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Summit League Freshman of the Year Makes Massive Decision

Denver guard Sebastian Akins has decided to enter the transfer portal after having a tremendous freshman season for the Pioneers.

Andrew Kulha

Dec 10, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Denver Pioneers head coach Jeff Wulbrun watches game action during the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Dec 10, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Denver Pioneers head coach Jeff Wulbrun watches game action during the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Denver guard Sebastian Akins had one heck of a season for the Pioneers. Though his team finished 11-21 and seventh in the Summit League with a 5-11 conference record, Akins did make a name for himself.

He's now going to parlay his great season into a move elsewhere, as Jamie Shaw of On3 reports that Akins will enter the transfer portal. Perhaps not coincidentally, University of Denver head men's basketball coach Jeff Wulbrun was placed on leave for the rest of the 2024-25 season back on February 21 for an undisclosed reason.

Even if there were no question marks regarding Wulbrun, the person who recruited Akins to Denver, the stellar freshman could transfer and make a name for himself elsewhere based on the results of his freshman season alone.

A 6-foot-2, 175 pound freshman from Concord, North Carolina, Akins averaged 12.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists for the Pioneers in 2024-25. He had multiple 20-plus point games, including a 27 point outing in an overtime loss to NDSU. Against Stanford, his only high major opponent on the season and ironically his first college game, he notched 15 points and two steals.

For his efforts, he was named the Summit League Freshman of the Year.

It should be expected that Akins will be one of the top targets on the transfer portal for many teams across the country. In fact, it would not be surprising at all if he ended up going from the Summit League to a big-time conference like the SEC, ACC or Big Ten.

Wherever he does end up, he'll be worth keeping an eye on.

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Andrew Kulha
ANDREW KULHA

Andrew Kulha has been a professional sports writer for over 15 years, starting as an intern at Bleacher Report in 2010 and working his way through basically the entire online sports media landscape. He currently writes for a handful of sites across the On SI network, covering college basketball, college football, the NFL and NBA. Andrew's work has been published on websites such as 247Sports, Forbes, Yardbarker, Saturday Down South, MSN, and many others. He's been a freelancer since 2018 and is probably the only sports writer you know who is also a licensed mortician.

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