Brody Kozlowski has named his top 5 transfer targets

Since backing out of his commitment to USC, 4-star forward Brody Kozlowski has narrowed down his choices to five schools. Kozlowski is a standout from Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, and BYU is considered to be a frontrunner to land his talents.

Along with BYU, Kozlowski's top schools are SMU, Nevada, Stanford, and Cal. Three of those schools will be in the ACC last season, which proved to be a force in the NCAA Tournament, so joining that conference could seem like a window into potential March Madness exposure. Though, of the list of candidates, BYU and Nevada were the only schools to play in the tournament last season, and both suffered first-round losses.

With the hire of Kevin Young at BYU, Provo is a much more enticing destination for a player who may hope to play NBA basketball at the end of his collegiate career. We still have yet to see what Young brings to the table in terms of recruiting, and as he'll be with the Phoenix Suns through the playoffs.

An interesting wrinkle in his final five is the presence of Mark Madsen at Cal. Though Kozlowski has family ties to BYU, Madsen likely has an edge on the rest of the field outside of BYU and connecting with the 6'7" forward would be easy for someone in his position.

After Khalifa's announcement that he will transfer, BYU still has two players in the portal, Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders, who still may return to the program. Adding a 4-star recruit like Kozlowski would help stabilize the program a bit and entice Hall and Saunders to stay, along with fellow 4-star recruit, Isaac Davis.

The transfer portal is changing the way that players view their commitments to any given school. Players are treated like professionals, but are all on one-year contracts, capable of abandoning ship at any given time without negative consequences. Players like Kozlowski have every right to rescind their commitment upon significant changes to their schools, but it forces universities across the country to change how they approach recruiting.

This isn't the time to theorize how the NCAA will address this issue, but rebalancing the structure of the sport may be necessary to slow down the spinning carousel that is the transfer portal.

My point is that nothing is certain in college basketball--this offseason has been evidence of that--but landing a high-profile talent like Kozlowski would be an indication that BYU is moving in the right direction. Hearing that the Cougars are a finalist to land his abilities is a great start.

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