LSU Men’s Basketball Transfer Portal Update!

Good morning to all of the former/current members of the Maravich Maniacs, Whiteboard Guy’s gang (IYKYK the Trent Johnson days), “The Hustlers”, Pokey’s Posse, and the Neighborhood John Brady Technical Foul Watch.

Long-time supporter of TD. Have done some Outlook of the Programs and used to do previews for LSU games. But having had a chance recently while back in Louisiana to be around the MBB program again and see the energy and absolute controlled chaos has been awesome. I was in undergrad when CWW was first hired, and his second day there we had lunch randomly in the Union, could not have been nicer and truly is as energetic and passionate as he seems, a true basketball junkie/nerd in the most complimentary way. I also am still a fan of Coach McMahon he is a heck of a coach, just not at the SEC level, and in the transfer portal era he made crucial mistakes tye last 3 years in roster construction and there was no way to recover. Having said that wanted to give an update from what I know about our recruiting.

Currently the Tigers only have one transfer portal commit, and zero high school commits.

Mouhamed Dioubate (Kentucky)
6’7 PFBlock to Block/(He will rotate in what’s called the anchor position in the CWW system) basically the PF.

So contrary to some reports, CWW and staff holding out and not jumping out like gangbusters in the transfer portal to save up for a bunch of 5/5 super seniors had they all come available is inaccurate. While they knew it was a possibility they would have only taken a max of 2-3 if that many. The main reason for the holding pattern are the 6 players I will list in Group A, the building blocks/budget movers. As with NIL there would be no way to get all 6, well unless somebody from the OT has $15 million. I will have listed 4 separate groups of how I believe the staff is prioritizing and looking at the current board. Also have added some names they have either contacted or slotted in for different roles based on what the guys in Group A decide.

Group A
6’6 Wing Sailou Niang - Euroleague wing that plays real minutes for them. Has really developed as a pro, Senegalese now nationalized citizen of Italy. Has been a pro since he was 17 now 21. 2nd Round Draft and Stash pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers last year. Rumored to be asking for $5 million which is not true. 85% chance if he comes over and plays in college it’s LSU (Kentucky fighting, Mark Pope actually flew over there ??) But I would say it’s 65% he does come over and plays at LSU. He has to have a buyout with his parent club and make a potentially career changing decision.

6’6 Wing Kyree Walker -G-League. Mutual cooling on the recruiting front here.

6’9 F/Post Allen Graves- Ponchatoula, LA native. Transferring from Santa Clara. #4 overall player in the transfer portal. He is testing the NBA waters. He has very mixed reviews on his draft stock as high as the 17-20 pick range, which would probably be a NBA guaranteed contract all the way to undrafted. If he comes to college free it will be all LSU now! I see it as a 65% chance he makes it to LSU. I could easily see an NBA team in the late twenties giving him a gurantee to draft and two-way or better contract. But he will have to perform against others in the draft pool and the allure of one year of LSU NIL money is what he would make year one probably anywhere in professional basketball.


6’9 Stretch Forward Marcio Santo- Euroleage with Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Plays real minutes for one of Europes best. A knockdown over 40% professional sniper. Not great on the boards but has been a long time pro and still has a huge upside. Could see him being an NBA role player in 3-4 years playing real minutes. Not questioning but he doesn’t fit the typical CWW mold but hey wha do I know. %25 chance he makes it to LSU we are neck and neck with one other school if he comes stateside. Gut feeling is that while he is only 23 has played pro for 7 years, and don’t see him taking the chance. Think he reups in Israel or Greece somewhere, as he finally made it to the Euroleague. Stansbury is on this one though, has connections through Brazil.

6’10 F Bassala Bagayoko- only 19 years old. The single most intriguing or fascinating player LSU is currently recruiting. I think LSU gets him. If he pops he could be a Top-5 pick. Plays in. LIGA ACB one of if not the Top-domestic leagues in the world. Feeder to the Euroleague. Was the youngest player ever in the history of the ACB, which says a lot. He got hurt this year for Bilbao but will technically need a buyout, but wouldn’t be anything near Niangs. Think this one is 75% chance he ends up at LSU.

6’11 C Juan Fernandez- Another guy in the ACB but a true vet unlike Bagayoko as he is 25. Chiseled, grizzly and would love to have him. He averages almost 10 ppg, and 5rpg in limited minutes. Going to take a big number, but no other schools looking at him. 30% he ends up at LSU.

This Group A is huge for LSU and Wade’s first year if LSU just got those 6, and our current commit in Dioubate. And literally any guard that can dribble just to half court, those 7 alone would probably be a Sweet 16 team floor guaranteed if not a Final Four team. LSU will not get all of these, so the slow roll on the recruiting front is down really to them. The me it’s about money, so you are not only recruiting against others schools, negotiating their NIL contracts, but also negotiating either with the club or convincing all 6 of them who besides Graves are already pros, to not only come to LSU but sign. When some of these dominoes fall the rest would have fallen we do have 3 silent commits besides in my opinion Graves is a commit if he doesn’t go to the NBA.

Group B

6’3 PG Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State) - Didn’t get much burn at MSU relative to his production and was a good fit and lied by Izzo. True point that would be a great fit. 6ppg, 2.1 apg, sub 0.5 TOPG, and a whopping 2.1 spg, a real ball thief. Top 25 PG in the transfer portal.

6’7 CG/Wing Abdi Bashir Jr (Kansas State) 14.2 ppg, 2 rpg, 36% from 3.
LSU seems to be out of it, Kansas lean.

6’9 Wing Jordan Burks(UCF)- probably my favorite player in terms of who I would want to come in and is severely undervalued by the market but would thrive in CWW system could see him being a Tati Eason clone. Good shooter, high high motor, it’s noted plays as hard as anyone in the transfer portal under his scouting report.