TRANSFER PORTAL AIDS ’CATS, OWLS

To get a sense of where Kansas State and Florida Atlantic sit in college basketball’s hierarchy, look at their transfers.

The Wildcats have nine players who previously played at other Division I schools, several of whom were productive multi-year starters in mid-major conferences. Most notable among them: Markquis Nowell, the 5-foot-8 point guard who put on the performance of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in an overtime victory against Michigan State in the Sweet 16.

FAU’s transfers — players such as Bryan Greenlee and Vladislav Goldin — arrived at the Boca Raton, Fla., school after compiling thinner résumés at programs in the so-called power conferences. Those moves were more of a leap of faith for both FAU coach Dusty May and the players coming aboard.

“Obviously, I was close to home, so that was a bonus,” said Greenlee, a Gainesville, Fla., native who played sparingly in 19 games at Minnesota as a freshman in 201920. “But just interacting with the staff and Coach May for the brief time that I did, I just felt like it was the best move for me.”

The Conference USA champions from FAU and Kansas State from the powerful Big 12 will be on equal footing with a trip to the Final Four at stake today (3 p.m., TBS). The ninth-seeded Owls (34-3) face the No. 3 seed Wildcats (26-9) at Madison Square Garden in the East Region final.

Kansas State is a testament to the power of the transfer portal in this era of college basketball. Firstyear coach Jerome Tang had two players on his roster after taking over the Wildcats: Nowell and Ismael Massoud. Both had transferred to Kansas State under former coach Bruce Weber and decided to stick with the new staff.

Tang said Nowell and Massoud were his best recruiters, helping him land Keyontae Johnson, a starter at Florida before a heart condition nearly ended his career; Desi Sills (Arkansas State); and Tykei Greene, a second-team allAmerica East pick at Stony Brook.