MORGANTOWN — The first day of the opening of the men’s basketball transfer portal came and went Tuesday and only crickets could be heard throughout the Big 12.
It’s a nice thought, but, of course, it wasn’t true. More than 1,000 players from around the country entered their names into the portal on the first day of the 15-day window, with early projections calling for 3,000 transfers by the time April 21 arrives.
Big 12 teams, including West Virginia, did not go unscathed. WVU saw three freshmen enter the portal with the top name being 6-foot-9 forward D.J. Thomas, who played in all 35 games and averaged 6.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Along with Thomas, Jayden Forsythe and Evans Barning Jr. also entered their names into the portal. Barning, a 6-7 forward out of Toronto, Canada, was redshirted this season and did not play. Forsythe, a 6-5 guard, originally committed to Xavier, but flipped his commitment to WVU. He appeared in only five games this season.
Thomas is a different story. In the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown, he came off the bench and scored 20 points in the Mountaineers’ win against Creighton. He played an average of 19 minutes per game in the three Crown games.
Thomas came to WVU as an underrecruited prospect out of Allen, Texas. He had originally signed with head coach Ross Hodge at North Texas, but was granted a release and followed Hodge to WVU.
He showed flashes of potential throughout the season, scoring a career-high 25 points against Lafayette on Nov. 17. Thomas scored at least 12 points in a game six times and also connected on 21 3-pointers for the season.
Thomas’ departure means Hodge will have to fill seven of WVU’s top eight players from its 2025-26 rotation. Of the four-man freshman class Hodge signed this season, only point guard Amir Jenkins remains. Jenkins is currently recovering from surgery on his left shoulder and is scheduled to have surgery on his right shoulder in the weeks to come.
Hodge said there was no timetable for Jenkins’ return to full health.
WVU did sign three incoming freshmen last November, including 5-star point guard Miles Sadler, as well as guard Kingston Whitty and center Aliou Dioum.
In terms of the Big 12, only Arizona went through the first day without having a player jump into the portal.
Some of the bigger names around the league who will be transferring include BYU point guard Rob Wright III, who averaged 18.1 points and 4.6 assists last season. The rising junior will be making his third visit to the portal after transferring to BYU from Baylor.
Utah lost its two top players in 6-3 guard Terrence Brown, who was third in the Big 12 in scoring at 19.9 points per game. It’s the second time Brown has been in the portal, after transferring to Utah from Fairleigh Dickinson. The Utes also saw 6-9 forward Keanu Dawes (12.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg) enter his name in the portal.
Cincinnati, which hired former WVU assistant Jerrod Calhoun to replace Wes Miller as head coach, had six players enter into the portal, including former WVU guard Sencire Harris, who played for the Mountaineers during the 2024-25 season under former head coach Darian DeVries.
Cincinnati also saw 7-2 center Moustapha Thiam enter the portal, as well as point guard Jizzle James. Thiam, a former 5-star recruit is transferring for the second time after beginning his career at UCF. Thiam averaged 12.8 points and was ninth in the Big 12 in rebounding, averaging 7.1 boards per game.
Other big names from the Big 12 included Colorado’s top freshman Isaiah Johnson (16.9 ppg), Kansas center Flory Bidunga (13.3 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 91 blocks) and Houston small forward Isiah Harwell, who played just 14 minutes per game for the Cougars this season as a freshman, but was a 5-star recruit ranked No. 14 overall in the class of 2025.
