Portal Commitment Watch: March 31

By Sam Federman

Monday was the first huge day of commitments out of the transfer portal. Here are a few that caught my eye.

Adrian Wooley -> Louisville

This is a massive recruiting coup for Pat Kelsey, taking a Tuscaloosa native who played for a former Nate Oats assistant away from the Tide. Wooley had a tremendous freshman season, averaging 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game on 51/42/77 splits. That itself should be enough to make him one of the top players in the portal, but the way he did it is also notable. Wooley has the combination of elite shooting off the dribble (42% on 69 attempts from 3) along with the frame and ability to get to the rim in the half court, attempting 146 shots at the rim in HC situations. He was 87th percentile in isolation efficiency, 84th percentile in spot-up efficiency, and 70th percentile in pnr efficiency including passes. Wooley is the only freshman in the history of the Bart Torvik database (since 2008) with:

Assist Rate > 20

FTr > 40

2P% > 50%

3P% > 40%

3PA/100 > 8

That's pretty ridiculous. Should be an immediate All-ACC player for the Cards.

Oscar Cluff -> Purdue

Cluff is the rare case of a high-major rotation player on a tournament team dropping down multiple levels in the portal, but it worked out well for him at South Dakota State, averaging 17.6 ppg and 12.3 rpg. He was a major impact player defensively for the Jackrabbits, as teams attempted 3.2% fewer shots at the rim and shot 11.3% lower at the rim with him on the floor, but that probably says about as much about his backups and the Summit League as a whole than it does about Cluff. Nevertheless, Cluff averaged 8.7 points per game on post-ups, 1.6 more than anybody else in the sport. Now, he goes to a team and a coach that for years has maximized post players and scored gaggles of points efficiently on those plays. I'm a little curious as to what the rotation looks like between him, TKR, and Daniel Jacobsen, but I trust Painter to make it work at a very high level.

Dedan Thomas Jr. -> LSU

This is quite easily going to be the best point guard that Matt McMahon has had in his time at LSU. The Tigers were in the 29th percentile in ball screen efficiency this year, and while Thomas hasn't been the most efficient at UNLV, he should immediately improve the way LSU operates ball screens. Thomas didn't take the leap that many expected from him in his sophomore year with the Rebels, but he was still one of the best guards in the Mountain West. LSU also added Michael Nwoko, who I'm not particularly high on, but is plenty good enough as a roll man/lob threat for Thomas.