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NCAA Basketball: Transfers and the “Free Agency” period

By Doug Winkey

Mar 5, 2016; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Trey Lewis (3) dribbles the ball as Virginia Cavaliers forward Isaiah Wilkins (21) defends in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers won 68-46. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2016; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Trey Lewis (3) dribbles the ball as Virginia Cavaliers forward Isaiah Wilkins (21) defends in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers won 68-46. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Even if your focus has rightly been on the National Title race, the NCAA Basketball transfer season has gotten underway.

College basketball’s free agency period is underway.

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Last year, we saw over 700 players switch schools and this year, more players may move on to find somewhere to play. Just a few years ago the use of transfers had negative connotations based around player attitudes or behavior problems. Now, thanks to guys like former Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, every school in America wants to find the next cast off who can be a first round NBA pick for their program.

Let me start by saying this: I love transfer season. It lends excitement to the period between early April and late May when early draft entrants have to declare their final intentions. There are far more talented players that can fit onto power conference rosters as freshmen, and the transfer system helps create space for schools to get the best talent available.

Oregon, Iowa State, Indiana, Gonzaga, and Louisville are just some of the programs that have seen major boosts from either traditional transfers, who sit for a season, or graduate transfers who play right away.

Former Gopher Royce White, former Wildcat Kyle Wiltjer and Michigan graduate transfer Max Bielfeldt are just some of the names to thrive at their second program. So unless the NCAA creates a new rule to handle the volume of players switching programs, this portion of basketball’s offseason is here to stay.

I do have some problems with it, though. This facet of the sport is almost assuredly costing lower-level programs valuable competitive momentum.

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One excellent example of this is the 2014-2015 Cleveland State Vikings.

The year before, the Vikings finished fourth in the Horizon League at 11-5 on the backs of Trey Lewis and Anton Grady. There was a very good chance that those two could have pushed the Vikings to challenge the conference’s leaders with one more year of progress, but both elected to transfer.

Lewis went to Louisville and got denied his only chance at an NCAA birth thanks to the Cardinals’ self-imposed ban, while Grady went to Wichita State to be an enforcer instead of a featured star. The fact that both of these players abandoned the program they helped build in order to achieve marginally feels cheap.

I am probably in the minority of basketball fans with this view, though.

Already, we are seeing major turnover at places like Michigan State (two players), Arizona State (three players), Syracuse (three players), Ohio State (four players), and Delaware (four players). This is in addition to ordinary attrition via graduation, which typically sees at least one guy exhaust eligibility.

Jan 27, 2016; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino (right) looks on as Cardinals guard Trey Lewis (3) shoots a three pointer over Virginia Tech Hokies guard Devin Wilson (11) in the second half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 27, 2016; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino (right) looks on as Cardinals guard Trey Lewis (3) shoots a three pointer over Virginia Tech Hokies guard Devin Wilson (11) in the second half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports /

Now, if we are being fair, several of these guys weren’t going to have big impacts at those programs, but most of them sure as heck aren’t going to matter next season sitting in street clothes. Even if most of them weren’t going to be starters, they would all have been valuable rotation pieces and important as extra bodies in practice.

There are still 100 viable reasons to leave; Cullen Neal separated from his dad and New Mexico after death threats, Spike Albrecht is out at Michigan after the team just didn’t have enough scholarships to give out, and Dylan Osetkowski has left Tulane because his coach got fired after winning just 12 games this year. It just feels like there can’t be enough bad situations like these to warrant over 700 transfers in an offseason.

We seem to be entering an era where recruits don’t have any interest in sticking with a program that invested time and energy into them, instead wanting playing time immediately. I understand being recruited to a program with the obvious desire to play as much as possible and if you don’t feel respected, go somewhere you do. I’m never going to tell someone that they shouldn’t seek more time.

However, the volume of transfers feels like players are taking the easy way out. Once a player has committed, it’s their job to fight for more time, not the coaches job to gift it to them.

Overall, I do like this period of college basketball. Every season, there is new talent going to different places where they can gain increased exposure and play for higher stakes. How many of you would have tuned in to see Damion Lee if he was still putting up 20+ points at Drexel instead of also going to Louisville?

Next: Big 12 NCAA Tournament Grades

The 2016-2017 season will see names like Canyon Barry (son of NBA legend Rick Barry) and Sam Cassell Jr. lace it up alongside hundreds of other names you may or may not know.

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