1. Kadeem Allen will have a major role next year for Arizona: Sean Miller opted to redshirt Allen this past season because the Wildcats were loaded on the perimeter. Expect Allen to be a major piece of Arizona's puzzle in 2015-16. Armed with good size for a guard at 6-foot-3, the North Carolina native will have the ability to guard multiple positions defensively and should be a major contributor thanks to his physicality. With T.J. McConnell, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and potentially Stanley Johnson (still deciding on future) all possibly gone from the Wildcats' program, Allen will have a major opportunity to be on the floor for Arizona in large spurts next season. He was named the 2014 National JUCO Player of the Year before arriving in Tucson last fall.
2. Miami is beyond fine for next season despite losing two transfers: The Hurricanes lost two players in the past week --- Manu Lecomte and Deandre Burnett --- who were quality pieces in Miami's rotation, but also replaceable ones. The truth is this: the Hurricanes had seven capable perimeter players for three spots this past season and now they have five. This team will have better role allocation next year as a result and should be a Top 20 squad nationally and one that could legitimately compete for a spot in the top third of the ACC. The recent departures at Duke, Louisville, and Notre Dame have opened up the conference after North Carolina. Expect the Hurricanes to take advantage. Jim Larranaga has five quality perimeter pieces in Angel Rodriguez, Ja'Quan Newton, Sheldon McClellan, Davon Reed and James Palmer while Tonye Jekiri, Omar Sherman, and Ivan Cruz Uceda return on the interior. The X-Factor for this group? Oklahoma State transfer Kamari Murphy. The 6-9, 220-pound power forward averaged 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds two years ago in the Big 12 and immediately fills a void for Miami. The Hurricanes were probably one win short of reaching the NCAA Tournament and wound up finishing in the NIT where it lost to Stanford in the finals. That won't happen a year from now. This squad is poised to reach the field of 68 in 2016.
3. Malik Newman is the wild card in the Class of 2015: The 6-3 combo guard scores 18-20 points when he gets out of bed in the morning and his commitment will no doubt shift the landscape of college basketball in one way or another heading into next season. Sources have told CBSSports.com that the three schools most likely to wind up with Newman are Kentucky, Mississippi State and LSU, but the Tigers right now are a distant third due to a surplus of pieces on the perimeter. That means that barring something unlikely, Newman appears to either be headed to Lexington or Starkville. It also means he will potentially play for one of two coaches who faced each other in the 2008 Final Four --- John Calipari and Ben Howland --- when each was at Memphis and UCLA respectively. If Newman picks the Wildcats, the reasons are obvious. Lexington has again become college basketball's version of Camelot under Calipari and the pairing of Newman alongside Tyler Ulis and incoming freshman Isaiah Briscoe would instantly give Kentucky one of college basketball's most devastating perimeters. Calipari has publicly said that he still needs to add two to three quality players this spring and the addition of Newman would certainly put some serious air in the Wildcats' tires heading into next season. One thing to keep in mind though: Newman has also told confidants that he aspires to have the ball in his hands next season as much as possible and he would have to sacrifice that just like other great players have in the past if he chooses to go to Kentucky. If he opts to go to Mississippi State, he would own Starkville and give the Bulldogs a palpable buzz in Howland's first season as a head coach in the SEC. It's going to be real interesting to see how all of this evolves over the next few weeks.
4. The bottom of the American Conference is catching up to the middle: This league has probably gotten one less team in the NCAA Tournament than it's deserved to in each of the past two seasons and one of the main reasons for that is the American's RPI as a conference wasn't where it needed to be. That should change next year. Teams at the bottom of the league should be much improved and that will help the overall perception and standing of the conference from a national perspective. Houston will add Purdue transfer Ronnie Johnson at point guard as well as former Oregon guard Damyean Dotson, who averaged 9.4 points two years ago for the Ducks. Kelvin Sampson's squad also brings back three starting caliber players in L.J. Rose, Devonta Pollard, and Danrad "Chicken" Knowles. South Florida meanwhile, will have a completely new back court with Maryland transfer Roddy Peters and JUCO import Shawn Smith (Lee College). The Bulls will also return Nehemias Morillo (10.1 points) on the perimeter and will have Gonzaga transfer Angel Nunez (immediately eligible) visiting the Tampa campus this weekend. Another team to watch in the American? Central Florida. The Knights' top three scorers this past season --- B.J. Taylor, Adonys Henriquez and Brandon Goodwin --- were all freshmen and sophomores and they also add 7-5 freshman big man Tacko Fall and JUCO wing Tanksley Efianayi. These three teams should all be significantly better than they were a year ago when they were a combined 34-60 overall.
5. Fifth-year transfers need to remember their place in the landscape of things: April and May in college basketball have become the sport's free-agency period. If you can play immediately for a team next season without sitting out as a transfer, you're the equivalent of gold. But with all those things said, it would be nice if these kids understood that the reason they're available is because things didn't work out for them in one or in some cases, two places. You know what that means? Don't act you're LeBron James. Don't act like the recruiting process you're going through is just as glamorous as the one that Ray Allen went through when he played Jesus Shuttlesworth in He Got Game. Instead of these kids and their advisers/handlers acting like they're a commodity, it would be nice if they acted like they were appreciative of the fact that someone else was giving them another opportunity. Again, these kids aren't LeBron James. And they shouldn't act like they are either.
This and That:
-- Villanova transfer Dylan Ennis told CBSSports.com on Thursday he has cut his list to Purdue, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Baylor, Oregon and Duke. Ennis will set visits next week and then get set to make a decision. The 6-2 guard averaged 9.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists this past year for the Wildcats and will be immediately eligible for next season.
-- Washington transfer Nigel Williams-Goss told CBSSports.com he will visit UNLV this weekend. Williams-Goss also plans to visit Providence, Texas and Georgetown. His fifth official visit will likely be either Michigan State, LSU, Ohio State or Gonzaga. The 6-3 guard has two years of eligibility remaining and averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.7 rebounds.
-- If Tyrone Wallace returns to Cal next season, the Bears will be a Top 25 team and a legitimate contender to Arizona in the Pac-12. The 6-5 lefty averaged 17.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists this past season and sources have told CBSSports.com that he is expected to make his decision on whether or not to enter the NBA Draft by the end of the weekend. Cuonzo Martin's squad received a huge boost earlier in the week when it received a commitment from Ivan Rabb --- one of the top players in the Class of 2015 --- but it needs Wallace back to really make things go. The Bears will also return both Jordan Mathews (13.5 points) and Jabari Bird (10.5 points) next season while also still remaining in the mix for Jaylen Brown, one of the top unsigned seniors in the Class of 2015.
-- Big Ten fans should become familiar with the name Ethan Happ. The 6-9, 230-pound power forward redshirted this past season for Wisconsin, but seems primed to have a major role for the Badgers following the losses of both Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky. Happ was exceptionally strong all year in practice and while he's yet to play a college game, he has the feel of a player who will come out of nowhere and immediately produce for Bo Ryan.
-- Two teams that suffered some tough personnel losses this week: Arkansas and NC State. The Razorbacks lost their two best players --- Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls --- to the NBA Draft, while the Wolfpack lost Trevor Lacey to the NBA and Kyle Washington as a transfer. Building a program is a hard thing to do in college basketball, but sustaining success may be just as hard. Personnel defections like this are a major reason why.
