Neil Paine Oct 23, 2026, 08:00 AM ET

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Neil Paine writes about sports using data and analytics. Previously, he was Sports Editor at FiveThirtyEight.

If you ever had doubts about the importance of the men's college basketball transfer portal, this past season should have put them to rest. After years of being a moderate player at best on the transfer stage, Michigan and then-coach Dusty May made a huge splash during the 2025 offseason -- adding four of the top 51 players in Jeff Borzello's ESPN transfer rankings (No. 3 Yaxel Lendeborg, No. 23 Morez Johnson Jr., No. 36 Elliot Cadeau , No. 51 Aday Mara). Thirty-seven wins later, that quartet led scoring for one of history's most dominant national champions.

Not every recent champion has been built with quite as much focus on portal talent. But four of the past five national champs have added at least one player ranked among the top 20 transfers from the previous offseason.…