Flory Bidunga Named 2026-27 Preseason College Basketball Transfer of Year

Flory Bidunga of Louisville has been named the Preseason Transfer of the Year for the 2026-27 college basketball season, leading an All-Transfer First Team that signals a massive shift in how championships are built.

For years, the prevailing wisdom among coaching elites was that a roster built on the transfer portal couldn’t sustain championship chemistry. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson famously dismissed the idea in 2024, suggesting that if portal players were truly “pros,” they wouldn’t be looking for new homes. But Michigan shattered that narrative last year, utilizing four starters from the portal—Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson, Aday Mara, and Elliot Cadeau—to secure a National Championship. That blueprint has triggered a financial arms race, with NIL spending tiers for the 2026-27 season now ranging from $5M to over $25M as programs chase the “first Monday in April.”

Flory Bidunga Brings Elite Defensive Skills to Louisville

Louisville’s acquisition of Flory Bidunga is the centerpiece of this year’s portal movement. The 6-9 forward possesses a 7-3 wingspan that makes him a defensive “fire-douser,” a trait already on display during Louisville’s exhibition win over Kansas when he effectively shut down five-star wing Tyran Stokes. He joins an elite tier of college defenders alongside Arizona’s Mo Krivas, Houston’s JoJo Tugler, and Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu.

PIVOTAL: Flory Bidunga changes EVERYTHING for the Pat Kelsey era at Louisville

While his defense is a certainty, his offensive evolution is the variable. Bidunga is a lob threat, but his ability to handle the ball and slash to the rim will determine if Louisville can successfully pair him at the 4 with 7-2 freshman Obinna Ekezie Jr. at the 5. Last year at Kansas, Bidunga only recorded 30 drives, though he was efficient on them, averaging 1.00 points per possession.

“Flory’s a special player,” Louisville coach Pat Kelsey told the Courier-Journal. “He has a million gifts. … When your best player is your hardest worker, you’ve got something. He is that.”

High-Stakes Fits on the First Team

The All-Transfer First Team isn’t just a collection of stats; it’s a study in how specific talents fill systemic voids. At Miami, Acaden Lewis is expected to be a “basketball savant” under coach Jai Lucas. A lefty point guard with a nasty handle, Lewis shot 61% on layups as a freshman at Villanova and maintained a sterling 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. For a Miami offense leaning on muscle over snipers, Lewis’s ability to penetrate the paint is the engine.

Meanwhile, Duke has found a cultural anchor in Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell. While others on the roster might have higher usage or better NBA projections, Blackwell has become the Blue Devils’ most reliable shooter and a vital connector for the younger players. Jon Scheyer has already identified him as the go-to option for late-clock buckets.

The First Team is rounded out by Tounde Yessoufou at St. John’s and Milan Momcilovic at Kentucky. Yessoufou, coming off a 17.8-point average at Baylor, is being pushed by Rick Pitino to move from “good to great” to reach lottery-pick potential. Momcilovic, perhaps the most lethal shooter in the sport, is operating at a level of “lunacy,” having shot 49% from three on over seven attempts per game. Kentucky coach Mark Pope described Momcilovic’s gravity as elite, noting that he often makes “impossible shots.”

The Efficiency Experts and the “Dawgs”

The All-Transfer Second Team highlights the “high-floor” moves—players whose games perfectly mirror their new coaches’ philosophies. Dedan Thomas joins Houston, a program that prizes clean basketball. Thomas’s care of the ball is exceptional; he posted a 3.7-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio at LSU and a 2.45-to-1 ratio during the 2024-25 season at UNLV.

At Texas A&M, PJ Haggerty provides the paint penetration coach Bucky McMillan craves. A 6-7, 245-pound forward with a nearly 7-foot wingspan, Punch is expected to fix a Texas defense that ranked 355th nationally in turnover rate last season.

Player	New Team	Primary Value
Flory Bidunga	Louisville	Elite Defensive Versatility
Milan Momcilovic	Kentucky	Historic 3PT Percentage (49%)
Acaden Lewis	Miami	Paint Penetration & Distribution
Dedan Thomas	Houston	Ball Security/Low Turnover Rate

The Legal Shadow Over the Portal

While the All-Transfer teams focus on the “traditional” portal, a separate, more volatile market exists: the “5-in-5” seniors. These are players who have successfully sued to regain eligibility, currently playing under temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions. Impact players like Keyshawn Hall (St. John’s), Jaxon Kohler (BYU), Donovan Dent (LSU), and Darrion Williams (Texas Tech) are currently active, but because the NCAA is appealing these cases, their eligibility remains a legal gamble.

This creates a strange dichotomy in college basketball. On one side, you have the NIL-driven “free agency” where talent is bought and slotted into systems. On the other, you have a legal battle over the very definition of an amateur athlete. The result is a situation where a team's championship hopes can be decided as much by a judge's gavel as by a coach's X's and O's.

The reality is that the portal is no longer a place for players to simply “improve”—it is where rosters are engineered. But as the costs rise and the rosters become more transient, the risk of the “flop” increases. Change is hard, and in a game of margins, the distance between a National Championship and a portal bust is often just one chemistry clash away.