Xavier’s second best player from last season and a hugely improved piece is going to be taking his prodigious talents elsewhere.
Xavier guard Desmond Claude plans to enter the transfer portal, sources told ESPN. 6-foot-6 sophomore averaged 16.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists this past season.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 19, 2024
There’s no particularly good way to take this. Des Claude was the Big East’s most improved player this season both by voting and in objective reality. He went from promising talent to a 16.6/4.2/3.2 guy who increased his offensive efficiency by 14 points while increasing his usage rate by 10%. That’s an enormous jump, and it spoke to the talent that Des has.
Sadly, that talent will be deployed elsewhere now. In the last March Des played for Xavier he had games of 36, 30, and 26 points. He had a six rebound game, a five assist game, a game where he went 5-6 behind the arc, and games where he was perfect from the line. In the best of times, he could genuinely do it all. He was a good defender who could explode on offense and was dominant when he got to his right hand.
Sources say that NIL money was a factor in the decision for both parties. Xavier has already brought in Dante Maddox Jr, John Hugley, and Marcus Foster and is well positioned on both Ryan Conwell and Justin Abson. The roster churn of NIL and the new transfer portal rules is a massive adjustment in college basketball. Whether it’s good or not is in the eye of the beholder, but it has just cost Xavier their best returning player.