Damion Lee (Drexel to Louisville)
The graduate transfer headed to Louisville after a strong four-year career at Drexel where he averaged 21.4 points per contest as a senior last season. This year he leads the Cardinals in scoring with 16.7 points on 46.4% field foal shooting. Lee has just 35 turnovers through 21 games, a significant improvement on his 50 in 27 games last season. Lee has the luxury of considerably more talent around him at Louisville, so he doesn’t have to force things quite as much. He’s been a huge part of the success Louisville has been able to have this season and Lee will have to continue to play at a high level with a lack of seasoned depth behind him.
Zach LeDay (South Florida to Virginia Tech)
The best player on a surprisingly talented Virginia Tech roster, he’s been the catalyst of the Buzz Williams resurgence. They’ve hit a rough patch in conference play, but make no mistake that LeDay has been on fire for the Hokies. LeDay leads the team in scoring (16.1 PPG) and rebounding (8.1), both of which are fairly unexpected developments. His scoring numbers actually improve when you look at just conference games with 18.6 PPG and an incredible 60% (12-20) from three-point range. LeDay’s game has improved drastically from his time at South Florida and it’s clear why former Bulls assistant Steve Roccaforte encouraged Buzz to take LeDay as a transfer when he was hired from USF.
Anthony Gill – (South Carolina to Virginia)
Folks tend to forget that Gill played one season at South Carolina before making the transition to the grounds in Charlottesville. His play took a giant leap forward last season and has jumped up another notch for his final season. The senior from High Point, N.C. has career-highs in scoring (14.9 PPG), field-goal percentage (60.4%) and free throw percentage (70.5%). Impressively, Gill has scored in double-figures in every single game for the Cavaliers this season. The 6’8″ forward is a difficult defensive match up and plus he has rebounded well again this season with six boards a night.
Trey Lewis (Penn State to Cleveland State to Louisville)
Guys who’ve played at more than two schools have become slightly more common with the graduate transfer rule now allowing players like Trey Lewis another opportunity without sitting for a year. That leads to more journeymen like Lewis who has paired nicely with fellow transfer Damion Lee in the Cardinal backcourt. Lewis doesn’t necessarily blow you away on the stat sheet but he does a lot of little things right to help Louisville win. His 12.3 points and 2.4 assists per contest are solid, but he’s also shooting 42.9% from the field including 40% from three-point range. He’s also posted a career-high 80% at the free throw line.
Adam Smith (UNC-Wilmington to Virginia Tech to Georgia Tech)
Everyone knew Adam Smith would bring offensive punch to the Yellow Jackets’ attack and he hasn’t disappointed. Smith is second on the roster in scoring with career-highs in points (14.3 PPG) and three-point shooting percentage (42.9%). He has 39 assists to 17 turnovers and has generally been the kind of scoring threat that the Yellow Jackets have needed and the club is improved this season. Smith scored in single digits just once in January and that was a game in which he was likely pressing a bit against his former teammates at Virginia Tech.
Honorable Mention
There are plenty of worthy candidates for the list, but I like keeping lists to five as it’s a nice round number. The ACC has loads of transfer talent this season so plenty of guys were left off. Sheldon Jeter showed what he can do for Pittsburgh Sunday night with 23 points in 23 minutes during a thumping of the Hokies. Nick Jacobs is another strong player for a Georgia Tech squad that needed a quick boost to save Brian Gregory’s job. The Alabama transfer has posted career-highs with 11.3 points and six rebounds per game. Angel Rodriguez is another name who comes up and he runs a solid point in Miami where his overall shooting is up to 40.5% this year. Rodriguez has also put up nearly a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio.
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