After two of the biggest college basketball programs in Alabama and UConn reportedly decided to pass up on Syracuse transfer forward Donnie Freeman, two teams are seemingly battling it out for the 6-foot-9 forward.
He was huge for the Orange, averaging 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game last season, so his departure was a big blow to the program.
The SEC team that is one of the favorites to land Donnie Freeman is Kentucky, with the forward just visiting the school last week. The Wildcats seemed to be in the driver’s seat until St. John’s Rick Pitino upped the ante and have given Freeman a much higher offer than Kentucky.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, the Red Storm are currently the favorites thanks to that late push from Pitino and are well positioned to get Freeman. However, the Wildcats still have a chance to get their star forward, but only if Mark Pope makes a bigger offer ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
There is a third challenger, Tennessee, and it has been showing a lot of interest in Donnie Freeman. However, it is mostly out of the conversation as this seems to be more of a two-horse race between St. John’s and Kentucky right now.
The Wildcats better act fast, though, as the portal will be closing in a day and their other portal targets like Sebastian Rancik have now committed to other teams. Andrija Jelavic and Mo Dioubate have left the program, so Pope needs more power forwards like Freeman to fill that void.
As for St. John’s, it needs a power forward right now, especially as it lost its Big East Tournament hero Zuby Ejiofor to the transfer portal.
Donnie Freeman a Must-Land For Mark Pope at Kentucky
Right now, Mark Pope is in a race against Kansas to land No. 1 high school recruit Tyran Stokes. However, Stokes might not make his decision for quite some time as the high school star is still waiting to see how each team’s lineups are going.
Pope has Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Moreno, and Kam Williams to lead his team, but that may not be enough to attract Stokes.
Mark Pope has struggled in the transfer portal so far, though getting Zoom Diallo was a big win for the Wildcats and it even got Tyran Stokes approving of the move. Getting Freeman would make the team better, but it would probably have to outbid St. John’s first.
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