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The transfer portal is starting to cool down (1599 players later) and it's becoming clearer to see how teams will look in the 21-22 season.
Looking at the big money conferences, here's a list of one (or two) teams that would be "easy to root for" as an underdog against the higher profile teams. Each of these teams also have a chance to be decent within their conference and possibly tournament teams.
ACC: Virginia Tech/Wake Forest: Two teams with coaches who recently jumped from the SoCon to the ACC.
Virginia Tech is a hard-working, solid shooting team led by Mike Young's former Wofford big Keve Aluma (15.2p, 7.9r) and physical rim attacker Tyrese Radford (12.2 ppg). VT brings in another former Wofford player, grad transfer point guard Storm Murphy (17.8p, 4.3a, 40 3p%).
Former ETSU coach Steve Forbes is in his 2nd year of the rebuild of Wake Forest. His first season was as expected (6-16), but Forbes has done a nice job bringing in better recruits and some solid transfers, most notably former ETSU lead guard Daivien Williamson, who led the Deacons in scoring last season (12.9 ppg). Williamson's senior compatriot is 6'8 stretch forward Isaiah Mucius (10.3 ppg, 34.2 3p%).
Honorable mention to Clemson.
Big Ten: Northwestern: Chris Collins is entering his 9th season at the seemingly thankless job of coaching at Northwestern. Last year's young squad started hot (6-1) and ended well (3-1) but had a THIRTEEN game winless streak in the middle. The team brings back seven rotation players and adds the 33rd best '21 class. Generally the least-liked conference on the Boneyard, Northwestern brings that underdog likability. Bonus shoutout to Purdue, my favorite Big Ten team.
Big 12: Oklahoma/Oklahoma State: Really excited to see the development of Porter Moser's first season. Realistic chance that his starting lineup will be all transfers (including March Madness darling Tanner Groves) but he is one of my favorite coaches.
For Oklahoma State, Mike Boynton inherited a tricky situation and handled it with grace and class. Cade Cunningham is gone and now it's senior guard Issac Likekele's team to led. He's a big (6'4 215), physical two-way point guard who works his butt off.
Pac-12: Washington State: Entering his third year after an impressive run at San Francisco changing the game of collegiate basketball analytics, Smith has done a nice job steadily bringing in talent to Pullman. Noah Williams has transformed from a #305 recruit to a legit NBA prospect. The 6'5 combo guard scored 14.1 ppg along with 1.6 steals and 37.9 3p%. Dennis Rodman's son plays there (6.1 ppg, 41.1 3p 3%) so that's cool. They have a crazy impressive young frontcourt led by athletic bigs Efi Abogidi and top-40 incoming recruit Mouhamed Gueye. Bonus plug to Bobby Hurley...I wonder how his team will rebound with his impressive collection of transfers.
SEC: Texas A&M: Buzz Williams, Javonte Brown, Hassan Diarra...Very excited to see how top-25 recruit Manny Obaseki makes an impact plus his transfer haul is very intriguing. In addition to Brown, St. Joe's point forward Jordan Hall (10.6p, 5.9r, 5.7a), former top-50 Duke recruit Henry Coleman and Wyoming point guard Marcus Williams (14.8p, 5.3a, 1.4s). All four of these transfers have just one season under their belt, so Buzz is building for the long haul but in the short game, A&M can become a tourney team this season.
Looking at the big money conferences, here's a list of one (or two) teams that would be "easy to root for" as an underdog against the higher profile teams. Each of these teams also have a chance to be decent within their conference and possibly tournament teams.
ACC: Virginia Tech/Wake Forest: Two teams with coaches who recently jumped from the SoCon to the ACC.
Virginia Tech is a hard-working, solid shooting team led by Mike Young's former Wofford big Keve Aluma (15.2p, 7.9r) and physical rim attacker Tyrese Radford (12.2 ppg). VT brings in another former Wofford player, grad transfer point guard Storm Murphy (17.8p, 4.3a, 40 3p%).
Former ETSU coach Steve Forbes is in his 2nd year of the rebuild of Wake Forest. His first season was as expected (6-16), but Forbes has done a nice job bringing in better recruits and some solid transfers, most notably former ETSU lead guard Daivien Williamson, who led the Deacons in scoring last season (12.9 ppg). Williamson's senior compatriot is 6'8 stretch forward Isaiah Mucius (10.3 ppg, 34.2 3p%).
Honorable mention to Clemson.
Big Ten: Northwestern: Chris Collins is entering his 9th season at the seemingly thankless job of coaching at Northwestern. Last year's young squad started hot (6-1) and ended well (3-1) but had a THIRTEEN game winless streak in the middle. The team brings back seven rotation players and adds the 33rd best '21 class. Generally the least-liked conference on the Boneyard, Northwestern brings that underdog likability. Bonus shoutout to Purdue, my favorite Big Ten team.
Big 12: Oklahoma/Oklahoma State: Really excited to see the development of Porter Moser's first season. Realistic chance that his starting lineup will be all transfers (including March Madness darling Tanner Groves) but he is one of my favorite coaches.
For Oklahoma State, Mike Boynton inherited a tricky situation and handled it with grace and class. Cade Cunningham is gone and now it's senior guard Issac Likekele's team to led. He's a big (6'4 215), physical two-way point guard who works his butt off.
Pac-12: Washington State: Entering his third year after an impressive run at San Francisco changing the game of collegiate basketball analytics, Smith has done a nice job steadily bringing in talent to Pullman. Noah Williams has transformed from a #305 recruit to a legit NBA prospect. The 6'5 combo guard scored 14.1 ppg along with 1.6 steals and 37.9 3p%. Dennis Rodman's son plays there (6.1 ppg, 41.1 3p 3%) so that's cool. They have a crazy impressive young frontcourt led by athletic bigs Efi Abogidi and top-40 incoming recruit Mouhamed Gueye. Bonus plug to Bobby Hurley...I wonder how his team will rebound with his impressive collection of transfers.
SEC: Texas A&M: Buzz Williams, Javonte Brown, Hassan Diarra...Very excited to see how top-25 recruit Manny Obaseki makes an impact plus his transfer haul is very intriguing. In addition to Brown, St. Joe's point forward Jordan Hall (10.6p, 5.9r, 5.7a), former top-50 Duke recruit Henry Coleman and Wyoming point guard Marcus Williams (14.8p, 5.3a, 1.4s). All four of these transfers have just one season under their belt, so Buzz is building for the long haul but in the short game, A&M can become a tourney team this season.
