The roster hit after Pat Kelsey departure from Winthrop goes beyond transfer portal
Rosters change every year. A coaching change accelerates roster movement.
And this year’s transfer portal only makes things more active.
A week after basketball head coach Pat Kelsey left Winthrop for College of Charleston, the program in Rock Hill has seen some shakeups. Three players have entered the transfer portal. One reportedly will forego his final season and enter the NBA Draft. And most recently, a Winthrop signee who was part of the 2021 class announced that he’ll be following Kelsey to Charleston instead.
Here’s an attempt at making sense of all that has happened in the short but wild Winthrop offseason.
Reyne Smith headed to College of Charleston
Reyne Smith, originally a Winthrop signee, announced on Twitter Thursday morning that he’ll be at the College of Charleston next year.
“With the departure of coach Kelsey from Winthrop University and talks with family and coaches, I have made the decision to transfer from Winthrop and join coach Kelsey and the staff at the College of Charleston!” Smith wrote.
It was unclear if he was let out of his letter of intent to Winthrop or if he was already on campus and thus is transferring to the Lowcountry university. Smith was not immediately available for comment.
In a release from November, Kelsey pointed out that Smith is the latest Australian to catch the eye of the Rock Hill school. Smith would’ve followed international players Xavier Cooks, one of the best Winthrop players in history (from Australia); guard Kyle Zunic, who looks to be returning for his senior year (also from Australia); guard Micheal Anumba (from Italy) and others.
“Reyne has Kyle Zunic-level toughness, which as Winthrop fans know is ridiculously high praise,” Kelsey said of his recruit in a November statement.
His decommitment means that Winthrop has two incoming freshmen for next season: Ben Burnham, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Carmel Christian who lives in the Fort Mill area, and Ben Knotsman, a 6-foot-5 point guard from Ohio.
Analysis: Of all the other roster decisions made this past week, this one appears to be most linked with Kelsey’s departure. Smith said as much in his announcement. This serves as another reminder of one of Kelsey’s best traits as a head coach — his resourceful and creative recruiting.
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Those in the transfer portal
Three important pieces to Winthrop’s team have also entered the transfer portal. Two of whom are seniors who will be seeking homes as graduate transfers — Adonis Arms and Charles Falden — and the other, Josh Corbin, will be a redshirt sophomore.
Arms only had one year as an Eagle after transferring from the D2 ranks, but he was a pivotal part of the team. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound reserve wing was the second-leading scorer on the team, averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists a game this season.
“I just want to say I love and appreciate everything Winthrop has given me,” Arms wrote in a Twitter post. “I want to say thank you to the whole 25 strong and tell them all I love them and will miss them. My two years here have been great and I will have lasting memories for a lifetime. … As I talked to God and my family, I think it’s best for me to enter the transfer portal and continue the journey God has already written for me.”
Falden and Corbin were also among the team’s top scorers: Falden averaged 10.1 points (tied for third-best on team), and Corbin averaged 6.6 points per game and the highest 3-point percentage (40.5%) of players on the team who had multiple 3-point attempts.
These three players add to the 1,100 players in the transfer portal as of Thursday morning. This means that about one-fourth of all college basketball players are in the portal (as there are just over 4,500 scholarship players in Division I college basketball).
Why the nationwide influx of transfer portal players? A lot of it has to do with the fact that players are emboldened by their extra year of athletic eligibility, which was granted to them by the NCAA in October. It’s also because of the increased likelihood that these players will be able to play at their next destination without having to sit out a year.
Arms, Falden and Corbin can still choose to return to Winthrop and have their athletics aid restored if Winthrop chooses to do that, per NCAA rules.
Analysis: Linking Kelsey’s departure to Falden and Arms entering the transfer portal is perhaps a bit of a stretch. The two were seniors and celebrated their respective Senior Days. They appeared done. Corbin’s departure is different: The redshirt freshman, for a moment, looked like he could’ve been a piece to build around after Winthrop’s top-tier scorers left. Winthrop will still be “old” without Corbin, but the Ohio native’s decision to leave was still surprising and thus impactful.
Chandler Vaudrin enters NBA draft
Chandler Vaudrin told ESPN that he’ll declare for the NBA Draft and decline using his extra year of eligibility the day after Kelsey left for Charleston.
Vaudrin was the Big South 2020-21 Big South Player of the Year. He led Winthrop in the four main statistical categories and led the nation in triple-doubles this season. Coming from his hometown Division II school in Walsh before transferring to Winthrop, he’s achieved at every level he’s played at, and those previous so-considered over-achievements have fueled his desire to play pro ball, he previously told The Herald.
It’s not clear if Vaudrin has hired an agent. He could in theory return to Rock Hill if he hasn’t. Multiple efforts to get in touch with Vaudrin were unsuccessful.
Analysis: Vaudrin will leave a huge footprint in Rock Hill. But for someone who has had a professional career in his sights for a while — and who’s already 23 years old and who will be joining pro ranks that get younger and younger by the year — his departure makes sense financially: One report says that the maximum potential earnings for NBA two-way players is $385,000.
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