Wading into the transfer portal
Jayden Gardner’s head was spinning last week with pitches from college basketball programs after he entered the transfer portal.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett had a sense of what Gardner was experiencing. Being wooed by schools that could use the kind of numbers he produced in three seasons for East Carolina — 18 points and 8.7 rebounds per game — meant his social calendar was full.
“He said it’s like speed dating,” said Gardner, a 6-foot-7 forward with two seasons of eligibility remaining who decided this week to transfer to U.Va. after considering North Carolina State, Louisiana State, Arkansas and Miami.
“You have all these options and pretty women, but you have to make a decision pretty fast. It’s just all about can you trust this person? What are they saying? Can they help you? Can you help them?
“It’s all about process of elimination, really. Virginia stood out the most.”
U.Va. and Virginia Tech have been particularly active on the “dating” scene as it pertains to the transfer portal. With so much roster movement for both programs in the last month, they’ve had no choice.
Since losing to Ohio in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, U.Va. has seen forwards Sam Hauser and Jay Huff and guard Tomas Woldetensae move on after their senior seasons. Forward Justin McKoy has transferred to North Carolina, while guards Casey Morsell and Jabri Abdur-Rahim have transferred to N.C. State and Georgia, respectively.
Suddenly finding itself with six open scholarships, U.Va. has had to get a running start into the transfer portal.
One of the openings will be taken by 6-5 incoming freshman guard Taine Murray from New Zealand, but the Cavaliers filled two more spots with the transfer additions of Gardner and 6-4 guard Armaan Franklin from Indiana, where he was second in scoring last season with 11.4 points per game and led the Hoosiers with 42.4% shooting from 3-point range as a sophomore.
U.Va. guard Trey Murphy, who was third on the team in scoring last season (11.3 points per game), is exploring his NBA draft prospects while leaving open the possibility of returning to Charlottesville. His decision will determine whether U.Va. has three or four scholarships left to fill this offseason.
Dealing with vacancies of its own, Virginia Tech has also been active in the transfer portal — coming and going. In addition to guard Cartier Diarra and forward Cordell Pemsl deciding to leave
the program, guards Jalen Cone and Joe Bamisile transferred to Northern Arizona and George Washington, respectively.
Senior guard Wabissa Bede hasn’t announced whether he’ll come back to Tech for one more season, but his return would be considered a surprise. All players have been granted an extra season of eligibility by the NCAA as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to the departures, Tech is awaiting a decision from Keve Aluma, a second-team All-ACC forward who is getting a better read on his NBA draft stock while retaining the option to return to Blacksburg.
Tech has gone about repopulating its roster by adding guard Storm Murphy from Wofford and 7-foot center Michael Durr from South Florida via the transfer portal.
Murphy, a 6-foot graduate transfer, averaged 17.8 points and 4.3 assists per game last season while shooting 40% from 3-point range for Wofford. Durr contributed 8.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season for South Florida.
In addition to Murphy and Durr, Tech will bring in freshmen Sean Pedulla, a 6-1 guard from Edmond, Oklahoma, and Jalen Haynes, a 6-8 forward from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who signed a letter of intent Thursday with Tech after averaging 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in one season at Montverde Academy in Florida. He was originally a Class of 2020 recruit but reclassified as a member of the ’21 class.
Moving forward in the offseason, Tech has at least one scholarship left to fill — assuming Bede isn’t coming back — and possibly two if Aluma departs.
Neither U.Va. nor Tech appears finished this offseason with its dealings in the transfer portal, where the targets have become a bit more savvy about the recruiting process.
“It’s a little bit different, but there are similar concepts,” Gardner said when comparing his recruitment out of his high school to his transfer-portal experience.
“It’s just that now I’m older, I’m smarter, I can tell some things when I’m being recruited by schools about what’s real and what’s not. There’s an advantage for older guys like myself who’ve seen the game and know what’s going on behind the scenes.”