Shaquille O’Neal burst onto the basketball world while playing college basketball for the LSU Tigers. His son, Shareef O’Neal, initially started his college career at UCLA before transferring to his dad’s alma mater two years ago. However, unlike Shaq, that’s not where his college legacy will end as the younger O’Neal entered the transfer portal on Monday.
LSU’s Shareef O’Neal is portaling, the portal told @Stadium.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 28, 2022
After being a reserve for the Bruins in 2019-2020, the 6-foot-10 forward looked to break out with the Tigers. However, his first season in Baton Rouge was limited due to a foot injury and he only played in 10 games. He also missed the beginning of this past season, eventually playing in 14 games and averaging 2.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in 9.2 minutes of action. While he hasn’t been able to live up to the hype of his father, it was hoped that he could break out a bit more next season.
However, if that’s going to happen now, it will happen for another college basketball program. It’s possible that O’Neal also wants a fresh start with a team where he knows who the head coach will be as LSU fired coach Will Wade earlier this month. He’s also the third Tigers player to announce a transfer, following Brandon Murray and Xavier Pinson.
While we wait to find out where O’Neal will land next, there was plenty of reactions from around the LSU and college basketball worlds. Some wondered where Shareef might end up, noting that he once committed to play for Sean Miller, who was just hired as the new coach at Xavier.
Sucks, but I hope he lands on his feet. Nothing but love https://t.co/QvY6nXfTZk
— The Tiger Stripes (@tigerstripeslsu) March 28, 2022
Shareef O’Neal hits the portal. Began his career at UCLA. Originally committed to Arizona and Sean Miller. https://t.co/oAXjP8b7jR
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 28, 2022
You know, Shaq once said he nearly went to NC State. 🤔🤔 https://t.co/4WQqnBdfWv
— Cory Smith (@RCorySmith) March 28, 2022
Hello, old 'friend' https://t.co/gOOFc6RGHL
— AZ Desert Swarm (@AZDesertSwarm) March 28, 2022
Also, it looks like Jeff Goodman is trying to make “portaling” happen.
Can confirm @GoodmanHoops's new favorite word is 'portaling' https://t.co/pMDp9cfUo8
— Stadium (@Stadium) March 28, 2022
We’ll see how all of this works out, for O’Neal and for the term “portaling.”
