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He did say he missed seafood. 

Former UNM Lobo forward Tomislav Buljan, the 23-year-old forward from Split, Croatia, announced on Saturday morning he will be transferring to the Big Ten鈥檚 Maryland after one season in sa国际传媒官网网页入口. 

The 6-foot-9 forward with one season of NCAA eligibility remaining was the only player in the Mountain West this past season to average a double-double (13.1 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game) and statistically was one of the highest-rated offensive rebounders in Division I. He had announced he was transferring from UNM last Sunday. 

鈥淏lessed and grateful to announce my commitment to the University of Maryland,鈥� Buljan posted on his Instagram account along with a graphic showing him in a Terrapins uniform. 

The end of his message had a very 2026 touch to it that Lobo fans surely noticed. It鈥檚 now emoji mascot official as at the end of his announcement was a small green turtle emoji, replacing the wolf/Lobo emoji UNM fans were accustomed to seeing in most of his posts for the past several months.

When he arrived at UNM last offseason following a season leading his Croatian professional league in rebounding playing for KK Cedevita Junior in 2025, the NCAA initially granted him just one season of eligibility.

About a month ago, after UNM filed an appeal on his behalf and fought for an additional season, the NCAA approved the appeal for one last season to play in 2026-27. It essentially determined he earned too much money in two years playing for his professional team (international players are allowed to make money and not lose eligibility in college, but it has to be deemed an amount that just covered essentials like housing, trainers, medical and transportation).

In Buljan鈥檚 case, in the end, the NCAA felt he made too much money in two of his professional seasons, leaving him with two seasons of eligibility at the Division I level.

Tru-ly reunited

Former UNM guard Tru Washington will reunite with his former Lobos head coach (and several former Lobo assistant coaches and even former teammate Jovan Milicevic) and transfer to play at Xavier University in the Big East for his senior season. 

The 6-foot-4 guard from Phoenix averaged 11.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals for the Miami Hurricanes of the ACC this past season. In the 2024-25 season at UNM, he led the Lobos in steals (71) and averaged 11.1 points and 4.0 rebounds while starting 33 of 34 games.

He has one season of eligibility remaining.

Also on the Xavier roster next season is Kalek House, one of the two two star younger twin brothers of former Lobo point guard Jaelen House. Kalek and his twin brother Kaden just completed their high school careers with Arizona Compass Prep, also where Washington played. 

Kaden House is also committed to play Division I basketball, ironically enough, at Maryland where he鈥檒l be teammates with Buljan.

Around the Mountain鈥� 

There has been plenty of movement on the transfer portal front from around the Mountain West over the past week as well 鈥� both for teams that just completed their time in the conference and are moving on to the new Pac 12 and for the teams entering the league for the 2026-27 season. 

Here are some (but certainly not all) updates: 

Boise State Broncos (departing MW): Starters RJ Keene, Javan Buchanan, Drew Fielder and Andrew Meadow are all in the transfer portal. 

Grand Canyon Lopes (MW): All-MW third team guard Makaih Williams was in, then he wasn鈥檛. The 6-2 senior-to-be is returning to Phoenix after averaging 14 points a game this past season.

Fresno State Bulldogs (department MW): There are 11 Bulldogs in the portal. Full roster reset on the horizon.

Nevada Wolf Pack (MW): Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year candidate Elijah Price is the headliner. He鈥檚 back for the Pack. 

San Diego State Aztecs (departing MW): Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Miles Byrd has transferred to Providence (Big East) while fellow Aztecs stars with eligibility remaining who are in the transfer portal include Magoon Gwath, B.J. Davis, Miles Heide and Pharaoh Compton. 

San Jose State Spartans (MW): All-league guard Colby Garland is portaling after a 20.3 points/4.6 assists per game season.

UC Davis Aggies (entering MW): sa国际传媒官网网页入口 native Marcus Wilson, a 6-foot-3 guard who played at ABC Prep in New Mexico and was a two-sport (football and basketball) star at Cibola High School before that, is in the transfer portal and has received interest from Mountain West schools. He averaged 12.5 points and a team-best 3.9 assists per game this past season. Nils Cooper, the son of Lobo legend Michael Cooper, and Abdullah Amzil, younger brother of former Lobo Mustapha Amzil, also both entered the portal after strong seasons. 

UNLV Runnin鈥� Rebels (MW): Josh Pastner鈥檚 second season at UNLV starts with a foundation of rising sophomore wing Tyrin Jones. That鈥檚 a great start, but along with one-time UNM Lobo signee IssacWilliamson there isn鈥檛 much left returning, The most painful departure being MW leading scorer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.

Utah State Aggies (departing MW): The core of Mason Falslev and Karson Templin are running it back with new head coach Ben Jacobsen, but potential-rich freshmen Adlan Elamin and Elijah Perryman are in the portal. 

UTEP Miners (entering MW): Eleven players in the portal. The road ahead for the Miners to be competitive in the new league is a really, really long one, especially without the financial support the school seemed to suggest it would have to join the league. 

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .