Yaxel Lendeborg or Jaden Bradley? Ranking transfer players in Final Four

As anyone around the sport will be quick to point out, roster-building in men’s college basketball has changed dramatically over the past several years.

With athletes now able to earn money off their name, image and likeness, deep-seated connections from a player’s grassroots days matter much less than the kind of financial package a school is able to offer them. While still important, as this season’s stellar class of first-year players showed, superstar freshmen don’t necessarily carry the county’s top teams in the same way they did a decade ago.

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REQUIRED READING: Top 10 players of Final Four, ranked: Who is the best in March Madness?

Increasingly, college programs look overseas for potential roster additions, including from players competing in professional leagues. Then, of course, there’s the transfer portal.

Athletes who once had to sit out a year if they moved from one school to another are now immediately eligible, something that has fundamentally altered the sport and the way coaches go about constructing their teams. It’s exceedingly rare now for a player to end their career with the program where they began four years earlier and many of those players who have been on the move have become All-Americans, top NBA draft picks and centerpieces of Final Four — and even national championship — squads.

At this 2026 Final Four, that phenomenon will be on full display, with Michigan, Arizona, Illinois and UConn all relying heavily on at least one transfer.

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How do those players stack up?

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Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

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See best of March Madness 2026, from mascots and fans to celebrities

Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

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Publish date : 2026-04-04 10:03:00

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