Portal Poachers: Southern Conference
Which young players from the Southern make their way to high-major conferences in the next year or so?
Recruiting isn’t just for high schoolers anymore.
The transfer portal and the handout of extra years of eligibility combine to make college basketball recruitment a different animal. No longer are teams just looking to get a young wave of talent — they want to win now with older guys. As such, the transfer route has been explored by many, now becoming a way of life in college basketball.
From a scouting perspective, high-major college programs will spend their time looking to the lower ranks to find their up-and-coming stars or role players. Others are highly touted recruits who don’t pan out at the major conferences slide down to the other ranks. Both types of players are of intrigue to front offices and draft heads looking to get a complete feel of the college landscape.
With that in mind, we’re beginning a series to look at some of the best young players in some of the mid-major or lower conferences in the NCAA. The focus isn’t on guys who are seniors, simply because it’s impossible to know if they will take their extra year or will no longer play college basketball. Our focus will be on the guys who could transfer up and be appealing due to the nature of having multiple years at their next stop.
Today’s stop is in the Southern Conference, aka the SoCon, a unique mixture of schools. Located mostly in the Tennessee and Carolinas area, there are a few military-based schools (The Citadel and VMI), some really small private schools (Wofford and Furman are both underneath 3,000 students), and a few large state schools with wide reaches and nice facilities (Chattanooga and UNC-Greensboro). It’s quite the mix.
From a basketball perspective, the SoCon is filled with coaches and coaching staffs that identify talent and maximize it really well. There are several pro prospects in the conference this year (Jake Stephens at Chattanooga, Jalen Slawson at Furman) deserving attention from scouts who were identified and homegrown in the league.
Some players from the Southern Conference have moved up to great spots heading into the season, showing how talented some of the guys in the league really are:
Malachi Smith, Chattanooga (Gonzaga)
Trey Bonham, VMI (Florida)
Hayden Brown, The Citadel (South Carolina)
Sam Godwin, Wofford (Oklahoma)
Max Klesmit, Wofford (Wisconsin)
Isaiah Bigelow, Wofford (Richmond)
Jason Roche, The Citadel (Richmond)
Owen Spencer, The Citadel (Ohio State)
Kamdyn Kurfman, VMI (Marshall)
Ty Brewer, ETSU (UAB)
Ledarrius Brewer, ETSU (UAB)
There have been plenty of guys to move up to major conference hoops and found success before last year, too. The 30-5 team at Wofford in 2018-19, coached by current Virginia Tech coach Mike Young, had guys like Keve Aluma and Storm Murphy, who followed him to the Hokies. Davien Williamson followed Steve Forbes from ETSU to Wake Forest. Noah Gurley went from Furman to Alabama and started, while Mason Faulkner made the jump from Western Carolina to Louisville.
Who could be the next batch of players to rise up the ranks of the SoCon and become future contributors at the high-major levels?