Big Sky basketball undergoes transfer-mation

Gone are at least 14 of the 25 players who earned an all-conference honor, made the all-defensive team, picked up an individual award or landed on the all-tournament team. That group of 14 includes all five individual award winners and six of the seven players who made the first team.

Two more players have entered the portal without having yet chosen a new team. They can return to their previous team, but if not, that means 16 of the 25 honorees this season won’t be back with their team.

Add in an in-conference transfer and that increases to 17 of 25. Then there’s a player with eligibility who is no longer on his team’s roster but didn’t enter the portal, so it’s possible only seven of the 25 award winners will be returning.

By comparison, six of 23 players came back to their team following 2022-23. That number was nine of 22 in 2021-22. It was 16 of 24 after the 2020-21 season, which concluded right when the one-time transfer rule began.

Of the 15 players who are for sure not returning to their team, seven exhausted their eligibility, seven transferred to another school and one left for pro basketball with eligibility remaining. Compared to 2022-23, eight transferred, eight ran out of eligibility, and one left early for pro ball. After 2021-22, eight exhausted eligibility and three transferred. Following 2020-21, two ran out of eligibility and six transferred.

At least half of the award-winning transfers in recent seasons were correlated with teams losing their coaches to a bigger conference. Following 2020-21, four of the six players who transferred after earning awards came from Eastern Washington, which had lost coach Shantay Legans to Portland.

After 2022-23, two Montana State award winners followed coach Danny Sprinkle to Utah State, another Bobcat left for West Virginia, and an Idaho honoree went to USU. They were four of the eight transfers.

This year, three Eastern Washington players who got an award followed coach David Riley to Washington State. Another Eagle honoree entered the portal but hasn’t landed on a new team yet.

Northern Arizona’s Trenton McLaughlin is the only player who earned first-team honors and is returning for this upcoming season. He averaged 16.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 steals last year.

No second-team players are expected to be back.

Among the honorable mentions, Montana point guard Brandon Whitney is using his COVID waiver to play one final season. He also made the all-tournament team. He averaged 10.3 points, 4.1 assists, and 2.9 rebounds.

Montana State’s Brandon Walker and Northern Colorado’s Jaron Rillie have eligibility remaining and didn’t enter the transfer portal after earning honorable-mention status. Walker averaged 13.1 points and four rebounds last year. Rillie averaged 11 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds.

On the all-defensive team, Idaho’s Julius Mims and Weber State’s Alex Tew are both back. Mims averaged 11.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks. Tew averaged 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Montana State’s Brian Goracke returns after making the all-tournament team. He averaged 13.5 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Weber State’s Dillon Jones, the Big Sky MVP and a first-team selection, left for professional basketball with one year of eligibility remaining.

Among other first-team selections, Northern Colorado’s Saint Thomas, who was also the Big Sky newcomer of the year, transferred to USC. Eastern Washington’s Cedric Coward transferred to Washington State.

Also on the first team, Montana State guard Robert Ford — who was also the defensive player of the year, made the all-defensive team, and was the all-tournament team MVP — exhausted his eligibility. So too did Montana guard Aanen Moody, who also made the all-tournament team, and Idaho State forward Brayden Parker.

From the second team, Eastern Washington’s Ethan Price transferred to Washington State, and Northern Colorado’s Dejour Reaves, who was also the Big Sky’s top reserve, transferred to Iona. Portland State’s KJ Allen and Montana forward Dischon Thomas exhausted their eligibility.

Idaho State’s Maleek Arington, an honorable mention who also made the all-defensive team, transferred to Seattle. Weber State’s Steven Verplancken exhausted his eligibility after being an honorable mention.

Eastern Washington’s LeJuan Watts, the freshman of the year, transferred to Washington State.

Sacramento State’s Akol Mawein, who made the all-tournament team, exhausted his eligibility.

Second-teamer Carson Basham, who also made the all-defensive team, is not listed on Northern Arizona’s 2024-25 roster. There has been no news of him entering the transfer portal. He has one year of eligibility remaining. An inquiry sent to NAU last week hasn’t been returned.

Similarly, second-teamer Casey Jones, who made the all-defensive team, isn’t listed on Eastern Washington’s 2024-25 roster. He had entered the portal in April but hasn’t announced a new destination.

Sacramento State’s Zee Hamoda, an honorable mention, also reportedly went into the portal, but there has been no news of him surfacing with a new team.

Idaho State’s Miguel Tomley, who made the all-tournament team, has transferred within the conference to Weber State. He averaged 14 points, three rebounds, and 1.9 assists last season.

Northern Arizona forward Carson Towt, who made the all-tournament team in the 2022-23 season, will be back after missing nearly all last year with an injury.

Nigel Burris, the 2022-23 Big Sky freshman of the year at Idaho, is back in the Big Sky at Weber State. He spent this past season at Utah State, where he averaged 1.1 points off the bench over 20 games.