In this episode, Evan Miyakawa is joined by ESPN's Jeff Borzello for a transfer portal-focused offseason episode, the final installment before preseason content begins. The two open by surveying the 2026 portal cycle — roughly 2,500 Division I transfers, with elite talent slightly thinner at the top than last year — and assess the three biggest names still weighing the NBA draft: Allen Graves (Santa Clara), Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor), and Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State). The centerpiece is a five-player transfer portal draft, with both analysts building teams of who they expect to perform best in 2026-27. Picks include Flory Bidunga (Kansas to Louisville), John Blackwell (Wisconsin to Duke), Acaden Lewis (Villanova to Miami), PJ Haggerty (to Texas A&M), Isaiah Johnson (Colorado to Texas), Massamba Diop (Gonzaga), Stefan Vaaks (Providence to Illinois), Somto Cyril (Miami), Leroy Blyden (Toledo to Kansas), and Mustafa Thiam (Michigan). They also discuss underrated fits and standout team-level portal classes, with Borzello highlighting Missouri and Evan making the case for Xavier. In the second segment, Evan unpacks his updated roster retention study from his blog, breaking down how Michigan won a title with just 34% returning minutes and why Florida, Illinois, Michigan State, and Virginia stand out as high-retention contenders — while Louisville represents the contrasting top-10 roster built almost entirely from new pieces.

Chapters

(00:00) Jeff Borzello (ESPN) joins the show!
(02:24) Analyzing the 2026 portal cycle
(05:35) Biggest portal names still available
(12:48) Drafting our favorite portal additions
(34:11) Other favorite portal fits
(38:52) Missouri and Xavier portal classes
(41:28) Analytics Corner: Roster retention study

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In this episode, Evan Miyakawa breaks down some of his favorite transfer portal additions of the offseason using his proprietary player evaluation model at EvanMiya.com. He walks through how his projections are built—combining box score production, on-court impact, and historical data—and explains why defensive value and overall impact often lead to different conclusions than consensus rankings. Evan highlights a range of notable transfers, including Flory Bidunga to Louisville, Acaden Lewis to Miami, Sananda Fru to Marquette, Isaiah Johnson to Texas, Leroy Blyden Jr. to Kansas, Najai Hines to UConn, Miles Byrd to Providence, and Zoom Diallo to Kentucky, while also discussing broader themes like freshman-to-sophomore leaps, the importance of multi-skill versatility, and how certain player archetypes tend to translate better when moving up levels.

Chapters

(00:00) Key metrics for evaluating players
(05:05) Flory Bidunga to Louisville
(08:26) Acaden Lewis to Miami
(11:01) Sananda Fru to Marquette
(15:22) Isaiah Johnson to Texas
(17:08) Leroy Blyden to Kansas
(19:23) Najai Hines to UConn
(21:15) Miles Byrd to Providence
(24:25) Zoom Diallo to Kentucky
(28:13) Comparison to Alex Wilkins

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The transfer portal is exploding—and so are NIL prices. In this episode, Evan Miyakawa breaks down a “Transfer Portal 101” guide to how teams are navigating the modern roster-building landscape, including why the NIL market is up 65% year-over-year and how that’s impacting decisions across college basketball. He dives into the economics of the portal, explaining why centers are being overpaid, why point guards may actually be the best value right now, and how supply and demand is reshaping roster construction. Evan also highlights key player archetypes to target (like sophomore breakout candidates) and ones to be cautious of (like high-volume scorers without well-rounded skill sets). If you want a clear, data-driven understanding of how teams are spending millions to build rosters in today’s game, this episode is for you.

Chapters

(00:00) Transfer Portal 101
(01:56) NIL Market is up 65%
(05:25) Front Office Suite tool for teams
(11:26) Is the market sustainable?
(14:09) Bigs are being overpaid
(17:47) Where teams can find value in the portal
(21:08) The Vandy and Nebraska model
(22:32) Freshman to Sophomore leap
(25:25) Teams are overvaluing volume scorers

Connect with the show:

• Visit EvanMiya.com
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