The transfer portal, established in the fall of 2018, has changed the way college sports are viewed today. Prior to that, players with hopes of transferring were forced to sit out an entire season. Now, players can bounce from team to team each season if they so desire.
The tradition of college basketball unquestionably runs deep, something the transfer portal has, at times, combatted. A new era of college basketball is here, and we’re going to examine the ways the advent of the transfer portal has changed the sport as we know it.
How the Transfer Portal Has Reshaped College Basketball
There are three main facets of college basketball that the transfer portal has directly affected: recruiting, NIL, and the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the fall of 2018, recruiting and the tournament looked dramatically different than they do today, while NIL has changed drastically from its establishment in 2020.
For better or worse, we’ll explain how the transfer portal has changed each of those aspects and shaped them into what they are today.
Recruiting
The phrase “recruiting” has taken on many different meanings since the beginning of the transfer portal era. Prior to 2018, recruiting was essentially limited to incoming freshmen. Although still tedious, visiting high schools and conducting home visits is nothing like the recruiting that coaches have come to know.
Today, coaches recruit the transfer portal — oftentimes looking to replace a piece that just entered the portal. That leads to another way of recruiting: the players already on a coach’s team. Unhappy players can hit the portal in the blink of an eye.
That leads to coaches having to watch how hard they coach players, rather than the old-school style of breaking them down before building them back up across four seasons.
Team building has also proven to be a transfer portal issue. With the ability for players to come and go so quickly, building a sustainable culture is sometimes out of the question.
For a team with a combination of one-and-done prospects and veteran transfer portal additions, it’s often extremely hard for coaches to implement a culture. If they do, it likely won’t be sustainable — it’ll be a whole new cast of players the next year, starting the process all over again.
The rise in portal additions has, in a way, devalued the three- and four-star recruit. The prized five stars still — and will always — make an immediate impact. But it’s the lower-rated recruits who feel the impact of the player movement in the classes above them.
Three- and four-star recruits often have to be in the exact right situation to see the minutes they’d be happy with early in their career. In the past, a majority spent their time developing in practice and seeing limited minutes before emerging as upperclassmen.
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That’s often not the case anymore.
It’s not uncommon for a portal addition to slide into the same position the recruit plays. The portal addition is likely more seasoned and will have a greater impact in the present moment. That causes the former recruit to re-evaluate his career, with a high chance of ending up in the portal looking for a new home — recognize the cycle?
The transfer portal isn’t all bad in this aspect. Teams with great coaches can rebuild extremely quickly by dipping into the portal. The coach is the key in these situations. Blending together numerous new players with different backgrounds, playing styles, etc., is extremely tough. But the best make it work.
NIL
Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) are tied together in many ways with recruiting. The ability of college athletes to make money off of their image has changed the game in various ways.
The recruiting process — in the transfer portal as well — is no longer just a discussion over schooling, playing time, and the team as a whole. Now, one of — if not the — biggest aspect is how much money a player will earn through NIL.
Oftentimes, the offers on the table have begun to be the deciding factor between where a player will go to play college basketball or where their next destination will be.
The process of retaining players can involve a conversation about an increase in NIL earnings, which makes for uncomfortable conversations for the player and coach. If no increase is granted, the coach risks losing the player via the portal. Overall, it’s a tough situation.
NIL has an impact on smaller programs in Division I as well. Bigger programs have the ability to woo a coveted mid-major player away with dollar signs, something that has happened various times in recent years. Is the poaching of mid-major players with an overwhelming NIL offer good for the game of college basketball?
In the end, the ability for players to shop around and see who will pay the most for their services on the court has certainly changed the landscape of college basketball and what it used to stand for.
NCAA Tournament
I’d be remiss not to mention how the transfer portal affects the biggest event in college basketball: March Madness.
It’s changed the way upsets happen. In the past, upsets could often be driven by stars who fell through the cracks of recruiting and rose up in the biggest moment of their basketball career.
Players such as Santa Clara’s Steve Nash, Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum, and Butler’s Gordon Hayward come to mind as guys who, in this day and age, would have been prime candidates to have large dollar offers waved in their faces following upsets in the NCAA Tournament.
Examples of that exact sentiment can be seen from one of March’s darlings last year: the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
While shooter Jack Gohlke was the most well-known player, forward Trey Townsend was their best athlete, averaging 23.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in their two tournament games. He parlayed that effort into joining the Arizona Wildcats, where he’s worked his way into the starting lineup in his final season of eligibility.
A look at this past year’s Final Four features two stars who used the transfer portal to take their talents to a higher-level program.
Alabama Crimson Tide star guard Mark Sears began his career with the Ohio Bobcats before blossoming as a scorer during his sophomore season.
D.J. Burns Jr., the NC State Wolfpack forward who wowed fans with his footwork and passing ability at 275 pounds, dominated at Winthrop before joining the Wolfpack for his final two seasons.
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Both had the best performances of their careers in the tournament, which likely wouldn’t have come to fruition without the establishment of the transfer portal. Best believe they garnered significant NIL earnings from their efforts as well.
The NCAA Tournament is one of the best things about college basketball. In many ways, the portal has strengthened it by bringing the best players to the best programs. But rest assured, there will always be upsets — they just may not look the same as they once did.
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