Arizona State guard D.J. Horne intends to transfer, increasing roster churn in Pac-12 basketball

At Arizona, USC, and now Arizona State, a guard who was a core rotation piece in 2023 has decided to transfer. Coaches are angling for upgrades.

The roster churn in Pac-12 basketball is already in evidence. You are going to see significant remakes for teams throughout the conference, including USC. The evidence of coaches wanting to improve their backcourts is growing by the day, if not the hour.

Arizona’s Kerr Kriisa transferred out of Tucson this past week.

USC’s Reese-Dixon Waters and Malik Thomas declared their intent to transfer this past week.

Losing players in the portal could be a bad thing, but if coaches think they can get better players at the same position group in the portal — and can then land their targets — it’s a net-plus for these programs and their rosters.

It’s very clear that Arizona wanted Kriisa to leave because it needed someone better. It’s not guaranteed that Andy Enfield wanted to clear out some space at USC, but it’s more likely than not that he wanted an upgrade with Isaiah Collier coming in as the nation’s top point guard. Getting a better shooter and scorer to put next to Collier should rightly be a priority for USC, and Enfield seems to be acting with due urgency, though landing a quality portal prospect now becomes exponentially more important with RDW gone.

Now, we have another transfer portal movement in a Pac-12 backcourt. D.J. Horne of Arizona State has declared his intent to transfer. This could be seen as a negative for the Sun Devils, given that Horne hit some big shots for the team this past season. However, it could very well mean that Bobby Hurley, signed to a new contract extension this past week, is aiming for his own upgrade at the position.

The roster changes for Pac-12 basketball programs is shifting into high gear. The next several weeks are going to be fascinating … and very consequential.

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