 ppg)

• Sonny Wilson, junior guard, Toledo (17 ppg, 4.6 apg)

• Blake Barkley, sophomore forward, East Tennessee State (14.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg)

• Larry Hughes II, senior guard (needs waiver), CSUN (17.7 ppg)

• Riley Allenspach, junior forward, George Mason (13.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg)

• Jordan Crawford, junior guard, South Dakota (14.4 ppg)

• Isaiah Elohim, sophomore wing, FAU (12.4 ppg)

• Courtland Muldrew, freshman guard, Washington (3.3 ppg)

• Jaxson Bell, sophomore guard, Army (12.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

• Thomas Dowd, junior forward, Troy (14.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg)

• Francis Folefac, freshman forward, Siena (11.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg)

• Martin Somerville, sophomore guard, Florida State (8.3 ppg)

• Jelani Hamilton, sophomore wing, Georgia State (17.8 ppg)

• Christian Gurdak, freshman forward, Virginia Tech (5.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg)

• Rihards Vavers, sophomore forward, Washington State (11.5 ppg)

• Kareem Thomas, sophomore guard, Dartmouth (15.9 ppg)

• Cobi Campbell, junior guard, Troy (9 ppg)

• Tyler Boston, sophomore guard, Holy Cross (14.2 ppg)

• Luke Wilson, sophomore forward, Appalachian State (10.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg)

• Darryl Simmons II, junior guard, St. Bonaventure (16.4 ppg)

• Khani Rooths, sophomore forward, Louisville (5.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg)

• Baraka Okojie, junior guard, Mercer (19.7 ppg, 5.3 apg)

• Bubu Benjamin, junior wing, George Washington (5.8 ppg)

• Stevie Elam, freshman guard, Milwaukee (10.5 ppg)

2. Not everyone’s entering portal

In the portal era, it's a refreshing to see players announce their return. Tuesday gave us a couple of big ones.

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