By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
In 2024, a record-setting 291 men’s basketball players entered the transfer portal on its opening day.
In a mass exodus that would put manifest destiny-era America to shame, this year’s transfer class blew that mark out of the water. Over 700 players entered the portal in one day, a shocking increase, as pilgrims seeking greener pastures (and greener pocketbooks) streamed out of programs across the country.
No one was immune. Even Sweet 16-bound Michigan lost a freshman guard to the portal. Baylor took its own losses: Langston Love, Jason Asemota and Omar Adegbola all announced their intentions to leave earlier this week.
Love, a redshirt junior guard, spent much of his time in Waco battling injuries, but stepped up late in the season for a team in desperate need of physical defense. He averaged 8.5 points in 74 career games after missing his entire freshman season with a torn ACL.
Blue-chip freshman Asemota struggled to break into the rotation, even as it was trimmed down to six players amid injury woes. He averaged 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds on 32.6/25.0/50.0 shooting splits in 150 total minutes. Adegbola, a former walk-on, only played late in blowouts.
But while the losses of Asemota and Adegbola don’t represent much returning production, they do illustrate a broader metanarrative: depth doesn’t exist.
Only three Sweet 16 teams recruited at least four of their starters out of high school — three more recruited zero. Year after year, more and more teams will have to completely rebuild their rotations from scratch. Even for a player-friendly culture like the one Scott Drew has created, it’s almost inevitable. Only two of this team’s rotation players — Robert O. Wright III and Jalen Celestine — are expected to be available for next year’s season opener.
That opens a large minutes void, particularly after Drew signed only one high school recruit, five-star forward Tounde Yessoufou, in this year’s class.
Some of those minutes could be filled by Wyoming guard Obi Agbim, a dynamic scoring guard On3 predicted would transfer to Baylor. But there are more than half a dozen slots to fill, with six of the Bears’ top seven scorers (and several end-of-bench players) leaving or injured.
Leading scorer and rebounder Norchad Omier is out of eligibility, as are Jeremy Roach and Jaden Nunn. Love is transferring and VJ Edgecombe is almost certainly headed to the draft. Ojianwuna is injured and likely won’t be ready to begin the season.
The NCAA Tournament is only one weekend in, but the hot stove is already steamier than the bathroom shower after the fan breaks. Question marks abound nationwide, and who fills in Baylor’s starting lineup alongside Wright, Celestine and Yessoufou is anyone’s guess.
