Like most teams in NIL/portal era, Wildcats could see total roster makeover for 2024-25

College basketball has one year left to flush COVID-year waivers almost completely out of its system, and the Arizona Wildcats could benefit yet again.

Last spring, the Wildcats picked up energy, defense and opportunistic offense from forward Keshad Johnson, who played four seasons at San Diego State but chose to take the extra year of eligibility to anyone who participated in the COVID-restricted 2020-21 season and apply it at Arizona.

This spring, the Wildcats could go into the portal to pick up a replacement for Johnson, and/or other veterans who could help lead a group that is expected to include a well-regarded 2024 recruiting class of four freshman.

Or maybe the Wildcats even keep one of their seniors with a COVID year remaining. That’s one of many questions facing the Wildcats as they head into college basketball’s roster transition season.

Here are five of them:

1. Will Ballo or any senior stick around?

High-level fourth and fifth-year college basketball players are staying in school more often in the NIL era, especially if their potential earnings from NIL collectives at their current or new school outweigh what they are likely to make in the NBA, G-League or internationally.

On3.com reported last spring that high-level men’s basketball players entering the transfer portal — or their agents — often seek between $250,000 and $400,000 per season. Purdue center Zach Edey, for one, might have commanded a two-way NBA/G League deal worth about $500,000 last spring but said upon deciding to return to school that the “money was going to be pretty similar so it was just really what I wanted to do.”

UA’s Oumar Ballo could follow a similar path. The center is not listed among ESPN’s top 100 available NBA Draft picks, while he’s been effusive in his positive feelings for the Arizona program and coach Tommy Lloyd — and UA is believed to be competitive in the NIL space.

Still, Ballo left it up in the air after Arizona’s season-ending loss to Clemson in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

“I’m gonna have a meeting with coaches and I’m gonna see what’s gonna happen the next couple of weeks,” Ballo said. “I love Arizona, but also you have to do what’s best for you. So I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

UA’s other fourth-year seniors, Caleb Love and Pelle Larsson, said they didn’t know yet what they will do, though it appears unlikely they would stay.

Because of his potential as a versatile point guard in the NBA, Larsson is a projected second-round NBA Draft pick who could move into the first round with a strong predraft showing.

ESPN rates Larsson the No. 41st overall available NBA draft prospect while Love is ranked No. 96 despite being the Pac-12’s Player of the Year. Johnson is UA’s highest-rated prospect at No. 38, and Kylan Boswell is No. 75.

There are 60 spots in the draft, though the top undrafted players can often command two-way contracts.

2. Who’s portaling?

With virtually no restrictions anymore on transfers of any kind, and with NIL luring players into and out of the transfer portal, it’s hard to assume any player returns.

“Everybody’s a free agent,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin says, noting how NIL “collectives (are) recruiting and paying players.”

Of course, there’s also the traditional reason guys transfer from a high-major program: a lack of playing time.

That might be the case with Serbian sophomore Filip Borovicanin, who is in much the same place that Adama Bal was as a lightly-used sophomore last season when he transferred to Santa Clara (and became a standout).

UA also had two other available players outside of the playing rotation this season: Lithuanians Paulius Murauskas and Spanish guard Conrad Martinez, though Martinez said earlier this month that he signed on at Arizona knowing he wouldn’t play much right away.

“I just wanted to come here to improve at basketball physically and be able to study for a degree, too,” Martinez said.

In addition, UA had two redshirts this season, both of whom have indicated they are staying on board: sophomore forward Henri Veesaar, who sat out after injuring his elbow in a freak preseason golf cart accident, and sophomore forward Dylan Anderson, who chose to redshirt and says he’s improved behind the scenes.

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“One hundred percent,” Anderson said. “Next year, you guys are going to see what I did this year.”

Freshman KJ Lewis, who averaged 18.3 minutes in a key reserve guard role this season, also spoke about reaching another level next season.

“I think it’s been up and down” this season, Lewis said before UA’s second-round NCAA Tournament game with Dayton. “But as the season has grown, I think I showed spurts of my progress and progression as a player and showed glimpses of what I could be.

“I’m just trying to take it a day at a time, going into the summer locked in and working on myself, working on my body and my game.”

3. Could Europe lure anyone away?

For UA’s international players, there’s always another way to pursue free agency: By going to or near their homes and signing a potentially lucrative contract as a non-import player.

But international players culturally are less likely to transfer to another school, having often grown up with the same basketball club and national team program, instead of hopping between shoe-ball clubs every year or month as American players often do.

That might explain why former UA standout Azuolas Tubelis of Lithuania never entered the portal before declaring for the NBA Draft last spring after three seasons with the Wildcats.

It’s not clear where fellow Lithuanians Krivas and Murauskas stand. Both played in Lithuania’s top league last season and could conceivably return at any time, though Krivas said he needed to get better while expressing appreciation for what his freshman season brought.

“I’ll remember this season my whole life,” Krivas said. “This team was something special.”

4. Who stays in the backcourt?

While sophomore point guards Jaden Bradley and Boswell both said they enjoy playing together and have supported each other all season, it’s hard to imagine both return to the Wildcats next season.

In fact, Boswell appears somewhat in the same place that he put Kerr Kriisa in last spring, when he was an up-and-coming freshman who appeared ready to take over as the Wildcats’ starting point guard.

Now, Bradley is coming off a strong finish to the season, while Boswell has slumped, scoring four points or less in four of his final five games this season. After he had three points on 1-for-6 shooting against Clemson on Thursday, Boswell said he would figure things out with Lloyd upon returning to Tucson, but was noncommittal.

A McDonald’s high school All-American who transferred from Alabama last spring, Bradley could return as a potential starter, take a peek in the portal or even test the NBA Draft process himself, with his strong finish showing off his two-way skills.

5. What about the freshmen?

Arizona also has three signees scheduled to arrive late this spring or early in the summer, including five-star forward Carter Bryant, four-star guard Jamari Phillips and four-star center Emmanuel Stephen.

Then there’s Joson Sanon, a highly regarded 6-foot-5 class of 2025 guard who committed to Arizona earlier this month and said he plans to reclassify in order to become eligible for the Wildcats next season.

A native of Massachusetts with parents from Haiti, Sanon has drawn comparison to aggressive scoring wing Bennedict Mathurin, a native of Montreal also with Haitian roots.

“I feel like I will fit in with my shot-making,” Sanon said. “Especially with how they move without the ball … I’m pretty much a three-level scorer.

If Sanon reclassifies, he would bring the Wildcats’ tentative roster of players eligible for 2024-25 up to 16 players.

There are 13 scholarship spots available. But in this day and age, that means nothing. There’s lots of expected movement ahead for Arizona and just about everyone else in college basketball.