And the last shall be first. Or at least this college basketball season, the last shall be better.
One theme of 2024-25 has been how quickly karma can change with the transfer portal, and the past week showed that widescreen. Not just because No. 1 Kansas lost twice in five days, leading for only 17 seconds in the twin defeats at Creighton and Missouri, shooting 37.6 percent – as the team with the best field goal accuracy numbers in the country — and getting outscored from the free throw line 40-14.
And not just because Arkansas State barged into Memphis and took out the No. 16 Tigers 85-72, its first win over a ranked opponent in 33 years and biggest margin of victory over the Tigers since 1947.
Not just because Gonzaga blew a double-digit halftime lead and lost for the first time in 176 games, or Florida State dropped an overtime game after winning an NCAA record 14 in a row going back to 2017, or Syracuse had its first game in 10 years with no 3-pointers when the Orange lost at Notre Dame, or Oregon’s right to call itself the only Division I school in America with both an unbeaten football and men’s basketball team was ruined by a UCLA banked-in 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left.
RIVALRY UPSET: Mizzou beats No. 1 Kansas in Border War game
To understand how rapidly the winds can shift in college basketball, consider what some of the former downtrodden have been up to with infusions of new blood. The transfer portal at work.
SEC bottom dwellers Vanderbilt and Missouri were a combined 17-47 last year. This season they’re 17-2.
Yep, that’s Missouri at 8-1 after shocking Kansas by forcing 22 turnovers. Among the perpetrators of the Tigers’ first win over an Associated Press No. 1 in 28 years was Tamar Bates, who two years ago was at Indiana, and Mark Mitchell, who last season was at Duke.
Yep, that’s Vanderbilt at 9-1, having turned to the James Madison coach (Mark Byington) to collect fresh faces and get the Commodores out of the darkness in a hurry. If that sounds familiar, Indiana tried the same thing in football and look where the Hoosiers are today, facing Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Vandy’s top nine scorers are eight transfers and a freshman.
Michigan was 8-24 last season, sinking to the bottom of the Big Ten like an anvil. Now the Wolverines are 8-1, including a 2-0 white-knuckle start to league play, winning by three points at Wisconsin and by two at home against Iowa. The transformation began with Dusty May coming from Florida Atlantic to coach. He packed his 7-1 center Vladislav Goldin for the trip, and also brought in Yale 7-footer Danny Wolf. That’s 14 feet of upgrade right there. Roddy Gayle Jr. came from Ohio State, Tre Donaldson from Auburn, and Michigan suddenly transformed from very beatable to currently winning seven in a row. Those four newcomers all average between 12.2 and 12.0 points a game.
“I don’t know if we’re ranked or not ranked. I think we’re ranked in one of the polls and we’re not ranked in one of the other. All this stuff that doesn’t matter to me,” May said. “Overall, yeah, I like where we are.”
In nine months DePaul has gone from 3-29 and chained to its customary spot at the bottom of the Big East to a 7-1 start by filling the air with 3-pointers; third most per game in the nation. New coach Chris Holtmann is responsible, as are 14 new players.
Archie Miller was 21-42 his first two seasons at Rhode Island, including 9-22 a year ago. This is not the recommended path to job security. But now Rhode Island is 9-0 for the first time since 1948, aided by a platoon of transfers. “It takes some time to figure it out,” Miller said. “I’m happy for our school, I’m happy for our fan base, I’m happy for our players. I could care less about me.”
BLUE BLOOD BATTLE: Kentucky beats Gonzaga in a thriller
Louisville sagged to 12-52 the past two seasons, a broken blueblood. New coach Pat Kelsey imported 11 veterans who had played 19,989 combined minutes of college basketball at other places. Now the Cardinals are 5-4, led Indiana by 38 points in a rout and even cause problems when they lose. Duke had to rally from 14 back to beat them Sunday.
West Virginia has gone from 9-23 and the bottom of the Big 12 to 6-2 with overtime wins over Gonzaga and Arizona. Darian DeVries came from Drake to coach, brought his Missouri Valley Conference player of the year son Tucker with him and added Oklahoma State’s Javon Small among others.
Siena last season: 4-28. Siena, now 5-5, despite playing its past seven games away from home. Former Syracuse star Gerry McNamara came in as coach, attracted 12 newcomers and started with back-to-back overtime victories.
The trend is everywhere. Buffalo and Stonehill have each gone from 4-27 seasons to 5-5 starts. Pacific was 6-25 and then turned to Dave Smart, perhaps the most renowned Canadian college coach in history. He’s even been a consultant for the Ottawa Senators of the NHL. The Tigers are 5-5 with a rotation including seven transfers, the top two scorers Canadian.
UT Rio Grande Valley was 6-25 last season and in the cellar of the WAC. The Vaqueros are 5-4 this season as a new member of the Southland with incoming coach Kahil Fennell and eight transfers. They were within five points late at Creighton and played Wisconsin to three points.
VMI and Cal Poly have each jumped from 4-28 to 5-6. Of the 12 VMI players who have scored so far, five are transfers, four are freshmen. For Cal Poly, Mike DeGeorge came in from Division II Colorado Mesa to coach. So did three of Cal Poly’s current four leading scorers.
Such things are happening even in the transfer-light world of the Ivy League. Dartmouth was 6-21 in 2023-24 and is now 4-4, including its first win over Boston College in 36 years. The Big Green had to do it the old-fashioned way with no transfers. Ryan Cornish averaged 6.9 points last season and Cade Haskins 0.9. Now they’re at 14.3 and 13.6.
Then there’s the tale of two revivals in the Horizon League.
Detroit Mercy was 1-31 last season. No program suffered more. The new Titans are 5-6. passing year’s win total by Nov. 10. They opened the conference with a one-point win over Purdue Fort Wayne, the team that was picked to finish last in the conference defeating the team that was co-picked to finish first. Detroit Mercy has won two overtime games and played Wake Forest hard, losing by 10 points but outrebounding the Demon Deacons 48-31. Mark Montgomery came from Tom Izzo’s staff at Michigan State to coach. He has started 10 different players, including three transfers and six freshmen.
IUPUI was 14-79 the past three years, 5-52 in the Horizon League. Now there is a new coach, an entirely new roster, and even a new name. IUPUI is IU Indy and 5-6. A last-second loss cost them a chance to be 2-0 in the conference.
No, the past doesn’t seem to matter much. Not at this age.
