How many starting players in the Sweet 16 were transfers? (Mike’s Mailbox)

Syracuse, N.Y. – Can a team that relies on getting players out of the transfer portal be successful?

Syracuse struggled last season with a lineup that began the year with two transfers in its starting lineup and finished the year with four transfers as starters.

But some of the country’s most successful teams had a heavy influence of transfers.

I pretty much knew that, but confirmed it while researching a question in this week’s Mailbox.

If you have questions for the Mailbox; on any subject, send them to mwaters@syracuse.com.

Q: What percentage of teams in this year’s Sweet 16 had starters who arrived via the transfer portal?

George C.

Mike: If you want to find evidence of just how impactful the transfer portal has been in college basketball, all you have to do is take the teams that were in the Sweet 16 this past March and look at their starting lineups.

That’s what I did after receiving this question; and quite frankly, I was stunned. Here’s what I found:

A reminder of the teams that were in the Sweet 16: Florida, Houston, Auburn, Duke, Alabama, Michigan State, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Kentucky, Purdue, Maryland, Arizona, BYU, Ole Miss, Michigan and Arkansas.

I took the five players with the most starts for each team. A total of 80 players.

Of those 80 players, 50 were transfers. It’s just a staggering number when you think about it.

Only two teams had no transfers among their top five starters. They were Michigan State and Purdue.

Four teams had five transfers – Texas Tech, Kentucky, Michigan and Arizona.

National champion Florida had four transfers in its starting lineup.

Q: Why do you think Adrian Autry didn’t go after Quincy Ballard?

Mike F.

Mike: I think I have a good idea why Syracuse didn’t go after Quincy Ballard when the Syracuse native entered the transfer portal following his senior season at Wichita State.

Ballard, a 6-foot-11, 251-pound center, was coming off a great year for the Shockers. He had averaged 10.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.

Syracuse coach Adrian Autry and his staff would figure to have interest in a quality rim-protector.

So why didn’t think? No one has told me this, but absent any other reason, I have to think it came down to Ballard’s NIL price-tag and, perhaps, a different philosophical approach to player valuation.

Ballard wound up going to Mississippi State. When a player transfers to an SEC school, you have to figure they got a pretty hefty NIL package.

Also, I think SU coach Adrian Autry had to be thinking about his experience with the portal in 2024. A year ago, SU’s biggest NIL deal went to Eddie Lampkin. Lampkin had a solid year, but the Orange struggled without a high-quality point guard.

This year, SU’s biggest NIL deal reportedly went to former Georgia Tech point guard Nait George.

To sum it up, I think Ballard’s NIL price was higher than SU’s valuation for him and more than SU had budgeted for the center position.

Q: What Syracuse player was the first to play internationally?

Bill N.

Mike: I’m not sure if he was the first Syracuse player to go play professionally overseas, but Roosevelt Bouie was the most influential.

Bouie was an All-American center at Syracuse from 1976 to 1980. In the 1980 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks selected him in the second round with the No. 34 overall pick.

Bouie and Dallas couldn’t agree to a deal, so he signed with a team in Italy. Bouie would spend the rest of his 13 year pro career in Europe. He played with four different clubs; four in Italy and one in Spain.

Bouie’s success in Europe paved the way for a host of other former Syracuse players to go overseas. Among them were Gene Waldron, Leo Rautins, Erich Santifer, Herman Harried and dozens more over the years.

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