National Player of the Year Makes Final Transfer Portal Decision on Friday |

The transfer portal has become the primary source of roster additions throughout the college basketball world for the past several seasons.

As teams continue to step away from the high school recruiting process and focus on luring experienced talent, a couple of interesting names have been on the move.

On Friday, an unexpected commitment came in favor of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

The JUCO National Player of the Year, Isaac Finlinson, committed to Hawaii, having previously played for Snow College. Finlinson was awarded the prestigious honor during his redshirt sophomore season.

Upon committing to the program, Finlinson discussed his reasoning on transferring to Hawaii.

"Just seeing the type of team they're putting in, and the guys they're bringing in, and the winning culture they've built," Finlinson said, per Stephen Tsai at Star Advertiser. "I wanted to be on a team that's able to compete for a championship. "That's where I think I have a great chance to do that."

JUCO National Player of the Year Isaac Finlinson has committed to Hawaii, his agency @WEAVE tells @247Sports. pic.twitter.com/WW3f2AUAiZ
— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) April 25, 2025

Last season at Snow College, Finlinson averaged 18.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. According to Mitchell Riberal at KHON, Finlinson scored double digits in 29 of 33 games, leading Snow College to the No. 1 ranking in the conference for the majority of the college basketball season.

Finlinson also shared insight on winning the JUCO National Player of the Year, mentioning that focusing on the team's goals helped him shine individually.

"It wasn't the plan," Finlinson said. "The plan was winning with my team and being successful as a team and (the awards) just came with it. That was a bonus. It was really awesome."

Max Escarpio

Send me a news tip

Aaron Moody is a sports and general reporter for the News & Observer. Here is a second sentence for the bio because it will probably be longer than this. Maybe even longer I don't know. Support my work with a digital subscription

This story was originally published April 26, 2025 at 2:22 AM