The six most entertaining players in the transfer portal

By one man's very silly judgments

Generally, despite running a very mildly popular college basketball newsletter, I avoid transfer portal coverage. There’s a million sites in existence that can and will do it, because they’re reliant on the pageviews that come with it. That’s fine! It’s just not for me, not to be releasing the same generic list of The 50 Best Players Left in the Transfer Portal when I cannot guarantee that 30+ of them will have an actual championship-determining impact.

But! That does not stop me from picking out my personal favorites every year. College basketball is a tremendous sport because of the sheer variety of style and substance you can find. Some players do the dirty work; some are highlight factories; some are a bit of both. Above all, the best thing you can do for me personally is provide an entertaining game and something memorable about what you do.

As of May 3, all of these players (minus an honorable mention at the end) were still available for picking in the transfer portal. Is it fully known where their future destination(s) will be? Perhaps, but that’s for someone else to analyze. Here, we’re not going over why they’re going to fit perfectly at one school or poorly at another. I’m merely picking out six players that provide serious entertainment, whether obvious or quirky, and are worth sustaining a little added interest in.

Jordan Dingle, Penn

This is the most well-known name on this list by a wide margin. Dingle is an offensive highlight factory, one who was the most ball-dominant player two straight seasons in the Ivy League and has two years of eligibility remaining. (I think. I don’t totally understand how the Ivy League’s COVID eligibility stuff works.) Whatever team gets Dingle isn’t likely to get some sort of athletic marvel; he’s a 6’3” defensive turnstile that received just four D-1 offers out of high school.

But that does not matter for our concerns. What I care about is that Dingle averaged 23.4 points per game on 56/36 2PT/3PT shooting splits, shot an absurd 50% on midrange twos, and showcased himself as a tremendous scorer despite having to work to find his best shots. Steve Donahue-era Penn has generally been pretty good at hunting easy twos, but Dingle adds a second dimension with his shooting ability from all over. He scored 30+ three times a year ago; I look forward to a player who can score like that getting a bigger stage to perform on.

Aziz Bandaogo, Utah Valley

Well, do you like dunks or do you not like them? I imagine you’re not a huge loser, so you like dunks. Bandaogo slammed the ball through the net with extreme force 90 times last season, which led the country. Bandaogo has all of the usual resume bullet points people care about - 11.5 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.9 BPG, WAC DPOY - but who cares about all of that nerd stuff. Give me the DUNKS. I want the DUNKS! I would like for young Aziz to rip a backboard down. I think he can do it, so go and do it, young man.

Kevon Voyles, Maryland Eastern Shore

Unlike our previous two portal entrants, Voyles isn’t known for offense. Voyles did score 12.9 PPG this year, and he’s posted some decent 52/32 2PT/3PT shooting splits over his career. It’s nothing that special, but certainly not bad, and he got a lot more efficient from two this season. All of that is fine and dandy, but what we’re after is the defense.

Voyles played just 21 minutes per game this year, but averaged 1.4 steals per game. He sits at a career 4.1% Steal Percentage, which is 6th-highest in MEAC history dating back to 2009. Synergy, rarely all that kind of defenders of his type, rates him out as a 92nd-percentile defender nationally. Among 276 qualifying defenders of his “slashing wing” archetype, Voyles rates as the 15th-best defender in the nation. He’s a few spots ahead of guys like Jordan Walsh. What he does beyond this will be interesting if likely not high-profile, but any time I see someone who forces this many steals in such a limited amount of time I’m pretty intrigued.

Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (and Arkansas)

Others may require more context, but this one is extremely easy. Vanover is a 7’5” stick that bombs away from three and looks good doing it. He’s also quite the shot blocker. I cannot get enough of watching him do his thing. College basketball’s best weirdo? Plausibly!

Joe French, Bethune-Cookman

Barring you being some sort of MEAC superfan, you have never heard of Joe French. So! Settle in with me while I sell you on Joe French, the best shooter available in the transfer portal.

• French is a 6’5” wing who’s spent three years in Daytona Beach. All three seasons, he’s shot 41% or better from three on 100+ attempts.

• French is a career 43% deep shooter on an average of five deep balls per game.

• When the calendar turns to January, for conference play, he goes on insane heaters. French is a career 46.3% (!) three-point shooter in MEAC play.

• This is not just a small sample size thing, either; he’s a career 92% free throw shooter, too. It clearly translates all over.

• French is a 45% career deep shooter on catch-and-shoot attempts, with nearly identical guarded vs. unguarded hit rates.

Now, what French doesn’t add is anything in the way of defense, where he’s posted catastrophically low block and steal rates. He’s not much for rebounding or passing, and he likely won’t get to the free throw line unless it’s a late-game situation. Also, who cares? This is the one player out there I can point to and realistically say that one of the best shooters in the entire nation is up for someone to bring home. I need him on TV more often.

BONUS: Jaylen Wells, Sonoma State (committed to Washington State)

Regrettably, I don’t get to touch on non-Division I basketball much during the season, so I’m learning about what Jaylen Wells did for Division II Sonoma State well after the fact. By at least one measure (Bart Torvik’s PRPG! metric), Wells was a top-three player in D-II last season. He was a conference player of the year in the, uh, “CCAA” (sorry), which is normally not of huge consequence to me, particularly for someone on a 13-win team.

But one look at the stats, because this is a stats blog, and I get quite excited. 22.1 PPG and 8.7 RPG, sure, but how about this: 55% on twos, 46% (!) on 110 attempts from three, and a 125 Offensive Rating on a 28% Usage Rate. The only guy to go 125+/28%+ last season was some fellow named Zach Edey. Wells will not be Edey-level good, but if he comes anywhere close, I would love to understand how he ended up at Sonoma State in the first place.

What I do know is that I was already pretty interested in Washington State next year and now I am mega-interested. Is this guy capable of sustaining even half of those PPG/RPG numbers? If so, he’s instantly a top-three player on a projected top-40 team. Also, the number of players out there that shoot 40%+ from three, 50%+ from two, and get 20%+ of available defensive rebounds was six all of last season. Only one was below seven feet and played at a Big Six school: Hunter Tyson of Clemson. (Very, very good!) Let’s root for Mr. Wells to have the season of a lifetime, because if it works out for him, this is one of the more unexpected glow-ups in recent memory.