A Look At Some Major Portal Pickups Around The Country
And one in particular we think will be huge
There’s been a lot of portal action around the country obviously but there are some particularly interesting situations to look at.
Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr is now a Kentucky Wildcat as is Dayton’s Koby Brea and West Virginia’s Kerr Kriisa.
Mark Pope’s roster was at one point down to just incoming freshman Collin Chandler but he’s done a decent job of roster building. ACC fans are familiar with Carr of course. Brea was almost a done deal for UConn before ending up at UK. Kriisa you may remember started at Arizona before transferring to WVU.
Carr and Brea will really pump up Kentucky’s three point shooting and while we’re not sure Kriisa has ever reached his potential, maybe he can do it at Kentucky. Keep an eye on Lamont Butler too - he should add some real toughness.
John Calipari has made a huge reputation as a recruiter over the course of his career and has reeled in major talent every year for, well, years.
In his first time at bat at Arkansas, Cal has basically transferred his whole UK model without Kentucky fans. Pretty good work if you can get it.
Former UK recruits Boogie Land, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond followed Calipari to Fayetteville, as did Znonimir Ivisvic. And if Johnell Davis sticks with college ball, he’ll be a Razorback. That’s a good lineup. Get a bench and things are looking good for the Hogs.
Dusty May picked up some useful pieces at Michigan. Vlad Golden followed him from FAU (Davis tried to but didn't get past admissions). Yalie Danny Wolf is a solid big. Sam Walters comes from Alabama while Roddy Gale moves over from hated rival Ohio State. That’ll be a fun trip to Columbus.
Mike Woodson did really well for Indiana too. Oumar Ballo bailed on Arizona and is a Hoosier now. Stanford’s Kanaan Carlyle, Washington State’s Myle Rice and Illinois’ Luke Goode round out the additions.
But the situation that really intrigues us is UConn.
The Huskies will lose a lot this year but Dan Hurley has proved masterful at adding pieces through the portal and he’s shown that he is a superb coach both in practice and on game day. The guy is the real deal.
Which is why we’re very curious to see what he does with Aidan Mahaffey.
Mahaffey spent his first two years at Saint Mary’s, not too far from where he grew up, and we were frankly a bit bug-eyed watching him as a freshman. He just seemed like one of those guys who just have that something extra. It’s not necessarily speed or athleticism. It’s a sense of the game and a clutch instinct.
He didn’t make the leap a lot of people thought as a sophomore but in Storrs, with Hurley’s offense that really opens the court, Mahaffey is likely to be a huge pain in the ass for everyone. We could easily be wrong here but he could be the most revelatory portal player next year. Among his many coaching gifts, Hurley has shown a talent for a) finding guys who work in his system and b) getting them to play to their potential in that system.
That’s why we think Mahaffey could be a major revelation next season. And if he reconnects with the tough little guard we saw in his freshman year, Hurley will have a major building block. And since he’s going to lose a lot of talent from this past season, he’s going to need some.
He picked up a late 5-star recruit when Liam McNeeley, who bailed on Indiana, chose UConn. He’s a really, really good sniper from outside. UConn is going to have a very different team but the spacing is going to give immense opportunities.