Early List of Big East Transfers to Watch in 2023-24

Non-graduate college basketball players have until May 11 to announce their intentions to enter the transfer portal, but those who have waited to do so have put themselves at a distinct disadvantage.

The next two weeks should be a mad dash for programs looking to fill out their rosters. Look no further than St. John’s, whose head coach Rick Pitino added four players in the last four days. Butler lost six players to the portal, including Chuck Harris, Simas Lukosius, and Jayden Taylor, but welcomed four transfers, while Ed Cooley has his work cut out for him after nine players from last season’s roster at Georgetown have gone portaling.

Transfers had a significant impact on the Big East last season. Of the six players on the All-Big East First team, three were transfers — Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, Xavier point guard Souley Boum, and Providence forward Bryce Hopkins. Hopkins and Boum were in their first seasons in the Big East last year, and certainly had immediate impacts. Kolek, Boum, and Hopkins were the front-runners for Big East Player of the Year from January through the end of the regular season.

Joel Soriano was a Second Team member who transferred in from Fordham two years ago, while three of the four members of the All-Big East Honorable Mention Team (Baylor Scheierman/Creighton, Jack Nunge/Xavier, Devin Carter/Providence) all started their careers elsewhere.

Connecticut likely doesn’t win the national title without the likes of Tristen Newton, Joel Calcaterra, and Nahiem Alleyne playing critical roles in their first seasons in Storrs. Dan Hurley found three complementary players well-suited to surround Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins.

So, who are the potential high impact players who have signed with Big East schools to date? Let’s take a look.

Dayvion McKnight: Western Kentucky to Xavier. McKnight averaged 16.5 points, 5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game last season. The 6’1 guard is a Kentucky native who averaged over 16 points per game in each of the last two seasons, and was First Team All-Conference USA in 2022, and Second Team last year. He had a 34-point, nine rebound, four assist, four steal game against Minnesota as a sophomore. He will step into big minutes and opportunity in a revamped Xavier lineup. X will need immediate production from their transfers after losing Boum, Colby Jones, Adam Kunkel and Jack Nunge.

TJ Bamba: Washington State to Villanova. Kyle Neptune has gotten some good news in the offseason. Justin Moore is returning after rumors of a potential transfer, then Nova won an important recruiting battle for Bamba, who averaged nearly 16 points per game while shooting 37% from three last year. The 6’5 Bronx native’s scoring production doubled as a junior in 2022-23, highlighted by a 36-point outburst at Washington in March.

Quincy Olivari: Rice to Xavier. There’s something about Sean Miller and Conference USA. Souley Boum made a seamless transition from the league last year, and now Miller is adding Olivari and McKnight in 2023. They were two of the league’s top five scorers last season. Olivari made nearly 90 threes last season, while shooting at 37% and scoring over 18 points per game. He scored 30+ on three occasions. Miller has promising backcourt depth with the two new transfers joining sophomore-to-be Desmond Claude, another sophomore in Kam Craft, and top 100 shooter Reid Ducharme, who will be a freshman next year.