Shareef O’neal and Khalil Whitney were both high level 5 star basketball recruits coming out of high school, Shareef choosing to commit to UCLA and Khalil committing to Kentucky; but now the two young stars will enter the transfer portal and choose a new school to play for. This is something that is becoming more and more common in college basketball, kids just like Shareef and Khalil who are both very talented players realize that they committed to a school that doesn’t exploit their talents. As a result of this, these kids either end up transferring or they realize too late and end up completely under achieving throughout their college career.
In High School Khalil Whitney averaged 19.4 points and about 6 rebounds per game for Roselle Catholic, which is a school with one of the best high school basketball programs in the entire state of New Jersey. His play also landed him a spot on the McDonald’s All America team. With his high school resume in consideration you would think that Khalil would have a smooth transition to college basketball. However, In his 18 games played it has been everything but a smooth transition. In those games Khalil Whitney has averaged 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in only 12.8 minutes per game. With stats like this his choice to transfer is understandable. He will now start his recruitment process again in search for the best school for him as a basketball player in hopes of eventually making it to the NBA
On the other hand, Shareef O’neal is a little bit different, this is because he underwent heart surgery at the beginning of his freshman season causing him to have to miss the entire season. After making a full recovery Shareef has struggled to find his groove with the UCLA bruins. So far this season he has averaged 2.2 points and about 3 rebounds per game and shooting a poor 32% from the field. Being the son of former NBA star and hall of famer Shaquille O’neal, Shareef is facing a tremendous amount of pressure to at least make it to the NBA. After choosing the wrong school for him, he looks to get himself playing again for a school that will give him the best opportunity to be successful.
The good thing about both Khalil Whitney and Shareef O’neal is that they have made their choice to transfer early on in their careers, and still have plenty of time to live up to the hype that came with each of them out of high school. Plenty of other high level college basketball players go through the same thing, and many end up wasting their college eligibility at the wrong school.
Flip the page to read their transfer announcements and potential new schools.