Who has made a decision:

Smurf - Staying

Somto - Portal

Wilkinson - Portal

James - Portal


Who will make a decision:

Blue - Portal

Kanon - Could be portal could be staying, heard its 50/50

Ross - Staying

Stagg - Staying

Wilkins - Staying


Graduated:

Bailey

Abson


Not sure/I don't care if he returns or not:

McVey


That means next year here is the current roster not including walk-ons.

Smurf, Wilkins, Stagg, Ross

PG - 2
SG - 0
SF - 1
PF - 1
C - 0

Yikes. Just yikes.

I could be wrong, but not sure Blue is going to get a better date to the Prom.

And Cyril just wasn't/isn't working at UGA.

Hope Canon stays.

Eh. If Blue wants to really transition himself to a purely 3 and D with no play making role I think he could find a good fit. I think with him it is really if he wants to see his role diminish and if the pay check is enough for that.

I think Somto worked here. I just think he takes a specific kind of coaching to get the best out of him and that just was not Mike White.

I would like Kanon to stay so at least we can have somewhat decent of a core.

I really do not like Dylan James but I really wish him and Blue would have stayed. Those should have been 4 years Georgia guys. A core to build your program around and sell to recruits. Just not the case anymore nowadays. Really not sure what James is going to do. I am assuming transfer down to the mid to low major level to maybe get more touches.

At first glance this seems comparable to the returning production from last year to this year.

I can understand James leaving to get more touches, going to a smaller school.

Somto's flagrants and offensive inconsistency will not be missed. His defense and energy definitely will.

Will definitely miss having Blue, although he has reached his peak I feel. If he goes to a better school, he probably won't start.

Does McVey not have much potential for production next season? Is that why you aren't concerned with him?

BallDawg, have you heard specific reasons for why these players are going to the portal? Or is it mostly guesses and assumptions?

I was not told why really. I know I am late posting this and what I had heard but what I had been told so far has been right. Wanted to post about it earlier but life has been crazy. But with that being said that makes me think that I am going to be pretty spot on about the final roster updates.

I was told earlier in the year Wilkinson was upset with NIL, and it sounds like he is just going to the highest bidder at this point. I heard that basically as soon as the season ended Blue was working on ways to opt out of his "contract" to hit the portal. I think Blue is doing one of two things. Realizing his NBA career is no longer realistic and trying to get the most money he can. Or he has someone in his corner telling him if he wants an NBA career he needs to go somewhere to further develop his role as a 3 and D at a more prestigious basketball program.

Somto had been heavily linked to Arkansas towards the end of the year, I think that is the coach Cal connection there. Remember he was committed to him in high school. If I had to put a guess out there I would say Arkansas.

Then to your point about McVey, speaking with a few people on staff it seems like he just isn't skilled enough to be an SEC big, and if he isn't skilled enough he is definitely 2 years away from getting physically where he needs to be to hang around the SEC level as a big man. From what I heard we took a flyer on him as the potential was there but with the portal nowadays you just do not need to take flyers on kids and hope they develop anymore.

Wish it was different but this is just the reality of modern college sports. If CMW wants to hit a third straight 20 win season he is going to have to heavily recruit his ass off in the portal this off season. He is also going to need a decent sized budget to win. I know Josh Brooks has made it ever so clear that basketball will never get the resources it needs to be a consistently strong program, but CMW will need to spend and spend his money wisely.

Thanks for the info. I'm not interested in guys like Wilkinson who have the highest priority of a paycheck.

What you said about Blue, Somto and McVey makes a lot of sense. Is there any chance Blue could still stay?

Two avenues where Blue could stay.

The first being if he isn't able to opt out of his contract and he has any kind of morals. Think back to the Duke QB who was locked in a NIL contract but still ignored it and hit the portal. Or the Washington QB who tried to do the same thing but he failed. It seems hit or miss and it really is going to be dependent on what is in the contract wording wise.

The second option is maybe in the process of trying to opt out we end up sweetening the deal to have him stay the final year. It seems like it might be a pay to play deal. I do not think it as bad as the Wilkinson situation as where he literally is trying to chase the best offer regardless of fit. I think Blue is trying to maximize his $$$ he can earn while still putting himself in a position to succeed and that is the slimmer of hope I am holding onto that maybe with a pay bump we can continue to sell him on what we have sold him the last three years.

To his point I do get it though, at Georgia it really does feel like he has hit his ceiling, and his current ceiling isn't an NBA player. So if that is his thought process I could see why he would want to leave.

However for note I did see him at Ramsey the other day playing pick up basketball casually. So that could be a good sign. Most guys that are ready to hit the portal head off campus and pack up basically as soon as the season ends.

Any chance a big company like Home Depot, Delta, AFLAC or Coca-Cola gives the basketball program a nice donation so we can get some better players which would lead to a better program come March Madness?

There have now been 800 players that have announced they are going in the portal via themselves or their agents.

And the transfer portal doesn't "officially" open until a week from today.

The transfer portal is always open. Always.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 1, 2026