Two transfers that will be impact players

There are usually two topics that dominate the college basketball news this time of year: the NBA Draft's early entries and the coaching carousel.

One of the aspects that tends to be overlooked are the transfers (Jeff Goodman always has a full list of transfers). Now, a lot of the time the guys that are transferring schools are going from a high-major school where they don't see any playing time to a low-major school where they will be able to see more minutes, which is why it gets overlooked. But if Wesley Johnson and Ekpe Udoh proved anything to us this year, a transfer can have a very large impact if he lands at the right school.

Jeff Eisenberg over at The Dagger did a good job detailing three transfers that could be impact players at a new school.

But he missed two guys.

Rakim Sanders, Boston College: Earlier today, Sanders announced that he would be transferring from Boston College to play his senior season elsewhere. Sanders reportedly sat down with new BC head coach Steve Donahue, and the two decided that it would be best for both sides if Sanders finished his collegiate career elsewhere.

Will Rakim Sanders end up at Fairfield?
(photo credit: Examiner)

Sanders is a player. He averaged over 12 ppg over his first two season before struggling through a tough junior season. He was suspended for the first two games before suffering a high ankle sprain in his first game and missing the next six. He ended the season averaging just 11.3 ppg in a 15-16 year for BC.

Sanders is reportedly interested in Providence and Rhode Island (he is from Rhode Island) but an Andy Katz report says that Fairfield is the most likely landing spot for Sanders where he would play under former BC assistant Ed Cooley. Depending on how hard Sanders works in the year he has off (there is no guarantee he, or anyone, will. Dropping down from an ACC school to a MAAC program probably ends any chance he had at making the NBA), he would be a monster for that team. MAAC teams are not generally capable of defending a 6'5" two guard that weighs in at 225lb.


Mike Rosario, Rutgers: Rosario has been all over the New York and New Jersey headlines in the last few weeks. There has been the speculation that head coach Fred Hill will lose his job, which came to a head when he blew up at a Rutgers-Pitt baseball game two weeks ago, but there is also the issue of tampering by USC in regards to Rosario's decision to transfer.

Mike Rosario may be the most sought after transfer.
(photo credit: ScarlettKnights.com)

There is no question that Rosario can score. He averaged over 16 ppg in both of his seasons with the Scarlett Knights. He is a bit of a gunner and played as more of a scoring guard than a pure point, but that may be a result of the amount of talent he had surrounding him at Rutgers.

As you would expect, when a talent like Rosario becomes available, quite a few schools become interested. He is taking a visit to Florida today (Friday), and has also been contacted by Tennessee, USC (where former high school teammate Jio Fontan transferred to from Fordham), and Kansas State, among others.

Wherever he ends up, Rosario is going to be factor.