The addition of the transfer portal in 2018 -- and later, the removal of rules requiring transfers to sit out a year before being eligible to play again -- were seismic shifts in the college basketball landscape. Suddenly, a team could overhaul its roster, or lose players, seemingly overnight.
While the portal is not the only factor that determines a team's success, it is now one of the highest-profile parts of modern team-building, and arguably the most efficient way for coaches to upgrade their rosters. To measure which programs added, or lost, more star power through the portal in 2025 compared to the four previous portal cycles, we developed a simple scoring system to calculate an "average net score" for each team based on incoming and outgoing players who made Jeff Borzello's top 100 transfers in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Here's how that scoring system works:
Transfers ranked 1-10: 5 points
Transfers ranked 11-25: 4
Transfers ranked 26-45: 3
Transfers ranked 46-70: 2
Transfers ranked 71-100: 1
The team with the most transfer talent added in a single portal cycle since Borzello began ranking the available players in 2021 was Texas that very same year, but incoming stars are only half of the formula -- we also tracked the points lost to outgoing transfers, which hurt teams such as LSU and St. Bonaventure in 2022, both of which lost 13 points of transfer star power in a single portal cycle.
Finally, we compared each program's average of transfer talent added vs. lost between 2021 and 2024 to their 2025 transfer classes, ranking the five teams that did better -- and the five teams that did worse -- heading into this upcoming season compared to the previous four.
Note: We still included transfers who didn't make the top 100 cut for 2025 but appeared in Borzello's "next in line" list of honorable mentions, which are marked as "NR" for "not ranked" below.
MOST TRANSFER TALENT ADDED
1. Oklahoma Sooners (+12.5)
2021-24 average net score: -2.5
2025 ranked players added: +10
No. 26 Xzayvier Brown via Saint Joseph's (+3)
No. 42 Derrion Reid via Alabama (+3)
No. 48 Nijel Pack via Miami (+2)
No. 59 Tae Davis via Notre Dame (+2)
2025 ranked players lost: 0
Churn has been a theme for Porter Moser's team the past two seasons, returning less than 30% of its previous minutes in each one -- and that doesn't figure to change in 2025-26. The Sooners lost most of their best players from last season's squad, headlined by Jeremiah Fears and Jalon Moore, who moved on to the NBA.
The good news is that Moser rebuilt his roster through the portal by landing four of the top 60 transfers available, a departure from recent trends: The Sooners had typically lost more transfer talent than they gained in recent years, especially in 2024 when Javian McCollum, Otega Oweh and Milos Uzan left.
2. Michigan Wolverines (+10.5)
2021-24 average net score: +1.5
2025 ranked players added: +14
No. 3 Yaxel Lendeborg via UAB (+5)
No. 23 Morez Johnson Jr. via Illinois (+4)
No. 36 Elliot Cadeau via North Carolina (+3)
No. 51 Aday Mara via UCLA (+2)
2025 ranked players lost: -2
No. 57 Tre Donaldson to Miami (-2)
Michigan had mixed activity in the portal under Juwan Howard, adding No. 26 DeVante' Jones in 2021 and No. 19 Olivier Nkamhoua in 2023, but also losing No. 1 Hunter Dickinson to Kansas in 2023. The Wolverines saw more activity -- both in losses (No. 39 Dug McDaniel, No. 40 Tarris Reed Jr.) and additions (No. 42 Vladislav Goldin, No. 44 Danny Wolf) -- under Dusty May in 2024.
Heading into 2025-26, May used the portal to rebuild for the losses of Donaldson to Miami, then Wolf and Goldin to the NBA, by adding one of the best transfers of the year in Lendeborg, plus three more of the top 51.
3. Kentucky Wildcats (+10.2)
2021-24 average net score: +3.8
2025 ranked players added: +14
No. 7 Jayden Quaintance via Arizona State (+5)
No. 25 Jaland Lowe via Pitt (+4)
No. 60 Kam Williams via Tulane (+2)
No. 61 Mouhamed Dioubate via Alabama (+2)
No. 76 Denzel Aberdeen via Florida (+1)
2025 ranked players lost: 0
Whether under John Calipari previously or Mark Pope now, Kentucky has consistently been among the most active teams in the portal. Since 2021, the Wildcats have either added or lost 31 top transfers (including from Borzello's "next in line" tier). The most on-brand example came last offseason, when they churned through 13 ranked transfers in the transition from Calipari to Pope.
This year, though, they lost no ranked portal candidates, while adding four of the top 76, with Quaintance and Lowe projecting to join returning wing Otega Oweh among their best players.
4. St. John's Red Storm (+8.5)
2021-24 average net score: +5.5
2025 ranked players added: +15
No. 10 Ian Jackson via North Carolina (+5)
No. 12 Bryce Hopkins via Providence (+4)
No. 33 Joson Sanon via Arizona State (+3)
No. 68 Dillon Mitchell via Cincinnati (+2)
No. 81 Oziyah Sellers via Stanford (+1)
NR Dylan Darling via Idaho State
2025 ranked players lost: -1
No. 97 Simeon Wilcher to Texas (-1)
After a dormant 2021, former coach Mike Anderson picked up the portal pace at St. John's in 2022 with the additions of No. 15 David Jones and No. 21 Andre Curbelo -- then things really started to take off under Anderson's successor, Rick Pitino. Under Pitino's watch, the Johnnies added players including Jordan Dingle, RJ Luis and Daniss Jenkins, then No. 1 Kadary Richmond and No. 24 Deivon Smith in 2024. But with Luis and Richmond entering the NBA draft (though neither were selected) and Smith running out of eligibility, the Red Storm outdid themselves heading into this season, reloading with a stacked transfer class of five ranked players and one next-in-line.
5. Washington Huskies (+7.5)
2021-24 average net score: +2.5
2025 ranked players added: +10
No. 13 Wesley Yates III via USC (+4)
No. 39 Desmond Claude via USC (+3)
No. 58 Quimari Peterson via East Tennessee State (+2)
No. 86 Jacob Ognacevic via Lipscomb (+1)
2025 ranked players lost: 0
Washington broke even on star transfers during Mike Hopkins' tenure as coach, adding some well-ranked names -- think No. 30 Keion Brooks Jr. (via Kentucky) in 2022 -- while seeing few exits. Since Danny Sprinkle's arrival from Utah State, though, the Huskies have been more active. Some of that was just by virtue of former Aggies players to follow him, as was the case with No. 6 Great Osobor in 2024. But this year's class of additions is deeper, and it would not be surprising to see USC transfers Claude and Yates III lead the Huskies in scoring during their first season in Seattle, as Washington looks to make its first NCAA tournament since 2019.
Next five teams: Creighton, Syracuse, Louisville, NC State, BYU
MOST TRANSFER TALENT LOST
1. Arkansas Razorbacks (-15)
2021-24 average net score: +9
2025 ranked players added: +1
No. 78 Malique Ewin via Florida State (+1)
2025 ranked players lost: -7
No. 6 Boogie Fland to Florida (-5)
No. 70 Zvonimir Ivisic to Illinois (-2)
The Hogs are net losers on transfer portal movement for the first time since 2021. In some ways, that's a testament to how much they had been a steady importer of talent under Eric Musselman, who brought in No. 34 Stanley Umude in 2021, No. 18 Trevon Brazile and No. 32 Ricky Council IV in 2022, and No. 44 Tramon Mark, No. 45 Keyon Menifield and No. 76 Khalif Battle in 2023.
It also speaks to the massive overhaul the team went through in its transition to Calipari last season, adding No. 3 Johnell Davis, No. 12 Jonas Aidoo, No. 25 D.J. Wagner, No. 57 Adou Thiero and No. 58 Ivisic through the portal. This year, Ivisic and the dynamic Fland are gone, and former FSU big man Ewin figures to be a solid rotation player, not a star.
T-2. Memphis Tigers (-8)
2021-24 average net score: +3.0
2025 ranked players added: 0
NR Dug McDaniel via Kansas State
2025 ranked players lost: -5
No. 1 P.J. Haggerty to Kansas State (-5)
Penny Hardaway's alma mater has typically taken big swings in the portal, landing No. 11 Earl Timberlake in 2021, No. 1 Kendric Davis in 2022, No. 30 Jordan Brown in 2023 and No. 20 Tyrese Hunter in 2024. But this year was different. For the first time since at least 2021, the best transfer involved in Memphis' cycle was a departure: Haggerty, the team's leading scorer and a second-team All-America selection last season, who transferred to Kansas State.
The only notable transfer talent the Tigers added was McDaniel, who merely rated as "next in line" (though could end up vying to lead the Tigers in scoring this season) -- a departure from their previous pattern of adding at least one top-30 transfer each of the previous four years.
T-2. Kansas Jayhawks (-8)
2021-24 average net score: +6
2025 ranked players added: +1
No. 73 Tre White via Illinois (+1)
2025 ranked players lost: -3
No. 63 AJ Storr to Ole Miss (-2)
No. 91 Rylan Griffen to Texas A&M (-1)
Given its history of big portal pickups over the previous four years, it's atypical that Kansas added only one ranked transfer -- and not even in the top 70 -- while losing two. Since 2021, Bill Self's squad has had an impressive streak of landing top transfers, including No. 2 Remy Martin (2021), No. 8 Kevin McCullar Jr. (2022), No. 1 Hunter Dickinson (2023) and No. 4 AJ Storr (2024). But not only did incoming 2024 transfers Storr and Griffen (who was No. 19 that year) lose a lot of their value after arriving in Lawrence, they both slipped outside the top 60 in Borzello's 2025 rankings after combining to average just 12.4 points per game last season, both departing for the SEC heading into this campaign.
With former USC, Louisville and Illinois wing White the Jayhawks' lone star out of the portal, they will need to rely more on freshmen like the highly touted Darryn Peterson than transfers.
4. Maryland Terrapins (-7.8)
2021-24 average net score: +1.8
2025 ranked players added: +3
No. 52 Pharrel Payne via Texas A&M (+2)
No. 87 Myles Rice via Indiana (+1)
2025 ranked players lost: -9
No. 9 Ja'Kobi Gillespie to Tennessee (-5)
No. 16 Rodney Rice to USC (-4)
The Terrapins had consistently done a solid job of adding premium talent in the portal under Mark Turgeon (who snagged Fatts Russell and Qudus Wahab in 2021) and Kevin Willard (whose transfer success stories included Jahmir Young, Rodney Rice and Gillespie). But Buzz Williams hadn't been quite as active in courting top portal talent at Texas A&M, which carried over into his first offseason at College Park. Rice and Gillespie left UMD as top-20 ranked transfers, and while that's no surprise -- coaching instability is one of the most consistent predictors of portal losses -- none of the Terps' additions cracked the top 50.
5. Arizona State Sun Devils (-7.7)
2021-24 average net score: -0.3
2025 ranked players added: 0
2025 ranked players lost: -8
No. 7 Jayden Quaintance to Kentucky (-5)
No. 33 Joson Sanon to St. John's (-3)
Although the Sun Devils haven't had much success recently -- they have been to the NCAA tournament just once since 2019 -- Bobby Hurley has typically been break-even on name-brand portal activity, adding a top player like Jay Heath, Marreon Jackson, Desmond Cambridge Jr. or Alston Mason for every departure like Remy Martin or Jalen Graham. But this year, ASU's best transfers (Maurice Odum and Marcus Adams Jr.) didn't even rank among the next-in-lines, while top-35 portal players Quaintance and Sanon took their talents elsewhere.
Hurley is still relying on new faces, but none of them figure to move the needle quite as much as the Sun Devils' previous hauls.
Next five teams: UCF, Xavier, Arizona, Mississippi State, Alabama
