The college basketball transfer portal officially opened Tuesday, and players wasted no time pursuing the game’s version of free agency.
The portal opened about 40 minutes after Michigan completed its national title win over UCONN.
Within 10 hours after that, more than 1,000 players were already in the NCAA transfer portal, armed with agents and analytics and accolades. Nearly half the players at the NCAA Division-I level in the 2025-26 season entered the portal before it closed.
The portal grows every year. In 2024, it reached about 2,100 players. Last spring, it increased to more than 2,700.
The 2026 portal churned in overdrive, with 2,679 players entered.
The Missouri Valley Conference is right in the mix.
The Missouri Valley Conference was ranked ninth by metric site KenPom.com out of the 31 NCAA Division-I conferences in the 2025-26 season. There were 75 MVC players in the transfer portal when it closed as of April 22.
Valley Player of the Year Tyler Lundblade of Belmont and Bradley point guard Jaquan Johnson – the runner-up in voting – were the headliners to enter the portal. Lundblade is ranked by ESPN as No. 39 among the prospects in the portal.
Field of 68 ranked the top 100 players in the portal, and Johnson was at No. 46 and Lundblade at No. 62.
Of the 16 players chosen for the MVC three all-conference teams, only three remain in Chase Walker (Illinois State), Roman Domon (Murray State) and Trey Pettigrew (Valparaiso). The rest either graduated or jumped into the transfer portal. Walker is the only player from the Valley’s 11 first-team or second-team selections to return. Domon and Pettigrew were third-team picks.
Here are the MVC players who have entered the portal. A school listed in parenthesis after the player’s name indicates he chose that as his new team. Schools are listed with their final place in the MVC standings, then school name, and number of players lost to portal in parenthesis. An additional feature show what players have been added by each team from the transfer portal:
1. Belmont (5)
Tyler Lundblade, sr, SG (Tennessee) (MVC Player of Year); Win Miller, jr, SG (Samford); Sam Orme, soph, PF (All-MVC 2nd team) (Nebraska); Brigham Rogers, jr, PF (Murray State); Drew Scharnowski, soph, PF (All-MVC 1st team) (Duke).
Incoming from portal: Matthew Zobrist, fr, SG (Bradley).
2. Bradley (6)
Jaquan Johnson, soph, PG (All-MVC 1st team, MVC Def Player of Year) (Iowa State); Montana Wheeler, fr, PG (MVC All-Bench) (Kansas State); Demarion Burch, jr, SG (Illinois State); Kai Yu, soph, C (Valparaiso); Handy Toussaint III, jr, PF; Matthew Zobrist, fr, SG (Belmont).
Incoming from portal: Trevon Payton, jr, SG (Arkansas Pine Bluff); Kyle Grill, jr, Combo G (Fort Hays State University); Josh Ibukunoluwa, soph, PF (High Point); Xander Alarie, fr, PF (Northeastern).
9. Drake (7)
Braden Appelhans, jr, SG; Heri Bukinga, fr, C (Omaha); Wilguens Exacte Jr., jr, SF; Okku Federiko, soph, SF (Northwestern); Jaehshon Thomas, sr, PG; Jalen Quinn, sr, PG; Isaiah Carr, jr, C.
Incoming from portal: Dre Kindell, jr, PG (Wichita State); John Carroll, jr, PF (Morehead State).
11. Evansville (8)
Weston Aigner, jr, SG; Leo Amari IV, jr, PG; Marlon Barnes Jr., soph, SF; Kaia Berridge, soph, PG; Dakota Candler, jr, SF; Josh Hughes, jr, C; Leif Moller, fr, SG (UTEP); Connor Turnbull, sr, PF.
Incoming from portal: Gustav Winther, fr, C (Northern Illinois).
4. Illinois Chicago (4)
Elijah Crawford, soph, PG (All-MVC 2nd team) (Villanova); Ante Beljan, jr, PF (UNCG); Carlos Harris III, fr, PG; Chris Walker, sr, SG (Norfolk State).
Incoming from portal: Gabe Cupps, soph, PG (The Ohio State University); Lucas Scroggins, sop, PF (Saint Peter’s).
3. Illinois State (7)
Tyreek Coleman, fr, PG (Iowa); Jack Daugherty, soph, SF (Northern Illinois); Ty Pence, jr, SG (Akron); Cameron Barnes, soph, PF; Brandon Lieb, C; Boden Skunberg, sr, SG; Landon Wolf, sr, SG.
Incoming from portal: Demarion Burch, jr, SG (Bradley University); Zaxton King, soph, PG (Missouri State).
10. Indiana State (12)
Bruno Alocen, soph, SG (Valparaiso); Cooper Bean, soph, PG; Zyair Greene, sr, SG; Hunter Harding, soph, C; Caden Huttenlocker, jr, PG; Ian Scott, sr, SF; Enel St. Bernard, jr, SF (Sam Houston State); Jo Van Buggenhout, jr, PG; Derek Vorst, jr, C (Cleveland State); Camp Wagner, jr, SG; Jayan Walker, soph, SG; Sivert Waerstad Nordheim, fr, SG.
Incoming from portal: Maguire Mitchell, fr, SF (IU Indy); Joah Chappelle, soph, SF (Georgia State); Meechie White, jr, PG (Eastern Illinois).
5. Murray State (7)
Fred King, sr, C; Tristian Ford, fr, PG (Dayton); Layne Taylor, soph, PG (Arkansas State); K.J. Tenner, soph, PG (UTSA); Brock Vice, soph, PF (Kansas State); Dylan Anderson, jr, C; Javon Jackson, sr, SG.
Incoming from portal: Brigham Rogers, jr, PF (Belmont); Shon Tupuola, jr, C (Valparaiso); Christian Jones, soph, PG (George Washington).
6. Northern Iowa (8)
Leon Bond III, jr, SF (Iowa State); Ismael Diouf, sr, PF; Marino Dubravcic, soph, C (Hawaii Pacific); Will Hornseth, soph, PF (Utah State); R.J. Taylor, soph, PG (Oakland); Ben Schwieger, sr, SG; Trey Campbell, sr, SG; Max Weisbrod, sr, PG.
Incoming from portal: Tate McCubbin, soph, SF (Austin Peay); Carson Vis, fr, SG (Western Michigan); Ian Smikle, soph, PF (Tulsa).
8. Southern Illinois (6)
Rolyns Aligbe, soph, PF (Xavier); Prince Aligbe, sr, SF; Quel’Ron House, soph, PG (All-MVC 2nd team); Drew Steffe, soph, PG (Buffalo); Damien Mayo Jr., sr, PG; Max Pikaar, soph, PF.
Incoming from portal: None.
7. Valparaiso (5)
Mark Brown Jr., jr, PG (Utah Tech); Tucker Tornatta, soph, C (Belarmine); Shon Tupuola, jr, C (Murray State); Jayden Watson, fr, PF (Northwood); Isaiah Barnes, sr, SG.
Incoming from portal: Kay Yu, soph, C (Bradley University); Bruno Alocen, soph, SG (Indiana State)
(This story has been updated with the latest information)
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Updated: Latest list of every Missouri Valley basketball player in NCAA transfer portal
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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