IU basketball transfer portal names to know: Harvard’s Chris Ledlum

The transfer portal is going to be a key recruiting tool for Indiana in the coming weeks as they look to replenish their roster.

While the portal opens for everyone on March 13, graduate transfers are already entering their names, and that means the IU basketball staff is busy recruiting college prospects during this postseason run.

Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports reported IU has reached out to Harvard forward Chris Ledlum as part of what projects to be a highly competitive recruitment.

Ledlum, a Brooklyn, N.Y. product, also heard from at least Kentucky, UCLA, Ohio State, Nebraska, Maryland, Florida, LSU, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Xavier, SMU, Marist, Vanderbilt, and Butler according to Slater.

This season, the 6-foot-6 and 225-pound Ledlum was named a unanimous First-Team All-Ivy League player after averaging 18.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 47.3 percent from the field.

He made 30.2 percent on 126 attempts from 3-point range, and he converted at a 64.8 percent clip at the free throw line.

At Harvard, Ledlum was the centerpiece of the offense. His usage rate is No. 22 in the country this season, and his shot rate as a percentage of his team’s total attempts is No. 12.

Ledlum is a high energy player, and that comes through in several of his numbers, including a 9.6 percent (No. 256 nationally) offensive rebounding rate despite standing only 6-foot-6, and block and steal rates that are both top-200 in the nation.

In 16 career games against KenPom top-100 opponents, Ledlum made 53.7 percent from 2-point range, but just 27 percent from three. He scored 17 points and had nine rebounds at Kansas this season, but he required 18 shots to get there.

At the high major level, Ledlum is probably best thought of as a combo-forward. He’d be an undersized power forward who could stretch defenses, but he also has the ability to play on the wing. On film his game looks a bit like Minnesota’s Jamison Battle.

Ledlum has one year of eligibility remaining.

As a recruiting prospect, Ledlum was a top-100 (No. 96) 4-star in the class of 2019 according to the 247Sports Composite. He seriously considered Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt, and had offers from several other high major programs.

In high school, Ledlum played two years at St. Peter’s Boys and one in the prestigious NEPSAC conference for Northfield Mount Hermon. He captained his NMH team as a senior and was the 2019 NEPSAC AAA Player of the Year. He set single-season (939) and single-game (51) scoring records at NMH

Ledlum competed on the Adidas Gauntlet circuit with the New York Jayhawks. He was the 2019 Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year after he helped NMH win the 2019 NEPSAC Championship while earning Championship Game MVP honors.

Ledlum also lettered in football as a Wide Receiver at St. Peter’s Boys.