LDS Kentucky standout hits the transfer portal, BYU an early frontrunner

It's more than rumors now: Collin Chandler is officially back on the market. The Kentucky standout has entered the transfer portal after a challenging season for Mark Pope's program, and BYU basketball is the obvious team to watch to acquire his talents for 2026-27.

If you can believe it, Chandler was once the highest-rated recruit in BYU basketball's program history, committing to Mark Pope's Cougars before serving a two-year mission. But just as Chandler finally returned to his home state, Pope accepted the head coaching position at his alma mater in Lexington, and BYU's prized recruit departed with the coach who recruited him.

An understandable, though disappointing decision from a player who many expected to be BYU's star for years to come. Watching Chandler bloom at Kentucky was bitter-sweet.

But after heaps of rumors before the transfer portal even officially opened, Chandler is back on the market and looking for a new home to play as the setting of his junior season. For all the same reasons (plus a few more), BYU is the perfect landing spot for the Farmington, Utah native.

For starters, it's close to home. Chandler is a member of BYU's sponsoring religious organization and a born-and-raised Utahn, as is his wife. Players like Chandler grow up dreaming of taking the floor under the Marriott Center's roof, and that likely played a significant part in his initial commitment.

Now, under head coach Kevin Young, BYU is a legitimate home for the best talent in college basketball to develop into NBA players. Besides the obvious examples (Egor Demin, AJ Dybantsa), take a look at Richie Saunders' career path. He went from the team's hustle factory and glue guy to a bona fide collegiate star, earning All-Big 12 honors in his junior and senior seasons. Saunders is currently projected to be drafted in the early second round.

Chandler would join BYU now as a competitive member of the Big 12 Conference, with equal opportunity of playing against the nation's toughest teams and programs and the added bonus of playing closer to friends and family.

From a competitive standpoint, BYU desperately needs athletes on the perimeter who can shoot as much as they can defend. You couldn't ask for a better player in the portal to fill these needs than Chandler, whose hustle and athleticism need little introduction, and who hit 41% of his three-pointers as a sophomore at Kentucky.

I don't want to compare blond-haired white kids from Utah here, but Chandler could essentially fill the void left behind by Richie Saunders if he were to commit to Kevin Young's program.

BYU basketball will be heavily pining to obtain Collin Chandler for the upcoming season, and should be considered the early frontrunner.