These are the schools reaching out to former Oregon C Kel’el Ware

Kel’el Ware is a popular name in the transfer portal, with a number of high-profile teams already reaching out.

The news broke on Monday morning that Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware would be entering the transfer portal and leaving Eugene after one season. This was relatively expected, and be it through the portal or via the NBA Draft, not many people would have confidently told you that Ware would be in Eugene again for a second season in 2023.

However, because of his high profile — Ware was a 5-star recruit and the No. 7 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class — the move has made some waves in the college basketball world. Ware is now one of the most coveted players available in the transfer portal, and there are already a number of top-end teams making contact and trying to get the 7-foot center to join their team.

According to On3’s Joe Tipton, these are the schools that have reached out so far:

Texas basketball: Potential targets in the transfer portal

Here is a look at a few potential targets Texas could pursue in the transfer portal.

It is officially Rodney Terry’s program in Austin. Texas and Terry agreed to a five-year deal after guiding the Longhorns to the Elite Eight in an interim role.

Texas’ 2022-2023 season was one of the school’s more successful years in recent memory. Texas finished 29-9, took home the Big 12 Tournament title and won three NCAA Tournament games. The Longhorns advanced past the first weekend of March Madness for the first time since 2008.

Terry’s first task as head coach is to rebuild Texas’ roster into a contender yet again. Texas must replace its senior leadership as Marcus Carr, Sir’Jabari Rice, Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop are departing.

With a solid core of young players set to return along with five-star signees Ron Holland and AJ Johnson joining the program, Texas has a strong foundation to start with.

Adding instant impact talent via the transfer portal is going to be a priority for Terry and his staff. Texas has had tons of success in recent years from utilizing the portal.

Here is a look at a few potential targets Texas could pursue in the transfer portal.

Texas basketball reaches out to former five-star center Kel’el Ware

Rodney Terry and company hit up a big-time post player initiating Day 1 of new era.

Texas needs big men on its basketball roster for next season. Rodney Terry understands the assignment. Continue reading “Texas basketball reaches out to former five-star center Kel’el Ware”

Ducks have reportedly shown interest in intriguing transfer portal option

Dana Altman and the Ducks have reportedly shown interest in intriguing transfer portal option from Northern Colorado.

With the college basketball season over for over 99 percent of teams in the nation, it’s no surprise that the transfer portal has started to head up over the past couple of weeks. Already we have seen a couple of players — Tyrone Williams and Kel’el Ware — announce that they would be leaving Eugene and searching for a new team going forward.

Neither of those announcements came as a major surprise, and more people are expected to leave the Ducks this offseason as well. In turn, we can absolutely expect to hear some names of players transferring to Oregon as well. Already, Jadrian Tracey has announced that he will join the Ducks in 2023, coming from Florida Southwestern State.

There are other players who the Ducks have shown interest in as well. The latest player is former Northern Colorado player Dalton Knecht, according to a report from CBB writer Sean Paul. Knecht is an elite scorer who averaged 20.2 points per game last season.

Here’s what you need to know about him:

Five-star big man Kel’el Ware leaves Oregon and Dana Altman, enters the portal

.@Ducks_Wire was expecting this, but it’s still significant news. Ware instantly becomes a valued portal target for other schools.

Dana Altman has a great incoming recruiting class at Oregon, but he won’t have a five-star big man from his previous recruiting class. Big man Kel’el Ware, who simply didn’t fit comfortably with the Ducks this past season, announced that he would enter the transfer portal and not the NBA draft. The move underscores the extent to which Altman — a coach with an excellent track record of making disparate pieces fit on a roster — has simply swung and missed in each of his last two seasons in Eugene.

Ducks Wire has more on the story:

“Ware, the former No. 7 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, was initially believed to be a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA draft,” Zachary Neel wrote, “but after a freshman season in Eugene where he did not see the production that was expected, he will decided to stick it out for one more season in college at least before making the leap.

“’I am incredibly thankful for my freshman season at Oregon,’ said Ware, via 247Sports. ‘Sincere thanks to Coach Altman and the entire coaching staff for believing in me and helping me grow, both as a player and person. I will take the lessons that I have learned on and off the court this season into this next chapter. And to Ducks Nation and most importantly, my teammates: thank you for embracing me into the Oregon family.’”

“Ware played just 15.8 minutes a game, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.”

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Social Media Buzz: Oregon fans react to Kel’el Ware entering the transfer portal

Social Media Buzz: Oregon fans react to Kel’el Ware entering the transfer portal

Whether it was via the NBA Draft or the transfer portal, there was a prominent belief that Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware was not going to be with the team for the start of the 2023-24 season. The freshman made it official on Monday with the announcement that he would enter the transfer portal, and not declare for the NBA Draft.

After coming to Eugene as a 5-star prospect, rated No. 7 in the 2022 class, It’s fair to say that Ware’s season with the Ducks was not as prolific as some expected. Ware played just 15.8 minutes a game, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He was projected to be an NBA Lottery pick early on in the year, but as the season went on, his draft stock fell with the lack of production. Part of that was because of the personnel on the team — N’Faly Dante and Nate Bittle also compete for those minutes on the post, and both had more production than Ware.

So while the move from Ware did not come as a major shock, it still elicited some reactions from Oregon fans online. Here is some of the best social media buzz after the news came out on Monday:

Former 5-star Kel’el Ware to enter transfer portal, leave Oregon Ducks

Kel’el Ware, the former No. 7 ranked player in the 2022 class, will leave Eugene and enter the transfer portal.

One way or another, it was expected that the Oregon Ducks were going to end up losing former 5-star center Kel’el Ware this offseason, be it to the 2023 NBA Draft or via the transfer portal.

On Monday morning, per a report from 247Sports, Ware made it official, announcing that he would enter the transfer portal and leave the Ducks after one season.

Ware, the former No. 7 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, was initially believed to be a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, but after a freshman season in Eugene were he did not see the production that was expected, he will decided to stick it out for one more season in college at least before making the leap.

“I am incredibly thankful for my freshman season at Oregon,” said Ware, via 247Sports. “Sincere thanks to Coach Altman and the entire coaching staff for believing in me and helping me grow, both as a player and person. I will take the lessons that I have learned on and off the court this season into this next chapter. And to Ducks Nation and most importantly, my teammates: thank you for embracing me into the Oregon family.”

Ware played just 15.8 minutes a game, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

After coming to college as such a highly-rated prospect, Ware will undoubtedly be a highly-coveted name in the portal this offseason.

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Kel’el Ware explains why he committed to Oregon in Whistle’s ‘Day Off’ video

In a ‘Day Off’ video with Whistle Sports, Oregon Ducks freshman Kel’el Ware explained why he committed to the Ducks.

It’s always interesting to see what goes into a college athlete’s life off of the court. While we always get to see what they do in a select amount of time, usually from the seats at Matthew Knight Arena or on TV, there is always so much more that takes place behind the scenes.

Recently we got a chance to see a bit of what that life is like for Oregon Ducks freshman Kel’el Ware, a former 5-star recruit who came into his true freshman season in Eugene with high expectations.

Ware recently sat down with Whistle Sports and broke down what life is like for him outside of basketball on the video series “Days Off.” In the video, Ware breaks down what his recruitment was like, why he ended up choosing the Ducks, what he does when not at practice or a game, and where his favorite food spot is in Eugene.

“The reason I chose Oregon is because of what they’ve done with recent players,” Ware said. “You’ve got Chris Boucher, Dillon Brooks, Jordan Bell, Chris Duarte, that’s just some of them. They’re all very successful now. And then there’s the environment. It’s peaceful out here. It rains every now and then, but I like that.”

Ware still has at least one game left to play in the Pac-12 Tournament, but his regular season averages of 6.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks were not enough to get him onto the Pac-12 All-Freshman team this year. He will have a chance to return to Eugene next season if he wants to, but there is a feeling that Ware will instead try his luck in the NBA Draft, where he has been a projected first-round pick for most of the year.

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5-star center Kel’el Ware not selected for Pac-12 All-Freshman Team

Despite having very high expectations coming into the year, Oregon Ducks center Kel’el Ware was absent from the Pac-12 All Freshman team.

It would have been nearly inconceivable to predict that Oregon Ducks center Kel’el Ware wouldn’t make the Pac-12 All-Freshman team at the beginning of the season.

Ware was a 5-star prospect and one of the highest rated recruits in Oregon history, a testament to the strength of Dana Altman’s recruiting to pull this young man from Arkansas and bring him all the way to Eugene.

Mock drafts often had Ware as a lottery pick – and while he’s still featured in a handful of places the majority believe he is a strong candidate to return to college after a disappointing freshman season that saw him only make four starts and average just 16 minutes per game.

Ware still has at least one game left to play in the Pac-12 Tournament, but his regular season averages of 6.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks weren’t enough for him to make the five man All Pac-12 Freshman team.

In fact, two other players – Kylan Boswell at Arizona and Grant Newell at Cal – were listed as honorable mentions, meaning Ware didn’t even receive three votes for consideration.

Here is a look at the five freshmen who were named to the Pac-12 Freshman team over Ware, including an in-state competitor and a pair of Bruins from UCLA:

Kel’el Ware’s NBA draft stock plummets amidst struggles

As his minutes and production have plummeted, so to has the NBA draft stock for Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware.

Oregon center Kel’el Ware’s freshman season got off to a relatively quiet – but still productive – start. Through the first nine games of Ware’s career with the Ducks he averaged 10.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 57.1% on two pointers and 30.8% on threes.

Great? No, but totally reasonable from a true freshman playing 26 minutes per game, especially when opponents in that stretch included Houston, UConn, Michigan State, and UCLA.

Since then, however, things have been a complete disaster.

Ware only scored in double figures twice in his last 18 games, averaging just 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds while his minutes have plummeted to just 12 per contest – including only one minute in Oregon’s recent loss to Washington State.

It’s a sharp decline for a player who showed up in the lottery of many 2023 NBA mock drafts at the beginning of the year – and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see his stock falling as well.

Compiled below are seven 2023 NBA mock drafts, all created within the last few weeks, that showcase just how much opinion of the 5-star prospect has changed as his minutes, and production, have dipped.

While many still believe he could sneak into the first round, others are removing him from their mocks all together – with one site (NBAdraft.net) including him on their 2024 mock, indicating a belief he could return to college for another year.