The 2026 Transfer Portal

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NewPatriot

Starter
He’d fit into the category of project player in the A10.
He isn't going to be a a project player....he is a 7' 230 pound rim protector...he has power conference offers on his list...the staff isn't behaving like it's done...


His Highlights and numbers.

7’0 C Aly Tounkara (@Bigg_aly13) is developing into a BIG interior presence for Arkansas State. He was quietly an excellent rebounder and
recorded 6 games with 10+ rebounds this season.

• 4.3 PPG
• 5.5 RPG
• 1.0 BPG
• 62.9% FG

A big physical athlete! Tounkara controls the glass, protects the rim, sets good hard screens and rolls , and runs the floor well. Aly showcases good hands and touch around the rim while being a lob threat
 
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tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
He isn't going to be a a project player....he is a 7' 230 pound rim protector...he has power conference offers on his list...the staff isn't behaving like it's done...


His Highlights and numbers.

7’0 C Aly Tounkara (@Bigg_aly13) is developing into a BIG interior presence for Arkansas State. He was quietly an excellent rebounder and
recorded 6 games with 10+ rebounds this season.

• 4.3 PPG
• 5.5 RPG
• 1.0 BPG
• 62.9% FG

A big physical athlete! Tounkara controls the glass, protects the rim, sets good hard screens and rolls , and runs the floor well. Aly showcases good hands and touch around the rim while being a lob threat
He put up those numbers against some pretty a** competition. His per 40 numbers are unimpressive, while I’m sure plenty of schools are showing interest because like us, taking a flyer on a 7 foot freak is always a good idea in case it hits, I’d almost guarantee no one is exactly backing up the brinks truck for this guy. I don’t see where the minutes come from if we bring anyone else in, unless we are recruiting over someone we spent money on already.
 
OP
N

NewPatriot

Starter
He put up those numbers against some pretty a** competition. His per 40 numbers are unimpressive, while I’m sure plenty of schools are showing interest because like us, taking a flyer on a 7 foot freak is always a good idea in case it hits, I’d almost guarantee no one is exactly backing up the brinks truck for this guy. I don’t see where the minutes come from if we bring anyone else in, unless we are recruiting over someone we spent money on already.
Nope..his offer list is pretty good...

Since entering the transfer portal, 7’0 C Aly Tounkara (@Bigg_aly13) has heard from the following schools:

UNLV
Tennessee
Seton Hall
George Mason
Memphis
Virginia Tech
Boston College
NC State
Western Kentucky
New Mexico State
Pacific
Utah State
Louisville
BYU

That list includes

4 ACC, 1 Big East, 1 Big 12 School and 2 top tier mid majors.
 

Verdad

Starter
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Aly gives me Shevon Thompson vibes - take for me, if only for his defense and rebounds. Just can't be in during crunch time at the end of the game until he gets that FT% way way way up.
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
He put up those numbers against some pretty a** competition. His per 40 numbers are unimpressive, while I’m sure plenty of schools are showing interest because like us, taking a flyer on a 7 foot freak is always a good idea in case it hits, I’d almost guarantee no one is exactly backing up the brinks truck for this guy. I don’t see where the minutes come from if we bring anyone else in, unless we are recruiting over someone we spent money on already.
As long as he is content being what he is — a rim runner who dunks, rebounds and blocks shots — he could be a huge asset against teams that have P4 size at the 5, if only because we wouldn’t have to have a 6-9 guy guarding a 7-footer.

Would be a nice option to have when needed, but agreed I don’t see any world in which he comes in and takes minutes at the 5 from Kanga, Marcus Jr. or Adair against smaller teams.

If there’s some petty cash left in the couch cushions and he wants to come, seems like a no-brainer to take a chance when you have two open spots.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
Nope..his offer list is pretty good...

Since entering the transfer portal, 7’0 C Aly Tounkara (@Bigg_aly13) has heard from the following schools:

UNLV
Tennessee
Seton Hall
George Mason
Memphis
Virginia Tech
Boston College
NC State
Western Kentucky
New Mexico State
Pacific
Utah State
Louisville
BYU

That list includes

4 ACC, 1 Big East, 1 Big 12 School and 2 top tier mid majors.
If the top end of that offer list was real and backed by large NIL offers for what teams are paying starting level C who are 7 feet tall he would have signed by now.
 

tblack33

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
As long as he is content being what he is — a rim runner who dunks, rebounds and blocks shots — he could be a huge asset against teams that have P4 size at the 5, if only because we wouldn’t have to have a 6-9 guy guarding a 7-footer.

Would be a nice option to have when needed, but agreed I don’t see any world in which he comes in and takes minutes at the 5 from Kanga, Marcus Jr. or Adair against smaller teams.

If there’s some petty cash left in the couch cushions and he wants to come, seems like a no-brainer to take a chance when you have two open spots.
Completely agree. If he wants to come here I’d take him in a heart beat, but I’m not giving him anything besides a scholarship because I don’t see him as a real minute grabber on our roster as currently constructed.
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
I’m not really sure what most of us are basing our analysis of these players on. I for sure haven’t obsessively watched all these teams all year. I have no idea which of these players are going to start or see minutes or languish on the bench right now.

But I get it: revenue share and NIL has turned all of this into a value proposition rather than a who has potential to develop into a contributor question. And that sucks (for a lot of reasons but largely because who can keep track of thousands of players every year to even know who is worth what?)
 

jruby

Starter
I’m not really sure what most of us are basing our analysis of these players on. I for sure haven’t obsessively watched all these teams all year. I have no idea which of these players are going to start or see minutes or languish on the bench right now.

But I get it: revenue share and NIL has turned all of this into a value proposition rather than a who has potential to develop into a contributor question. And that sucks (for a lot of reasons but largely because who can keep track of thousands of players every year to even know who is worth what?)
Not trying to be a smart a**—just responding.

This stuff isn’t hard to find anymore. Between blogs, analytics sites, and just basic Google/AI searches, there are pretty straightforward ways to get to it.

On the pro side, it’s well established. In MLB, WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is regularly translated into dollars—roughly $8–10 million per WAR on the free agent market. That’s been tracked for years by sites like FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, and teams openly use versions of it when valuing players.

College basketball is messier, but it’s not like there’s nothing out there.

The closest thing right now is NIL valuation models. Sites like On3 publish college basketball NIL valuations that estimate a player’s market value based on performance, visibility, and social reach:

They also track deals:

Important distinction: those numbers are estimates, not actual contracts. On3 even says they don’t disclose real financial terms. So it’s not the same as MLB WAR where you can say “this player is worth X dollars,” but it’s still a widely used benchmark.

Then you’ve got the pure analytics side—KenPom, BartTorvik, etc.—which don’t assign dollar values but absolutely quantify player impact and team value at a high level.

I haven’t personally gone deep on NCAA basketball valuation because I don’t really care that much—but between NIL rankings, deal trackers, and analytics models, the framework is definitely out there if you want to use it.
 

psyclone

Hall of Famer
Not trying to be a smart a**—just responding.

This stuff isn’t hard to find anymore. Between blogs, analytics sites, and just basic Google/AI searches, there are pretty straightforward ways to get to it.

On the pro side, it’s well established. In MLB, WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is regularly translated into dollars—roughly $8–10 million per WAR on the free agent market. That’s been tracked for years by sites like FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, and teams openly use versions of it when valuing players.

College basketball is messier, but it’s not like there’s nothing out there.

The closest thing right now is NIL valuation models. Sites like On3 publish college basketball NIL valuations that estimate a player’s market value based on performance, visibility, and social reach:

They also track deals:

  • https://www.on3.com/nil/dealsImportant distinction: those numbers are estimates, not actual contracts. On3 even says they don’t disclose real financial terms. So it’s not the same as MLB WAR where you can say “this player is worth X dollars,” but it’s still a widely used benchmark.

Then you’ve got the pure analytics side—KenPom, BartTorvik, etc.—which don’t assign dollar values but absolutely quantify player impact and team value at a high level.

I haven’t personally gone deep on NCAA basketball valuation because I don’t really care that much—but between NIL rankings, deal trackers, and analytics models, the framework is definitely out there if you want to use it.
Thanks...it makes sense, given the amount of analytic data that's out there that some people have created models that provide estimates.
Harder to quantify how much cohesiveness a player might add (or subtract) from teammates or how much someone will improve under one coach's system or just ordinary year-to-year development.
 

mbush

Walk-On
I’m not really sure what most of us are basing our analysis of these players on. I for sure haven’t obsessively watched all these teams all year. I have no idea which of these players are going to start or see minutes or languish on the bench right now.

But I get it: revenue share and NIL has turned all of this into a value proposition rather than a who has potential to develop into a contributor question. And that sucks (for a lot of reasons but largely because who can keep track of thousands of players every year to even know who is worth what?)
For me, part of it is looking at previous stats/highlights.

But I spend more time thinking about how the roster fits together.

- We've got 3 guys who fall into the "stretch 4" role, and that's before we mention Pendergrass. Does that mean someone plays out of position a bit (can Jones play some 3?).
- Based on Kanga being the only true center, maybe we should anticipate Marcus (or Adair) getting minutes at the 5. If it's Adair, what can we do to support the defensive concerns mentioned in his scouting report?
- Our backup 3 spot seems a little light, with EOE potentially taking the majority of minutes, but not having a true backup. Does that mean Jones at the 3 for a little bit here and there (mentioned above?) Does that mean Valentine or BOC take the extra minutes (is Valentine physical enough at 6'3?). Is Tony keeping ~10-15 minutes available in games for Pressly/RPM, hoping one of them proves worthy of more?

There's 200 minutes in a game... how can we maximize the lineups we've got out there for that time?

I tend to go a little overboard (what if we play 5 shooters with Marville, Valentine, Adair, Jones, Marcus? How would the ball movement work? Could they defend? Would that group even practice together before we put them out there as our version of Golden State's Death Lineup?)
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
Thanks...it makes sense, given the amount of analytic data that's out there that some people have created models that provide estimates.
Harder to quantify how much cohesiveness a player might add (or subtract) from teammates or how much someone will improve under one coach's system or just ordinary year-to-year development.
And as we saw last season, hard to quantify the level of fight in a player. When Mincy got hurt and things went sideways, a very promising season pretty much unraveled. Hopefully Team 61 will be more resilient.
 

Jack Strop

All-Conference
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
And as we saw last season, hard to quantify the level of fight in a player. When Mincy got hurt and things went sideways, a very promising season pretty much unraveled. Hopefully Team 61 will be more resilient.

...and then there are the players who break their own ankles to consider. They add.value on paper, but when push comes to shove... meh.
 

gmutom

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
GIVING DAY 2023
I think we should assume BOC and Okoji are each going to 30 minutes a game and — unless we go small — Kanga, Adair, Jones, Pendergrass and Marcus will compete for a combined 80 minutes at the 4/5. That already takes up 140 of the 200 minutes.

Unless I am missing someone or overestimating the minutes for BOC/Okoji, that leaves EOE, Valentine, Miller and Marville fighting for the last 60 minutes in the backcourt.
 
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I think we should assume BOC and Okoji are each going to 30 minutes a game and — unless we go small — Kanga, Adair, Jones, Pendergrass and Marcus will compete for a combined 80 minutes at the 4/5. That already takes up 140 of the 200 minutes.

Unless I am missing someone or overestimating the minutes for BOC/Okoji, that leaves EOE, Marville and Valentine fighting for the last 60 minutes in the backcourt.
You forgot PG Miller as well. He's a stud.
 
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