Former McDonald's All-American to enter transfer portal

Oregon Ducks center Kel'el Ware Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Former five-star recruit, McDonald's All-American to enter transfer portal

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 3/30/23

Kel'el Ware was about as heralded as a center recruit as you'll find in today's college basketball environment. With that in mind, it was great news for the Oregon Ducks when he committed over the likes of Texas, Arkansas and Ole Miss.

The bad news for the Ducks? Ware's time in Eugene only lasted one season. The former five-star recruit told ESPN that he's going to be entering the transfer portal.

Where Ware ends up is anybody's guess. It's worth noting that he is eligible to enter the NBA Draft and he has had some NBA hype, but he'll most likely be heading back to the college ranks. Joe Tipton of On3 is reporting that several schools have already reached out to the 7-foot center from North Little Rock, Ark., a list that includes Duke, Gonzaga, LSU, Texas, Kansas State, Illinois, and TCU, among others.

Oregon transfer Kel'el Ware tells me he has heard from the following schools since entering the portal:

Duke
Gonzaga
Memphis
Auburn
Arkansas
Missouri
LSU
Texas A&M
Texas
Kansas St.
Illinois
Florida St.
Oklahoma St.
Ole Miss
SMU
TCU

Former 5⭐️ recruit https://t.co/LMp6ryvSZh…
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 28, 2023

Considering the fact that he's an Arkansas native and was highly considering the Razorbacks in the past, one has to wonder if destined to head back down to Fayetteville.

Ware played mostly as a bench player as a freshman and it may be easy to consider his 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game somewhat disappointing considering the hype.

With that said, he did show flashes of greatness for the Ducks.

He put up 18 points and nine rebounds against the UConn Huskies and followed that up with 17 and nine against Michigan State, both games taking place in the Phil Knight Invitational. He also put up eight points and five rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench in Oregon's Pac-12 tournament semifinal loss to UCLA.

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