Is Former Alabama Guard Rylan Griffen the Best Player in the Portal?

The projected 2025 first-rounder, who spent his first two years of college basketball with the Crimson Tide, has opted to transfer. What kind of player is he, and how can he maximize his draft status?

At Richardson High School in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, 2022 was a special season .

In their back court were two five-star players, both of whom complemented each other's skillsets and elevated each other's play. Even in the best area for prep hoops in the country, DFW, these two made their impressions.

The first was Oklahoma City guard Cason Wallace, who mostly ran point at RHS. The other was off-guard Rylan Griffen, who played his first two season of college hoops in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. for Nate Oats, who are fresh off of a Final Four appearance.

Griffen, who drastically improved from his freshman to his sophomore season, averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.9 stocks this past year, and was a major part of the best Alabama basketball team ever, along with Grant Nelson and Mark Sears. He shot a very solid 39.1% from three and a respectable 45.4% overall on field goals. Considering most of his shots are from beyond the arc (5.3 3PA/game), so the efficiency means a lot when discussing his potential outlook as a pro.

It's also important to note the difference between Griffen's freshman and sophomore seasons from an efficiency perspective – as a first-year player in Nate Oats' system, he had a lot of trouble shooting the ball in all aspects. He shot just 36.5% from the field overall and just 30.8% on 3-pointers.

Standing at 6-foot-5, Griffen has great positional size, and when you tack on the ability to handle like he can and shoot off the bounce, either on pull-ups or coming off of a screen, you end up with one of the best – if not the best – player in the NCAA transfer portal for the 2023-24 season.

Despite the amount of good players that have already elected to transfer, Rylan Griffen still stands out as an elite player. He has first-round pedigree in the 2025 Draft, but where he plays next may impact his draft ranking.

Should he go to a different college or play overseas? Time will tell.

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