Texas Tech, Gonzaga headline five-for-five portal winners and losers
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- UConn coach Dan Hurley criticized the five-for-five ruling, telling reporters the late-summer transfer wave 'cheapened' roster-building and noting 'no other sport is going on like this,' as roughly 80 players flooded the portal in the first week of August.
- Texas Tech landed Darrion Williams back from NC State and added UCF's Jamichael Stillwell to pair with recovering All-American JT Toppin and transfers Cruz Davis (Hofstra) and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (UNLV), giving Grant McCasland the pieces of a potential top-5 offense.
- Gonzaga responded to gut-wrenching guard departures by adding Dayton's Javon Bennett (35% from three on 7.0 attempts per game) and Florida State's Chauncey Wiggins (39% from three on 5.8 attempts), giving Mark Few a towering lineup featuring Davis Fogle (6-7), Wiggins (6-10), Braden Huff (6-11), and Massamba Diop (7-0).
- North Carolina was tagged a loser because new coach Michael Malone addressed UNC's frontcourt only with South Dakota's Cameron Fens, a 7-foot, 255-pound center who allowed opponents to shoot 58% at the rim on his watch, passing on Florida's Micah Handlogten and Villanova's Duke Brennan.
- Tennessee added Vanderbilt transfer Jalen Washington (8.9 points, 5.6 rebounds) to join DeWayne Brown II and Loyola-Chicago's Miles Rubin, addressing the frontcourt concerns that had the Vols ranked seventh in way-too-early SEC tiers.
- Texas Tech is still pursuing a fifth year for sniper Donovan Atwell, who shot 46% from three on 8.4 attempts per game for the Red Raiders last season.
Why it matters: Hurley built UConn's roster assuming fifth-year seniors would not return, and now faces competition he calls unfair. Texas Tech, Gonzaga, and Tennessee used the late window to upgrade rosters that were either gutted by departures or thin up front, while North Carolina's stopgap at center (a player who allowed 58% shooting at the rim) leaves defensive questions that a $7.5 million coach salary will be measured against.
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