Dozens of players from North Carolina’s mid‑major and mid‑Atlantic programs have already announced plans to test the 2026 NCAA transfer portal ahead of the men’s 15‑day entry window that opens April 7, with several starters and all‑conference honorees among them. The shorter window — a change from last year’s 30‑day period — increases the urgency for players aiming to land at Power Five or other high‑profile programs and for coaches scrambling to plug roster holes.
The list of notable entries from in‑state teams includes Appalachian State center Luke Wilson, the Sun Belt’s Defensive Player of the Year, and guards who earned all‑conference recognition such as Queens’ Yoav Berman, Campbell’s Jeremiah Johnson and UNC Greensboro’s Justin Neely. Wilson averaged 28 minutes, 11 points and eight rebounds per game this season while shooting 64 percent from the floor and swatting 59 blocks. Campbell’s Johnson started all year, putting up 32 minutes and 15 points per game and knocking down 37 percent from three. Appalachian State also lists forward Michael Marcus Jr., who averaged eight points and six boards, among its portal entries.
Davidson leads the state’s departures by volume, with eight scholarship players listed as outgoing, followed by East Carolina, Queens and Western Carolina with six apiece. Other tallies: Appalachian State, Gardner‑Webb and North Carolina A&T each have five outgoing; Elon four; UNC Asheville and UNC Greensboro three each; Campbell, Charlotte and High Point two each; NC Central one; and UNC Wilmington so far reports no scholarship departures. The Davidson class includes several veterans — Parker Friedrichsen (11 ppg, 41 percent 3‑point shooting) and Roberts Blūms (12 ppg, 41 percent 3‑point shooting) among them — and guard Hunter Adam, whose entry is listed with a Portland destination.
Big bodies and interior producers are prominent among the departures: Charlotte’s 7‑2 senior center Anton Bonke averaged 11 points and eight rebounds on 58 percent shooting, while Appalachian State’s 6‑9 redshirt junior Luke Wilson and Campbell’s 6‑9 Dovydas Butka (14 ppg, nine rpg) figure to draw interest from programs seeking immediate inside help. Several guards with starting experience — East Carolina’s Corey Caulker, Queens’ Yoav Berman and Western Carolina’s Cord Stansberry — are also exploring options, creating opportunity for coaches both in‑state and nationally to address backcourt needs.
The portal’s continued popularity follows last year’s record of more than 2,600 Division I men’s basketball players entering, and it is being driven by a combination of legal changes that have eased immediate eligibility for transfers and expanded off‑court earning opportunities such as Name‑Image‑Likeness deals and the NCAA’s new revenue‑sharing rules. The NCAA has also been steadily trimming the length of the men’s basketball portal window — from 60 days in 2023 to 45 in 2024, 30 in 2025 and now 15 days in 2026 — heightening the compressed recruiting push over the next two weeks.
Under current rules, players who do not enter the portal during the April 7–21 window may face limits on immediate eligibility at a new school, though they are not required to pick a destination by April 21. Entry is reversible — players can withdraw their names and remain at their current programs — but that reversal is uncommon. For North Carolina’s smaller programs, the coming weeks will test roster depth and recruiting responsiveness as coaches try to retain core pieces and bring in reinforcements amid aggressive courting by schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and SEC.