Jeff EisenbergSenior writerFri, April 24, 2026 at 5:03 PM UTC·11 min readThe window for college basketball players to enter the transfer portal has closed. Elite programs have offered top players NIL payouts worth millions of dollars. All but a few stragglers have made their decisions.
That means it’s an ideal time to identify the offseason’s biggest winners and losers so far.
Here’s a list headlined by some teams who have successfully recruited and retained many of their most important players from last season and by some others who have swung and missed in the portal trying to patch holes:
Turns out there may not be much debate over next year’s preseason No. 1.
Florida is an obvious choice after retaining the core of last season’s 27-win team that won the outright SEC title by three full games and secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The first big win for Florida was the return of 6-foot-11 forward Alex Condon, a borderline first-round pick who last season averaged a career-high 15.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 blocks. Then Todd Golden also persuaded 6-9 forward Thomas Haugh to postpone his NBA dreams another year even though he was projected to go somewhere in the middle of the first round had he remained in the draft. That means Florida could bring back three pillars of its frontcourt, assuming Rueben Chinyelu withdraws from the NBA Draft.
It’s a given that Florida’s rebounding will be elite, as will its rim dominance at both ends of the floor. The backcourt also could be improved with point guard Boogie Fland and sniper Urban Klavzar returning and Denzel Aberdeen potentially coming back too after a one-year hiatus. Aberdeen will need a waiver to secure a fifth year of eligibility, no sure thing considering he appeared in 12 games as a true freshman.
Only weeks after making the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, Illinois has solidified itself as a leading threat to return. The Illini retained five of their top eight players from last season and added some key backcourt weapons to help make up for stud freshman Keaton Wagler leaving early for the NBA Draft.
Rebounding and rim protection should again be strengths for Illinois thanks to the return of David Mirkovic and the Ivisic brothers. Jake Davis is a steady perimeter shooter and defender, while Andrej Stojakovic’s slashing ability meshes perfectly amid a lineup full of skilled perimeter snipers.
The big addition via the portal was Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 point guard from Estonia with positional size and a proven ability to create via the pick and roll. He’ll be surrounded by much of the same talent that Wagler was when he ascended from unheralded recruit to soon-to-be lottery pick. That would seem to be an opportune setup for both Vaaks and the Illini.
It’s easy to see why Sean Miller ditched Xavier to take the Texas job last spring. The resources available to him at Texas have allowed him to go on a shopping spree in the transfer portal and build a powerhouse team.
The optimism at Texas starts with the retention of Lithuanian center Matas Vokietaitis, whose development fueled his team’s surprise run from the First Four to the Sweet 16 last month. Vokietaitis averaged 18.3 points and 11 rebounds in the Longhorns’ three NCAA tournament victories while also altering shots around the rim.
Surrounding Vokietaitis are five portal splashes, headlined by TCU transfer David Punch. He is a dependable interior scorer and game-changing defender who averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds for the Horned Frogs. Colorado transfer point guard Isaiah Johnson provides scoring and playmaking off the dribble, wings Elyjah Freeman (Auburn) and Amari Evans (Tennessee) add positional size, length and defensive upside and former Saint Mary’s star Mikey Lewis offers much-needed floor spacing and secondary shot creation.
And, oh yeah, let’s not forget about Texas’ heralded freshman class led by 6-foot-5 McDonald’s All-American guard Austin Goosby.
Texas will be elite defensively. The Longhorns will be huge. If the newcomers mesh seamlessly and there’s enough shooting on this roster, this team has national title upside.
At a time when other successors to hall-of-fame coaches have failed to live up to the standards of their predecessors, Duke’s Jon Scheyer has done exactly the opposite. He’s winning even more than Mike Krzyzewski was at the end of his tenure in Durham.
The roster that Scheyer has assembled for next season again looks top-five caliber despite the departure of national player of the year Cameron Boozer, high-scoring guard Isaiah Evans and defensive standout Maliq Brown. Scheyer is bringing back a handful of rotation players, adding two key transfers and welcoming another decorated freshman class.
The retention of point guard Cayden Boozer, combo guard Caleb Foster and interior defender Patrick Nbonga should ensure that Duke isn’t as freshman-heavy next season. Long, athletic wing Dame Sarr will also bring his smothering defense and developing offense back to Durham, barring a surprise declaration for the NBA Draft.
That group was missing a go-to scorer until Scheyer added Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell via the portal. Blackwell averaged 19.1 points per game last season and blossomed into an elite high-volume shooter, lethal both off the catch and off the bounce. Scheyer also nabbed Belmont interior scorer and defensive menace Drew Scharnowski to be part of Duke’s frontcourt rotation.
Throw in a freshman class that includes three of the nation’s top 14 prospects, and it’s safe to say that Scheyer’s biggest challenge might be keeping everyone on this roster satisfied with their playing time. The previous two seasons, talent-laden Duke teams have blown double-digit second-half leads in the NCAA tournament. This year’s roster appears strong enough to again give Scheyer a shot to win his first national title.