Six things the Nevada men's basketball team needs to target in the transfer portal

The Nevada men's basketball team's roster is around half full.

After losing six players to graduation and two more to the transfers portal this offseason, the Wolf Pack has just five returning scholarship players plus two high school signees/commitments.

Assuming the House settlement is codified Monday as expected, men's teams can have up to 15 scholarship players, two more than previous seasons. That leaves Nevada with up to eight roster spots to fill, with most of those likely coming from the transfer portal. Here's a breakdown of Nevada's roster as it stands today.

Point guards: Tyler Rolison

Wings: Chuck Bailey III, Amire Robinson, Peyton White

Posts: Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams, Jeriah Coleman, Ethan Croley

So, what does the Nevada basketball team need to get out of the portal entering 2025-26. Everything would sum things up given the state of the roster, but here's a breakdown of six priorities in the coming weeks as Nevada looks for its first transfer commitment.

Some shooting

Nevada's 3-point shooting was Jekyll and Hyde last season with the Wolf Pack elite in non-conference (41.9 percent, second in the nation) and terrible in Mountain West play (30.1 percent, last in conference). On top of that, Nevada lost its top-four 3-point makes leaders from last season in Xavier DuSell (67), Nick Davidson (46), Kobe Sanders (41) and Tre Coleman (25). The Wolf Pack returns two players who made 3-pointers last season in Tyler Rolison (22 makes at 31 percent) and Chuck Bailey III (eight makes at 32 percent). There's only one more player on Nevada's current roster with a career made 3-pointer, that being Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams (18 makes on 31.6 percent). Neither of Nevada's high school additions are elite 3-point shooters, so the Wolf Pack must really upgrade its outside shooting as it rebuilds its roster. If last year's struggles show anything — the Wolf Pack went 17-16 overall and 8-12 in conference (seventh) — it's the importance of 3-point shooting.

Point guard help

Nevada's best returning player is Tyler Rolison, who is penciled in on our depth chart as the team's starting point guard, although I'm not sure that's his ideal role. Entering his junior season, the 6-foot Rolison is a quality player who averaged 13 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game after becoming a starter the last eight games (Nevada went 2-6 in those contests). In those starts, Rolison shot 42.2/20.0/84.8, and he's a better 3-point shooter than that usually. In those games, Rolison had 29 assists to eight turnovers, an excellent rate. In his career, it's 114 assists to 62 turnovers, which is passable. Can Rolison be your full-time point guard? Yes, although Nevada was hesitant to give him that role until injuries hit its lineup late last season. Ideally, the Wolf Pack adds a traditional point guard to pair with Rolison, who is more of an attack-minded offensive player rather than one that's going to run your offense. Nevada needs extra depth at lead guard.

Two-way wings

Nevada has two returning wings in Chuck Bailey III and Amire Robinson, although it's an open question to whether they can be starters at the MW level. Bailey averaged 8.4 points per game as a freshman in the Missouri Valley before tallying 2.4 points per game as a sophomore last year for the Wolf Pack. Robinson has played 63 minutes in his first two seasons at Nevada, including last year's redshirt, after being an unrated prep prospect. Nevada best wing right now might be Peyton White, a 6-foot-6 prep signee with a college-ready body and plus athleticism who could draw a lot of minutes as a freshman (I'm high on him). But counting on any of those three to be high-level starters in 2025-26 isn't ideal, so getting two above-average wings in this transfer class is key. Nevada hosted at least two such players on official visits last week in Oregon State transfer Nate Kingz, who committed to Syracuse, and Fresno State's Elijah Price, who is uncommitted. Players of that caliber are must adds.

Leadership and toughness

On-court leadership was an issue for Nevada last season, which contributed to the Wolf Pack's lack of success in close games and against the MW's best teams. Nevada missed the leadership of guards Jarod Lucas and Kenan Blackshear, the driving forces that helped the Wolf Pack reach back-to-back NCAA tournaments in 2023 and 2024. In the transfer-portal era, it can be hard to identify which players do and don't have those leadership intangibles. Nevada thought it had that entering last year with a roster teeming with fifth-year seniors. It didn't play out that way, so reestablishing a culture of strong locker-room leadership and toughness is a necessity, which isn't easy if you're relying on that coming from transfers new to the program.

An athletic center

Nevada's biggest loss this offseason came at power forward after the departure of Davidson, who also played his share of center minutes. While he won't be easy to replace, the Wolf Pack does have a potential starter at power forward in Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams, who redshirted last season. The 6-foot-10, 225-pounder from Japan previously played at Lamar and Portland, putting up good numbers — 14.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per-40 minutes in 40 college games while shooting 41.7 percent, including 31.6 percent from three. He'll have to be more efficient, but I like his potential. More than half of Yamanouchi-Williams' shots have come from beyond the arc, so he's a perimeter-oriented post with average athleticism (this could have been improved during his redshirt season). Nevada also returns Jeriah Coleman, who is best suited as a backup center (1.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg in 80 college games over four seasons). The Wolf Pack needs an athletic big at center.

A lot more depth

Bart Torvik's PORPAGATU! stat — Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage! — is a useful stat in summing up a player's value. A player at 1.5 or higher is a starting-level option. A player at 4.0 or higher is an all-conference-caliber player. A player at 5.0 or higher is a conference player of the year candidate. A player between 1.0 and 1.5 is a solid rotation guy. You don't want to be playing guys below 1.0. Nevada's returning players include Rolison (1.6 PORPAGATU!), Coleman (0.3) and Bailey (-0.3). It redshirted last season Robinson (0.0 in 2023-24) and Yamanouchi-Williams (1.0 in 2023-24 at Portland). That's one starting-level player (Rolison) and one solid rotation player (Yamanouchi-Williams). While some of these players can improve, that means Nevada needs to add at least three more starters (if Yamanouchi-Williams slides into a starting spot) and three more solid rotation players (White can be that or more in year one). Lots of work ahead.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.