College Basketball

College basketball's biggest offseason splashes of 2023

Published Aug. 2, 2023 10:22 a.m. ET

College Basketball Broadcaster and Reporter

As the calendar turns to August, it's a good time for the college basketball world to take a breath — maybe? We say maybe because the time that has passed since Connecticut completed a dominant run to a national championship has been wild.

There may be a deadline to enter the transfer portal, but there's no timeline for when players must have their decisions. This has led to all kinds of developments in the recruiting world, and no shortage of bidding wars in the NIL era. From the portal frenzy to some of the game's best coaches ending their tenures in various ways, to the recruiting live period revving up in July, college hoops is essentially a yearlong sport. There are no complaints on this end, that's for sure!

Whether you are an avid follower of the sport or need to catch up on the offseason happenings, here are the 20 biggest splashes of the 2023 college basketball offseason. We have four categories in our selections: returnees, coaching moves, transfer additions, and other offseason winners.

THE RETURNEE SPLASHES

National Player of the Year Zach Edey is back at Purdue

Not only is the most dominant player in the country running it back for his senior season, but this is the second consecutive offseason that the player of the year has decided to return to school after Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe did so in 2022.

A dominant force at 7-foot-4, Edey led Purdue — which was unranked in the preseason — to a 29-6 record and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 22.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. He went for 30-plus points eight times. With Edey, the Boilers could be a preseason top-five team, and making the Final Four is a legitimate goal.

Can Matt Painter break through in March? The growth of sophomore guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer will be important, as the ability of the Boilers' backcourt to handle pressure from opposing defenses could determine how far they go. That being said, to have Edey back is a massive win for Purdue, the Mackey Arena faithful and college basketball in general. And it's a nightmare for the Big Ten coaches.

Kyle Filipowski could have been a top-20 NBA Draft pick. Instead, he's back at Duke

… and the reigning ACC Freshman of the Year is not alone.

As Jon Scheyer enters his second season in Durham, he has a legitimate national championship contender. The only debate surrounding Duke right now is whether it's the Blue Devils or Kansas as the top team in the preseason Top 25.

Filipowski's return is massive. The 7-foot center from New York averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game on 44% shooting from the floor. He was tracking to be a top-20 pick in the NBA Draft. It's just not common for stars to stick around in college. But he can cash in on NIL, grow into a lottery pick for next summer, and try to win a national championship this season. Filipowski headlines an embarrassment of riches for Scheyer, as guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor return to run the show on the perimeter, while forward Mark Mitchell returns as well. Oh, and Duke ushers in the nation's No. 3-ranked freshman class, powered by Jared McCain and TJ Power. The Blue Devils are stacked.

Tom Izzo's best remaining chance to win a second national championship

Michigan State is loaded with experience, led by A.J. Hoggard, Tyson Walker, Jaden Akins and Malik Hall. All four impact Spartans from a Sweet 16 team — Izzo's 15th team to get that far— are back. In addition to all the returning experience, Michigan State ushers in the country's fifth-ranked freshman class according to the 247 Sports composite system, with 6-foot-10 center Xavier Booker highlighting the newcomers. Walker rose into one of the sport's best guards last season, averaging 16.6 points over the final 12 games, including a 23-point performance in the upset win over 2-seed Marquette in the Round of 32. Izzo has a closer, 83% of his scoring back, a core that's been through several critical situations, and a stacked recruiting class. This could be the year that the Hall of Famer climbs the ladder for the second time and breaks the Big Ten's title curse.

Marquette returns the majority of a 29-win team

Yes, UConn won the national championship, but keep this in mind: the Golden Eagles swept the Big East regular season and tournament championships and return all but one key piece, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who was selected No. 24 by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Draft. Prosper's rise as a pro prospect is certainly impressive, and was one of the many developments in the rise of Shaka Smart's program in Year 2. Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Marquette has reigning conference player of the year Tyler Kolek back to lead the way, along with sharpshooting guard Kam Jones, center Oso Ighodaro, forward David Joplin, lockdown defender Stevie Mitchell, and rising sophomores Chase Ross, Sean Jones and Ben Gold. That's what stands out about Marquette. In the current crazy climate of the college basketball offseason, the Golden Eagles are one of the few programs that possess stability.

Florida Atlantic is no fluke and returns the majority of its Final Four core

Could the Owls reach a second straight Final Four? It's possible!

Dusty May has worked to keep his Florida Atlantic roster intact. Outside of Michael Forrest, who had exhausted his eligibility, the Owls bring back virtually everybody, including their top four scorers: Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Vladislav Goldin and Nick Boyd. As they join the American Athletic Conference, FAU should be a preseason top-10 team. Just think of how close they came to the national championship game, stopped only by an amazing shot by San Diego State's Lamont Butler.

It will be intriguing to see how May and the Owls handle life with a big target on their backs. I know that blue bloods lead headlines and get the most attention, but it feels so rare for both a coach and his players to stay together at a program like FAU. That's why this should be considered an offseason splash.

THE COACHING MOVES

Bob Huggins' disastrous exit at West Virginia

Last year, we saw the expected retirement of Mike Krzyzewski and the unexpected retirement of Jay Wright. This year, we saw another legendary tenure end at Syracuse. But one departure trumps all because of how it all went down. Huggins, the winningest active head coach with 934 victories, endured one of the biggest downfalls in college sports history.

Uttering homophobic remarks and being charged with DUI in a five-week stretch felt ridiculous enough, but then Huggins worked with an attorney to try to argue that he never formally resigned from his position and plans to coach the Mountaineers again. The instant take is that money is the motivation for it, but the fact Huggins is destroying his relationship with the school just makes it that much more wild.

As we turn to the 2023-24 season, the wildest thing of all is that there are actual expectations at West Virginia! Why? They brought in the nation's No. 2 ranked transfer class, and interim head coach Josh Eilert, a Huggins assistant, has been able to keep the key pieces of Syracuse transfer Jesse Edwards and Arizona transfer Kerr Kriisa with the program. While Joe Toussaint (Texas Tech) and Tre Mitchell (Kentucky) moved on, there's still enough on this team to be solid.

Rick Pitino takes over St. John's and has wasted no time getting the Red Storm on the radar

To say that Pitino has injected life into St. John's basketball would be an understatement. The Red Storm matter once again in the NYC sports scene, and this time it feels like all of that talk will be turned into results because the one thing you can always say about Pitino is that he wins. He is 834-293 all-time, and with the NCAA investigations and violations of the past in the rearview mirror, he is looking to have the last word on his career and get a once proud program back on the national stage. The 70-year-old is flourishing in the NIL era as well, and he built an NCAA Tournament-caliber roster in recent weeks.

Pitino has capped off the offseason with fireworks, reeling in St. John's highest-ranked freshman in a decade with North Carolina decommit Simeon Wilcher. The 6-foot-4 guard from New Jersey is ranked 34th in the country in the 247 Sports composite rankings.

That homecoming trend continued with the news that Chris Ledlum, who averaged 18.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game at Harvard last year, decommitted from his first transfer destination of Tennessee and instead is coming to the Johnnies to play for a program that's near his native Brooklyn.

With 11 additions in total, it will be really intriguing to see how minutes are managed and who ends up being the go-to guy. There are options for Pitino to choose from, but one thing is for certain: the Johnnies are relevant again.

For the first time in 48 years, Syracuse will have a new man on the sidelines: Adrian ‘Red’ Autry

It was a strange way for the second-longest tenure in college basketball history to come to an end. Just hours following Syracuse's loss in the ACC Tournament to Wake Forest, and after Jim Boeheim stated that his future was in the university's hands, the statement was released that his run as head coach of the Orange had come to an end.

In the same statement, the school announced that Syracuse great and associate head coach Autry had been elevated to lead the program into a new era. The Orange didn't conduct a search, but kept it in the family.

Can Autry lead a program? Syracuse is in need of direction after missing two straight NCAA Tournaments, and the Orange's NIL situation is not in a good place. This upcoming season, they will likely be pegged in the back half of the ACC, but the return of sophomore guard Judah Mintz and the addition of Notre Dame star transfer JJ Starling could help the Orange exceed expectations.

Autry should bring a different spin to the program, and we will see less of Boeheim's patented 2-3 zone. It's a new era. Will keeping things in the family work?

Ed Cooley leaves Providence for Georgetown in a jaw-dropping Big East move

I'll give this take right now: there will be no wilder atmosphere in college basketball in the upcoming season than when the Hoyas visit Providence at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Why? Because Providence is a city rooted in tradition and loyalty, and hometown man Cooley had built Providence back to being a Sweet 16 team. It was thought to be the perfect fit between coach and school. There was a time when the thought was that Cooley would never leave Providence. He truly had it all with the Friars.

But he did leave — for Big East rivals at Georgetown.

Cooley, who idolizes the late John Thompson Jr. and whose daughter Olivia is a Georgetown graduate, is now the head coach of the Hoyas. The ripple effect on Providence and the response from the fan base has been sharp, with the feeling that Cooley betrayed them. Friars athletic director Steve Napolillo held nothing back as he went to search for his new coach, firing shots at Georgetown.

He hired Kim English, a 34-year-old rising star who was the head coach at George Mason and previously an assistant for former Friars head coach Rick Barnes. English has kept Providence stars Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter in the fold, and there's no question that heading into the 2023-24 season, the Friars are in a better place personnel-wise than Georgetown. In addition to a solid core of returnees, English has brought standout big man Josh Oduro, along with Davonte Gaines and Justyn Fernandez, with him from George Mason.

Cooley reeled in transfers Jayden Epps (Illinois), Ismael Massoud (Kansas State), Rowan Brumbaugh (Texas) and Dontrez Styles (North Carolina), among others, but there's a concern with the Hoyas frontcourt as a new era begins.

At least this upcoming season, the Friars should have a leg up on the Hoyas, but that's not really a surprise considering Georgetown has gone 13-50 over the last two seasons. How will these programs look 3-5 years from now? That's a fascinating question. But for the upcoming season, when Cooley returns to Friartown, it will be a must-see event.

After resurrecting Penn State, Micah Shrewsberry looks to wake up the echoes at Notre Dame

Making the NCAA Tournament and winning a game is a rare sight in Penn State history, but the Nittany Lions did just that behind All-American Jalen Pickett, beating Texas A&M for the program's first win at the tournament since 2001.

Shrewsberry has been rewarded. With Mike Brey, the winningest coach in Notre Dame men's basketball history, stepping down after 23 years, it opened the door for Shrewsberry to return to his home state of Indiana. The Irish hired the 47-year-old, a former Matt Painter and Brad Stevens assistant, to usher in a new era in South Bend.

At first glance, the Irish have a bunch of questions to answer in Shrewsberry's first season. He needs some time.

TRANSFER SPLASHES

Hunter Dickinson takes talents from Michigan to Kansas in the biggest transfer in portal history

It was a story that ruled the college basketball news cycle for several weeks. The Dickinson sweepstakes had blue bloods aplenty in pursuit of the 7-foot-1 All-American, who averaged more than 18 points and nine rebounds per game in his last two seasons with the Wolverines. After Maryland, Villanova, Kentucky and Kansas were listed as finalists, the star big man elected to play for Bill Self.

Dickinson is the most polarizing player in the sport, hosting a Barstool Sports podcast and being unafraid to make his opinions known.

On the court, he's one of the sport's most impactful players, and with point guard Dajuan Harris, forwards Kevin McCullar and KJ Adams , and Towson sharpshooting transfer Nick Timberlake in the fold as well, Kansas could very well be preseason No. 1. That's how much the Dickinson decision impacts Self, who will be seeking a second championship in three years.

College basketball's active scoring leader Max Abmas is a Texas Longhorn

After scoring 2,562 points across four years at Oral Roberts, including a trip to the Elite Eight as a 15-seed in 2021, Abmas will be a leader for Rodney Terry's Longhorns in the upcoming season. Terry, who had the interim tag lifted and was given the job after charging the Horns to the Elite Eight, made a splash with Abmas. The 6-foot guard from Rockwall, Texas has averaged at least 21.9 points per game in each of the last three seasons and has shot at least 37% from 3 in the process. He will team up with Tyrese Hunter in the backcourt for a Horns team that should be in the top-25 mix.

Creighton point guard Ryan Nembhard says goodbye to Jays, hello to Zags

This was a move where you can just feel the way the transfer portal and NIL impact the sport. Nembhard was part of an Elite Eight Creighton team this past season. The Jays came a possession away from a Final Four. And yet, he's off to a new destination. That being said, Creighton still has Trey Alexander and Baylor Scheierman, among others, and there's only one basketball. At Gonzaga, Nembhard will have autonomy of the backcourt, and Mark Few will be relying on him to run the show. The rising junior averaged 12.0 points and 4.8 assists per game this past year. He and Graham Ike were huge adds for Few and Gonzaga, allowing the program to stay in the mix for top 15 consideration in preseason polls.

LJ Cryer stays in the state of Texas, but moves from Baylor to new Big 12 member Houston

Coming off a bit of an underwhelming season by Baylor standards, as the Bears struggled defensively and had a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament, Cryer joined Adam Flagler and top-20 NBA Draft pick Keyonte George in a Baylor exodus. He'll still see Baylor this upcoming season because he's staying in the Big 12, electing to head to Kelvin Sampson and Houston.

Cryer, a bucket-getting guard who scored 30 points against Creighton in the NCAA Tournament this past year and had eight games of 20-plus points, will try to help fill the void left by the loss of Jerry West award winner and First Team All-American Marcus Sasser. The addition of Cryer, along with Temple transfer Damian Dunn, and the return of Jamal Shead, should keep the Cougars backcourt in a strong place and allow Houston to be one of the best teams in the Big 12 this season.

From North Carolina … to Michigan … to Arizona? Caleb Love's winding road to Tucson

Love's exit from North Carolina was a foregone conclusion after the way the 2022-23 season went, as the Tar Heels went from preseason No. 1 to not even making the NCAA Tournament.

There were clear chemistry issues in Chapel Hill as the Tar Heels delivered one of college basketball's biggest flops of all time. While Armando Bacot and RJ Davis are still at UNC, Love's next destination was going to be Michigan — until academic requirements were not met for the transfer to get completed.

Instead, Love is off to an Arizona program that has gone 61-11 in Tommy Lloyd's first two years at the helm. The Wildcats look the part of a preseason top-20 team. How the highly debated Love fits into the program will be a storyline to watch considering the way things ended in rough fashion at North Carolina. He joins a roster that has backcourt depth with former 5-star recruit Kylan Boswell, Alabama transfer Jaden Bradley and Pelle Larsson all expected to make a significant impact.

There's a two-way street with Love, and that's what makes him such a fascinating transfer experiment. On one hand, he was massive in leading North Carolina to the national championship game in 2022. This past season, though, he shot the Tar Heels out of some games. Can Love improve his efficiency and find the right balance under Lloyd's coaching?

Other offseason winners …

Villanova: The Wildcats bring back Justin Moore and Eric Dixon, but it was Kyle Neptune's transfer haul that could have Villanova as a top-15 team. Tyler Burton (Richmond), Hakim Hart (Maryland), TJ Bamba (Washington State) and Lance Ware (Kentucky) completed the portal adds for the Wildcats. Depth should be in place on the Main Line, and with Moore leading the way, this team could have a big bounce-back year.

Arkansas: Eric Musselman is always going to be in the mix of offseason winners. The Razorbacks usher in the nation's sixth-best transfer class according to 247 Sports, with Tramon Mark (Houston), Keyon Menifield (Washington) and El Ellis (Louisville) among a six-member group on their way to Fayetteville. With Devo Davis and Trevon Brazile also back, and top-30 recruit Baye Fall coming in to bolster the frontcourt, the Hogs look like a top-15 team yet again.

UConn: Sure, the Huskies say goodbye to their three best players in Jordan Hawkins, Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson, but Connecticut welcomes in a top-five recruiting class highlighted by likely one-and-done prospect Stephon Castle and top-40 recruit Solomon Ball. The late add of Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer will help the perimeter in a big way, and Donovan Clingan's rise as a sophomore could lead to him becoming one of the best players in the country. Dan Hurley also has his point guard Tristen Newton back, and the ever-steady presence of Alex Karaban at power forward. Connecticut could repeat in 2024.

California: When was the last time we talked about the Golden Bears being a winner in basketball? Look, there's only one direction for this program to go after a three-win season, but hiring Stanford great and two-time Lakers NBA champion Mark Madsen immediately injects life into a program that's been stuck in a basement of misery. The Bears added a bevy of transfers, notably Fardaws Aimaq (Texas Tech, played for Madsen at Utah Valley — led nation in rebounding in 2021) and Jalen Cone (17.6 PPG at Northern Arizona last year).

Colorado: It's not necessarily about a big transfer haul here, but more about the fact that Tad Boyle has a team capable of being right around the top of the Pac-12. The Buffaloes, who were an NIT team a year ago, welcome back their top six scorers from last season, including a front-runner for Pac-12 Player of the Year, Tristan Da Silva. The 6-foot-9 forward is a matchup nightmare who connected on more than 39% of his 3-point attempts last season. It's not just about what's returning, though. Colorado welcomes the country's No. 4 overall freshman, 6-foot-8 small forward Cody Williams, the highest-rated signee in program history. He is the younger brother of Jalen Williams, the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and a current member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. His guard skills at his size and frame are why scouts believe he could be one of the top picks in the 2024 draft. Throw in big man Eddie Lampkin transferring from TCU and adding NCAA Tournament experience to Boyle's group, and this Colorado team has a chance to be special.

The 6-foot-3 guard's stock rose after a quality showing at the recent Nike Hoops Summit and his progress while at Sierra Canyon. His pledge to USC vaulted the program's incoming recruiting class as a top-30 unit nationally, as it also includes No. 1 overall recruit Isaiah Collier and top-50 big man Arrinten Page.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter at @John_Fanta.

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