UK’s Adou Thiero isn’t alone: Top SEC basketball players have entered NCAA transfer portal
The NCAA transfer portal has been open for college basketball players since March 18, the day following Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament.
The portal will remain open until May 1, and it’s already been a hub for significant player movement.
Yes, the Final Four is still yet to be played, but some of the top players in college basketball have already entered their names into the portal, expressing a desire to potentially change schools and, in some cases, already settling on their next school.
The SEC — which sent eight teams to March Madness and has Alabama making its first-ever Final Four appearance later this week — has featured prominently in all of this.
From Kentucky’s Adou Thiero to Florida’s Riley Kugel, plenty of highly regarded SEC men’s basketball players appear to be on the move this offseason.
Here’s a look at some of the notable SEC players who appear set to change schools.
Davonte Davis
Position: Guard.
School: Arkansas.
Stats: 5.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game across 30 games played (23 starts) during the 2023-24 season with the Razorbacks.
What to know: Live by the transfer portal, die by the transfer portal. A player movement reckoning has come for Arkansas coach Eric Musselman after a disappointing season in which the Hogs went 16-17 overall and 6-12 in SEC regular season games.
Davis is one of several Arkansas players that hit the portal last month, along with guards Layden Blocker, Keyon Menifield Jr. and Joseph Pinion, and forward Denijay Harris.
Davis has been synonymous with Arkansas basketball in recent years: He’s played in 132 college basketball games, all for Arkansas, since the 2020-21 season and was part of Arkansas’ Elite Eight squads in the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Tournaments.
Just prior to the Hogs’ home loss to Kentucky in late January, Arkansas announced Davis had “stepped away from the program.” He returned to the team in February.
Davis — an SEC All-Defensive team selection for the 2022-23 season — won three of the five games he played in against Kentucky, including a 15-point effort from him in a February 2023 win in Lexington.
K.D. Johnson
Position: Guard.
School: Auburn.
Stats: 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game across 35 games played (one start) during the 2023-24 season with the Tigers.
What to know: After starting his college career at Georgia, Johnson found a home in Auburn: Johnson appeared in all but one of Auburn’s 102 games over the last three seasons, which included two NCAA Tournament wins and this year’s upset loss to Yale in the opening round.
Johnson saw his role change over the course of his three seasons playing for coach Bruce Pearl. He started 31 games and averaged nearly 28 minutes played per contest in the 2021-22 season before coming off the bench entirely in the 2022-23 season with an average of 22 minutes played. He started just one game this season and played an average of 17.7 minutes.
When meeting with the media last month following Auburn’s NCAA Tournament exit, Pearl said playing time was at the heart of Johnson’s decision to transfer for a second time.
“What I anticipated in my meetings with K.D. was that our roster, in the backcourt ... it’s going to be a little bit more of the same for K.D. In other words: coming off the bench, not quite being able to play as freely as he would have liked to play,” Pearl said. “Just only so many minutes, only so much opportunity, and then with a chance of perhaps having a lot of other guys back who are also really good.”
Johnson twice scored at least 10 points in games against UK.
Meechie Johnson
Position: Guard.
School: South Carolina.
Stats: 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game across 33 games played (all starts) during the 2023-24 season with the Gamecocks.
What to know: Kentucky basketball fans will be thrilled to see Johnson leave South Carolina, and potentially the SEC. In the 2022-23 season, Johnson erupted for 26 points, six rebounds and six assists in an upset win for South Carolina at Rupp Arena. This season, Johnson had 14 points, three rebounds and four assists as South Carolina crushed Kentucky in Columbia.
Johnson finished this season as the leading scorer for a South Carolina team that earned a 6 seed in March Madness. This was South Carolina’s first NCAA Tournament trip since 2017.
In a statement posted on his Instagram, Johnson said he’s exploring the transfer portal and will “consider testing the NBA draft waters.” He participated in the NBA draft combine last year before returning to South Carolina.
Johnson, who spent two seasons at South Carolina, began his college career by playing two seasons at Ohio State.
Per Joe Tipton of On3, Kentucky has contacted Johnson since he entered the transfer portal.
Riley Kugel
Position: Guard.
School: Florida.
Stats: 9.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game across 33 games played (11 starts) during the 2023-24 season with the Gators.
What to know: Kugel has made quick, and efficient, work of his time in the transfer portal. After spending two seasons at Florida, Kugel entered the transfer portal March 27 and announced he would be going to Kansas on Sunday. Only four days separated those events.
Kugel picked the Jayhawks from a final shortlist that also included Arizona, Houston and UConn. Kugel, a preseason All-SEC selection ahead of the 2023-24 season, appeared destined for a change of scenery after he was benched in the SEC Tournament by head coach Todd Golden.
Last season, Kugel received All-SEC freshman honors after averaging 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest. In a home loss to Kentucky in February 2023, Kugel had 24 points. In another home loss to Kentucky in January, Kugel had 15 points.
Adou Thiero
Position: Guard.
School: Kentucky.
Stats: 7.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks across 25 games played (19 starts) during the 2023-24 season with UK.
What to know: Thiero is, so far, the lone member of the 2023-24 Kentucky men’s basketball team to enter the transfer portal. Thiero has left the door open for a possible return to UK, but his departure would be significant.
One of the few reliable physical presences on this season’s Kentucky squad, the still-growing Thiero was set to represent a hard-nosed, veteran presence on next season’s Kentucky team. Thiero embodies all the qualities head coach John Calipari has talked about prioritizing for next year’s team, but now it appears Thiero possibly won’t be part of that group.
Thiero is the son of a former Calipari player — Almamy Thiero played for Calipari at Memphis — and he was a major contributor to this season’s Kentucky team despite playing through injuries and missing time with various ailments related to his continued growth spurt.
“After talking to Coach Calipari, I feel it is best at this time to test the waters professionally, entering my name in the 2024 NBA draft, while keeping all of my options open, including a return to Kentucky,” Thiero said in a social media statement Saturday.
Thiero didn’t mention the transfer portal in his statement, but the Herald-Leader confirmed last week that he entered his name into the portal. Thiero is the first of Kentucky’s 10 scholarship players with remaining college eligibility to make a statement on his basketball future since the Cats lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 21.
Herald-Leader Staff Writer Ben Roberts contributed to this article.
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