Saying that you need quality transfers to win college basketball’s national championship in the 2020s is now about as intuitive as saying the sky is blue.
Look, for instance, at Michigan—which rode the strength of ex-UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg and ex-UCLA center Aday Mara to its first national title in 37 years. The Wolverines took big, medium and small swings in the portal. All connected just enough to push Michigan over the hump—and let coach Dusty May, a fantastic tactician as well as a recruiter, do the rest.
With that blueprint in mind, here are five transfers who changed schools in the first week of portal action who have the ability to impact winning in 2027 and beyond.
Flory Bidunga, Louisville (from Kansas)
The Cardinals landing both Bidunga and guard Jackson Shelstad from Oregon was an extraordinary coup for coach Pat Kelsey, who has helped Louisville to its feet after two miserable seasons under former boss Kenny Payne. After playing off the bench in 2025, Bidunga was a force for the Jayhawks this past season, making the All-Big 12 team and winning league Defensive Player of the Year honors. His and Shelstad’s additions make the Cardinals one of the most interesting teams in the sport next year, and a candidate to get out of the NCAA tournament’s first weekend for the first time since 2015.
J.P. Estrella, Michigan (from Tennessee)
If you thought the Wolverines would be content to rest on their laurels after beating UConn to win the national title, think again. May dipped into the portal to grab Estrella, a long forward who started 13 of 37 games for the Volunteers this season. Estrella averaged 10 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in 2026 and helped Tennessee reach the Elite Eight, where it lost to ... Michigan. The Wolverines’ excellent recent track record with big men gives hope that they can unlock the best of Estrella, who can be a little one-dimensional offensively (he’s taken 10 three-pointers in his college career without shooting free throws well to compensate) and defensively.
MORE: Transfer Portal Tracker—Where Top Players in College Basketball Are Heading
PJ Haggerty, Texas A&M (from Kansas State)
Haggerty has had a strange career. After playing six games for TCU in 2022–23, he went on to average north of 20 points per game for Tulsa in ’23–24, Memphis in ’24–25 and the Wildcats in ’25–26. He led the American in win shares during his season with the Golden Hurricanes, and in ’25, when he led the Tigers to a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, he was named an All-American. All this leaves him in a position where he can climb as high as 15th on the all-time scoring list if he matches his career high of 759 points in 2026–27. That shouldn’t be difficult—coach Bucky McMillan’s Aggies finished 13th in the country in scoring this past season with 86.1 points per game.
David Punch, Texas (from TCU)
The Horned Frogs—.500 in ’24–25 after making three straight NCAA tournaments for the first time ever—returned to form in ’26, and Punch’s emergence was a big reason why. The Harker Heights, Texas native, given nine more minutes per game to work with, more than doubled his scoring and assist averages while also boosting his rebounding. He also molded himself into a formidable shot blocker, turning away six in two Big 12 tournament games. The Longhorns, eager to build on a surprise Sweet 16 run, smelled blood and lured Punch to anchor their frontcourt.
Stefan Vaaks, Illinois (from Providence)
Not content with his conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood is establishing a beachhead on the Baltic Sea. Vaaks, a 20-year-old Estonian national with a domestic league championship in his home country under his belt, joined the Friars for the ’25–26 season and made an immediate impression. He averaged 15.8 points per game and led the Big East in three-point shooting percentage, landing himself on the conference’s All-Freshman squad. Illinois actually finished in the bottom half of the Big Ten in three-point shooting this past season—could this move signal a desire for the nation’s leader in offensive rating to open up a bit?
More College Basketball From Sports Illustrated
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Five Biggest Men’s Basketball Transfers of the Portal’s First Week.
