Some Portal Winners And Losers

Including two Duke legends who had a tough time in transfer season

Over at CBS Sports, David Cobb runs down the teams that either thrived or did poorly in portal season, and a few are of particular interest.

In the ACC, NC State and Louisville did well. Cobb points out that while State is likely to be a bit weak in the middle, Louisville went after three point shooters.

On the downside, Cobb questions UNC’s acquisitions and wondering if newly hired GM Jim Tanner has paid off. Has UNC found adequate replacements for RJ Davis and Ian Jackson. He doesn’t mention that if Jackson had been used more consistently, or predictably, he might not have opted to transfer.

Two other schools with Duke ties were mentioned: Arizona State and UCF.

ASU has turned into sort of a feeder school for programs farther up the food chain, which is not good news for Duke legend Bobby Hurley. He’s having to replace a lot of talent, not least of all big man Jayden Quaintance, who is off to Kentucky. He also lost four other good players and last year, ASU was just 13-20. The immediate future is not looking great.

At Central Florida, Johnny Dawkins also had massive portal losses and will start the season with an entirely new roster. It’s going to be tough to compete in the Big 12 when you’re dealing with that level of uncertainty.

On a side note, we didn't think that Johnny D. had been at UCF for a decade. Time really flies.