The 2025 College basketball transfer portal has officially opened, and players have started taking proactive steps about their futures. Teams are also getting ready to bring in replacements for graduating seniors, draft prospects, and those seeking to leave.
Over 2,000 players entered the portal in 2024, with 291 entering on opening day. The 2025 portal has already seen an astronomical rise in that number, with over 700 players entering the portal on opening day. This is in addition to the over 200 who were already in the portal as graduate transfers or because of a coaching change.
Is the Transfer Portal a Blessing or Curse?
The transfer portal gives players power as it allows them to take control of their futures. Although this seems like an advantage, the portal doesn’t necessarily present a greener pasture for the players.
“I’m gonna worry today about the guys I got in this program and that’s it. If that costs me later, so be it.”
Don’t even bother asking Tom Izzo about the transfer portal this week
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 25, 2025
The portal allows players to enter their names into the online portal system hereby alerting every other college that they are available for recruiting. Players struggling for playing time on some teams can enter the portal to join other programs. Some who are no longer eligible for scholarships can decide to go elsewhere to get better deals.
The transfer portal allows players to initiate their own “free agency”.The portal negatively affects coaches the most and they are the ones speaking against it. A player from an SEC tournament can decide to transfer and join a small conference team. Such transfer can alter the dynamics of that conference and coaches have to react.
Coaches have no say over which player enters the portal or not, and they are the ones left with picking up the pieces after a player leaves the program. They also have a responsibility to keep active players comfortable enough for them not to seek transfers.
Any player who enters the portal and lands his dream or preferred move will consider the portal a “blessing,” but it will appear to be a “curse” to players who find themselves in the same or worse situation than the one they left.
There are limited spots on teams and any player entering the portal is pressing the “reset” button on their college career. Teams will consider the reasons why you’re in the portal before recruiting you. A 6th man on a team might still find it hard to secure a starting shirt on another program, and he’s back where he started.
The fact that the portal is an option for everybody makes it easy for players to jump into it without proper planning and understanding of the recruiting landscape. Any player who wants the portal’s “blessing” has to enter with a plan and not just hope that some program will fancy his skillset.
2025 NCAA transfer portal
With the portal opening on April 22, around 1,000 players are in the portal already, with more expected to enter before the deadline in April. We’ve had some notable names in the portal already, and they include Bryce Hopkins (Providence), Josh Dix and Owen Freeman (Iowa), Tae Davis (Notre Dame), Isaac Mckneely (Virginia), Malik Reneau (Indiana), Jalil Bethea (Miami), Oscar Cluff ( South Dakota State), Dailyn Swain (Xavier) and about a thousand others.
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