**** Official 2026 MBB Spring Transfer Portal Thread ****

Ultimate vibes guy and great for culture but can’t blame him for wanting to actually play - Sam Diego would be an incredible place to enjoy your senior year of hoops. If not, UNI you can stay close to home. Thanks Cade!
This is what has me slightly worried. Him and Milan seemed to be really good friends. Maybe silly, but to me it always seemed like it could be a reason he'd factor into coming back for his Senior yr, even if a small one. One more year with his bro. With him gone..who knows. Idk maybe the $2mil+ Milan will get would account for that hole in his social life though ha
 
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This is what has me slightly worried. Him and Milan seemed to be really good friends. Maybe silly, but to me it always seemed like it could be a reason he'd factor into coming back for his Senior yr, even if a small one. One more year with his bro. With him gone..who knows. Idk maybe the $2mil+ Milan will get would account for that hole in his social life though ha

I think you might be overthinking things at this point. We need the draft deadline to get here. I fully expect Milan back unless he commits to the draft.
 
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I think it's pretty clear all of our guys are staying. Not one rumor yet. Usually the rumor mill starts and it's almost like clockwork at that point before they enter.
I believe Toure, Batemon, Buchanon and Pleta all said as much after the last tournament game, though I suppose things could change. Those guys back plus Milan if he doesn't go pro is a huge head start for next year.
 
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Seems like we haven't heard many names connected to ISU yet - at least not in this thread. I assume visits and whatnot will pick up when the portal opens tomorrow?


I think some people in the know,, know the names of the guys we are going after. I agree though, normally we start hearing names. I think the two I have heard the most is the Northwestern Forward and the Colorado guard. Not sure how serious those rumors are. Hopefully they are real. I would not be suprised to start hearing about a couple guys we have never heard of from smaller schools.
 
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Seems like we haven't heard many names connected to ISU yet - at least not in this thread. I assume visits and whatnot will pick up when the portal opens tomorrow?
Players aren't 'connected' anywhere yet publicly because the portal isn't open yet. I'm guessing we're connected with several guys behind the scenes.
 
There's already been rumors about Trevian Carson from NDSU (a WDM Valley graduate) coming here, which would make sense and i think he could be a nice piece. There's smoke about Tre Singleton from Northwestern coming here which IMO would be an absolute home run get. He's young and has shown flashes of greatness - needs to clean up his defense a little though, lol he fouled out in 9 mins vs Minnesota this year, he's got a similar game to Jefferson but i think is further along in his skill development after his freshman year, than Jefferson was after his freshman year.

I think with Kelderman leaving, that would give us the freedom to go after another guard. I fully anticipate we'll have 4 openings to fill from the portal and I bet we fill those with 2 guards and two PF's/bigs.

Looking how TJ has gone after guys in the portal before, I doubt we'll be going after many, if any, other P5 guys outside of Singleton (he will be our whale if we can land him). So I expect TJ to go after lower level guys, who have 2+ years left, and are defensive minded.

Got a slow day at work today so I'm sifting through some guys who I think could potentially fill this narrative:

PG JaQuan Johnson from Bradley is the first guy that stands out to me. Originally from Milwaukee. I believe has at least 2 years left and was on the MVC all defensive team this last year (interesting note - Eli King was the conference DPOTY). He's listed at 5'10 so a little undersized but sometimes those smaller guys have a massive chip on their shoulder.

F Okechukwu Okeke from Albany could maybe be another guy, but he's a senior - ESPN shows 3 years of stats so he might have one more year left? But he was the A-East DPOTY, originally from Chicago.

C Chol Machot from the College of Charleston. He was the CAA DPOTY and was only a soph last year. Big dude, originally from Melbourne. Doubt we go after this guy but he'd be a nice addition - avg 2.5bpg, 9 points, 5.5 rebs in 20mpg.

F Jason Rivera-Torres from Monmouth. Kind of a do-it-all forward - 15.8ppg, 8.1rpg, 1.1bpg, 2.1spg, 2.9apg, shot 31% from 3 this year on 165 attempts, originally from the Bronx, NY. Was on the CAA all defensive team. A little bit of a journeyman - started his career at vandy, then went to SF, then this last year he was at Monmouth. I think he's only got one year left so may not be a take.

F Eric Dibami freshman from Florida International - 6'10, 235 originally from Cameron. Was on the C-USA all defensive team. Avg 9ppg, 1.4 assist, blocks, and steals per game, 7.4 rebounds in 29mpg.

PG TJ Burch, Soph from Wright State - Was the Horizon League DPOTY. Avg 12ppg, 2.6spg, 3.6apg in 24mpg. Originally from Dallas, TX

6-10 F Jerquarius Stanbeck Freshman from Alabama State won the SWAC DPOTY this year. Avg 8.8ppg, 2bpg, 1.1spg, 5.8rpg in 24.6mpg. Originally from Asheboro, NC - doubt we got after this guy though.

With the hiring of Tim Buckley, I could see us looking at anyone from Cincy who enters, or maybe even South Carolina (where Buckley was before he came to Cincy), but as of right now, there isn't anyone in the portal from Cincy, and all 4 guys who are in the portal from SC weren't there when Buckley was there. Also, I LOVE the Buckley hire. He's known for his player development and his nickname is the shot doctor. So, fire me TF up, Doc!

I could have just wasted time putting this list together, but, portal season is fun to toss out names and these are some of the guys who would make sense TJ would go after.
 
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PG - Toure, Williams, Gray Jr
SG - Batemon, Trevian Carson, Wiggins
Wing - Milan, Needed transfer or 3 guard lineup
Stretch 4/Forward - Tre Singleton, Kiss
C - Buchanan, Pleta, DKR

4-6 seed come March 2027

Biggest key in the off-season to 2026/27 success is the offensive development of Toure and replacement for Jefferson
 
There's smoke about Tre Singleton from Northwestern coming here which IMO would be an absolute home run get. He's young and has shown flashes of greatness - needs to clean up his defense a little though, lol he fouled out in 9 mins vs Minnesota this year, he's got a similar game to Jefferson but i think is further along in his skill development after his freshman year, than Jefferson was after his freshman year.
That's insane work, lol
 
There's already been rumors about Trevian Carson from NDSU (a WDM Valley graduate) coming here, which would make sense and i think he could be a nice piece. There's smoke about Tre Singleton from Northwestern coming here which IMO would be an absolute home run get. He's young and has shown flashes of greatness - needs to clean up his defense a little though, lol he fouled out in 9 mins vs Minnesota this year, he's got a similar game to Jefferson but i think is further along in his skill development after his freshman year, than Jefferson was after his freshman year.

I think with Kelderman leaving, that would give us the freedom to go after another guard. I fully anticipate we'll have 4 openings to fill from the portal and I bet we fill those with 2 guards and two PF's/bigs.

Looking how TJ has gone after guys in the portal before, I doubt we'll be going after many, if any, other P5 guys outside of Singleton (he will be our whale if we can land him). So I expect TJ to go after lower level guys, who have 2+ years left, and are defensive minded.

Got a slow day at work today so I'm sifting through some guys who I think could potentially fill this narrative:

PG JaQuan Johnson from Bradley is the first guy that stands out to me. Originally from Milwaukee. I believe has at least 2 years left and was on the MVC all defensive team this last year (interesting note - Eli King was the conference DPOTY). He's listed at 5'10 so a little undersized but sometimes those smaller guys have a massive chip on their shoulder.

F Okechukwu Okeke from Albany could maybe be another guy, but he's a senior - ESPN shows 3 years of stats so he might have one more year left? But he was the A-East DPOTY, originally from Chicago.

C Chol Machot from the College of Charleston. He was the CAA DPOTY and was only a soph last year. Big dude, originally from Melbourne. Doubt we go after this guy but he'd be a nice addition - avg 2.5bpg, 9 points, 5.5 rebs in 20mpg.

F Jason Rivera-Torres from Monmouth. Kind of a do-it-all forward - 15.8ppg, 8.1rpg, 1.1bpg, 2.1spg, 2.9apg, shot 31% from 3 this year on 165 attempts, originally from the Bronx, NY. Was on the CAA all defensive team. A little bit of a journeyman - started his career at vandy, then went to SF, then this last year he was at Monmouth. I think he's only got one year left so may not be a take.

F Eric Dibami freshman from Florida International - 6'10, 235 originally from Cameron. Was on the C-USA all defensive team. Avg 9ppg, 1.4 assist, blocks, and steals per game, 7.4 rebounds in 29mpg.

PG TJ Burch, Soph from Wright State - Was the Horizon League DPOTY. Avg 12ppg, 2.6spg, 3.6apg in 24mpg. Originally from Dallas, TX

6-10 F Jerquarius Stanbeck Freshman from Alabama State won the SWAC DPOTY this year. Avg 8.8ppg, 2bpg, 1.1spg, 5.8rpg in 24.6mpg. Originally from Asheboro, NC - doubt we got after this guy though.

With the hiring of Tim Buckley, I could see us looking at anyone from Cincy who enters, or maybe even South Carolina (where Buckley was before he came to Cincy), but as of right now, there isn't anyone in the portal from Cincy, and all 4 guys who are in the portal from SC weren't there when Buckley was there. Also, I LOVE the Buckley hire. He's known for his player development and his nickname is the shot doctor. So, fire me TF up, Doc!

I could have just wasted time putting this list together, but, portal season is fun to toss out names and these are some of the guys who would make sense TJ would go after.
PG - Toure, Williams, Gray Jr
SG - Batemon, Trevian Carson, Wiggins
Wing - Milan, Needed transfer or 3 guard lineup
Stretch 4/Forward - Tre Singleton, Kiss
C - Buchanan, Pleta, DKR

4-6 seed come March 2027

Biggest key in the off-season to 2026/27 success is the offensive development of Toure and replacement for Jefferson
If Milan comes back, he's going to be face guarded the entire season. We need to have another reliable 3pt threat to counter that and by threat I mean someone who shoots better than 30-32% from three. Maybe that's Batemon, maybe that's Williams, I don't know. But I wouldn't mind targeting someone who can get us 40%+ from 5+ attempts per game.
 
If Milan comes back, he's going to be face guarded the entire season. We need to have another reliable 3pt threat to counter that and by threat I mean someone who shoots better than 30-32% from three. Maybe that's Batemon, maybe that's Williams, I don't know. But I wouldn't mind targeting someone who can get us 40%+ from 5+ attempts per game.

That's clearly Batemon. If he takes the freshman to sophmore jump that we all think he can, I expect him to get a ton of open looks.
 
If Milan comes back, he's going to be face guarded the entire season. We need to have another reliable 3pt threat to counter that and by threat I mean someone who shoots better than 30-32% from three. Maybe that's Batemon, maybe that's Williams, I don't know. But I wouldn't mind targeting someone who can get us 40%+ from 5+ attempts per game.
I wouldn't count on Williams being a Cyclone next year
 
If Milan comes back, he's going to be face guarded the entire season. We need to have another reliable 3pt threat to counter that and by threat I mean someone who shoots better than 30-32% from three. Maybe that's Batemon, maybe that's Williams, I don't know. But I wouldn't mind targeting someone who can get us 40%+ from 5+ attempts per game.
I agree in general, but your stat is a pretty small pool of players.

45 people did that last season, and 20 were seniors + Milan. Down to 24 possibilities, before eliminating any players not portaling or going NBA
 
PG - Toure, Williams, Gray Jr
SG - Batemon, Trevian Carson, Wiggins
Wing - Milan, Needed transfer or 3 guard lineup
Stretch 4/Forward - Tre Singleton, Kiss
C - Buchanan, Pleta, DKR

4-6 seed come March 2027

Biggest key in the off-season to 2026/27 success is the offensive development of Toure and replacement for Jefferson
And Milan coming back, of course
 
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