Missouri Valley Basketball: Impact of recent transfers on the league

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 09: Jake LaRavia #0 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons dribbles against Brevin Galloway #51 of the Boston College Eagles during the second half in the 2022 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament - Second Round at Barclays Center on March 09, 2022 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Eagles won 82-77. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

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Terry Nolan Jr. Towson Tigers (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

Overall impact of transfers

More than twenty-five percent (.251) of the players that entered the transfer portal last season either didn’t find a team at all or played below Division 1 basketball. Virtually ten percent (167) didn’t play college basketball at all and more than 300 ended up in junior college or on D2 teams.

Some college basketball observers believe this happens routinely because players were over-evaluated in the first place and that ‘natural selection’ sends players to the proper talent level. When so many players received an extra year of eligibility and the typical number of high school students were on the way, there just weren’t roster spots to be found.

Academics can play a role in these decisions too. There are times when a player needs to improve academically to land a roster spot for a university that prizes GPA and graduation rates. When there is a coaching change, the evaluation of a player may become radically different by the new regime and a student-athlete quickly finds himself less desirable than previously believed.

There were coaching changes at Indiana State and Loyola Chicago. While there was a mass exodus in Terre Haute, Indiana, there were also five players that left the Rambler program. Cooper Kaifes, a former MVC all-freshman team member landed at Samford where he started 30 games and was the Bulldogs’ sixth-leading scorer. Meanwhile, former Rambler forward Franklin Agunanne barely left the bench at SMU.

The grass isn’t always greener.