Rivals Roundtable: Grad-transfers, traditional transfers and seniors
This week in the Rivals Roundtable, national analysts Eric Bossi, Corey Evans and Dan McDonald discuss which grad-transfer prospect they would pursue if they were running a high-major program. Also, who is the best available within the Transfer Portal and whether the NCAA should give all seniors an extra year of eligibility due to how their season ended thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
MORE: Coaches against extra year of eligibility | Where grad-transfers will land
1. Which grad-transfer is poised to make the biggest impact?
Bossi: Great question. One which I think we will find our answer from the Ivy League. Seth Towns and Bryce Aiken of Harvard and Jordan Bruner of Yale all look to be legit high major guys. I'll go with Towns because he has the size and skill to play as a small ball four man or a big wing. In today's game where versatility, potential shot-makers and spreading the floor matter, I like his odds to make an immediate impact. Ohio State sure seems like a logical landing spot for him given his ties to the area and how tough it is to do any kind of visits right now.
Evans: I will go with Kevin Marfo. No, he is not some high-flying athlete or a new age big man that can and will shoot the 3-ball. However, he is a dominant interior guy that dominates the paint and just the led the nation in rebounding at over 13 per game. Marfo needs the right system and personnel placed around him.
Many schools are involved, but a couple of SEC programs may be out in front.
McDonald: If Bruner ends up staying in college, I really like him if he joins a high-major program. It's hard to make a grad-transfer a feature player, but it works pretty often for those players to come in as more of secondary player that fills a need in the program. Duke and Kansas have been involved here. Those both make a lot of sense to me.
2. Who is the best traditional transfer on the market?
Bossi: Speaking of Ohio State, the way they handled D.J. Carton this season was admirable. He took time away from the game and they gave him proper space and let him take care of himself, never an easy thing for either party. Now, Carton has decided that it is time to move on and there will be no shortage of interest in him. He's a dynamic playmaker, a big-time athlete and has the potential to be an immediate difference-maker.
However, I do also want to plug Long Beach State's Joshua Morgan. The lean 6-foot-10 big man still needs strength and some more polish, but if the former Rivals150 big man picks the right situation and puts in the work, I could see him getting drafted by the NBA in a few years.
Evans: I am going to piggy-back off of Bossi and say Carton. This is someone that, just eight months ago, was receiving some buzz as being Ohio State’s next one-and-done prospect and sat as Chris Holtmann’s top-rated prospect that he had ever recruited.
While it didn’t work out as well as many had hoped, the talent and potential are all still there. He is a dynamic lefty guard that is tremendous out of high-ball screen sets, an underrated athlete at the basket and has the size to play either guard position. Iowa has received most of the talk for where Carton may land, but there will definitely be no shortage of suitors to choose from.
McDonald: Landers Nolley is certainly one to watch. The redshirt freshman forward averaged 15 points per game and has the potential to be up near 20 points per game at the right spot. He's just a really talented scorer that has the ability to carry a team.
3. Should the NCAA give seniors an extra year of eligibility since the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic?
Bossi: I wouldn't be upset if they did, but I don't see it as necessary. Look, it sucks many seniors saw their careers ended a few games early because of COVID-19. I feel for them. However, most seniors were already finished and for those who weren't, they likely only had a handful of games left. Even if they could, not every senior would choose to come back, scholarships would have to be figured out and promises to recruits could be a big issue. Just seems like too many moving parts to find a fair way to all involved to approve such a drastic measure.
Evans: I am all for student-athlete rights and will say, this ending to some seniors’ college careers is one that no one should have to endure, but I just don’t see how this can be amended. Sure, it would be awesome to give each a full year back but how do you decipher who does and who doesn’t? Many had already been completed their seasons. Plus, how would it affect APR, scholarship counts and who would even pay for the scholarships?
What makes this so different from a senior having a season ending injury in February? Why should they not then receive another year of free play? Sometimes, that is just how life works, unfortunate as it may seem.
McDonald: It'd be nice if they could do it, but I just can't see it happening. There are too many complications to make it work. Some schools were already finished with their seasons when they the COVID-19 situation took off. Can those players get another season? What about high school seniors who chose a school with the idea of a senior at their position leaving school? Are those kids allowed out of their letter of intent? I'm sure if the NCAA really wanted to they could figure all this out, but I doubt they will. That being said, I would be in favor of it if it did go through.