Arizona State basketball officially welcomes new transfer

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State basketball has been extremely active in the transfer portal this offseason. Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils lost eight players to the portal in the offseason. So the staff turned around and brought in six new players from the portal. A few days ago the program officially welcomed their first newcomer on social media.

Arizona State basketball welcomes Kamari Lands

Arizona State welcomed former Louisville player and new transfer Kamari Lands on social media.

Ideal LANDing Spot 🏠@SunDevilHoops officially welcomes impact transfer Kamari Lands 😈

He will be rocking #0 for ASU 🔱@iso_marii /// @TheSunDevils pic.twitter.com/C1ClRGXRzY

— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) July 3, 2023

The post announced that Lands will be wearing #0 this season for the Sun Devils. Lands transferred to the Sun Devils on April 4th. He’s a 6-8 small forward originally from Indiana.

The new transfer will be just a sophomore this upcoming season.

Lands played at a few different high schools before his college career. He’s from Indianapolis, Indiana and his first high school was La Lumiere in La Porte, Indiana. La Lumiere is a future NBA factory and has churned out many NBA players. Some of its notable recent alumni are Jaren Jackson Jr, Tyger Campbell, Keion Brooks, Isaiah Stewart, Jordan Poole, and Jaden Ivey.

After La Lumiere, Lands headed west. He transferred to Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif.

His final high school destination was in the valley at Hillcrest Prep, just outside of Phoenix. His time at Hillcrest Prep and in Arizona could’ve benefited Arizona State in the recruitment process.

As a prospect coming out of high school, Lands was highly touted. He was a four-star and ranked 79th (247 Sports) in the country. Director of scouting at 247 Sports, Jerry Meyer, even evaluated Lands as a future first-round pick in 2021.

Prior to committing to Louisville, Arizona State was heavily involved with Lands. The Sun Devils were one of his three finalists.

Kamari Lands at Louisville

Lands played 21 minutes per game in his one and only season as a Cardinal. He averaged 5.9 points per game, 1.9 rebounds per game, and 0.8 assists per game. That may not sound like a ton, but that’s more points than any freshman at ASU averaged last season. The forward also shot an efficient 87.5% from the free-throw line.

The freshman’s career-high scoring wise was 15 points. He did that three separate times: against Western Kentucky, Florida State, and Georgia Tech. Lands also scored 13 points twice last season. The most impressive part of that? Both 13-point outings were against arguably Louisville’s toughest opponents last season, Miami and Arkansas. Miami would go on to make the final four.

To put those numbers in perspective, only five Sun Devils last season scored 15+ points on three separate occasions.

The development between a player’s freshman and sophomore season is typically their biggest jump, and Kamari Lands has shown the potential that he can be a high-impact player for Arizona State basketball this season.

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