There are over 1,320 Division 1 NCAA basketball transfers in the transfer portal. There is still a month left until the transfer deadline of May 11th. Right now it is not unreasonable to think that there are going to be upwards of 3,000 total transfers in the portal. Needless to say, the NIL rules and the Covid year could be driving a lot of these decisions. I support the NIL rules and think they are ultimately good for the sport but right now they need to regulate them a lot as it appears there are no rules and anything goes.
“It’s the Wild West” “It’s an absolute Shit Show” and “It’s the worst it has ever been” These are just some of the quotes made by coaches and media members over the last week in regards to the portal. Coaches are blatantly going and offering NIL money to players currently on a roster which is forcing them to enter the portal and commit to that team. This became a glaring issue when the star point guard for the Creighton Bluejays, a team who was seconds away from a final four, entered the transfer portal.
Then there was Kerr Kriisa, the reigning Pac-12 leader in assists a season ago at Arizona. He entered the transfer portal and took visits to Nebraska and West Virginia, the Mountaineers were able to secure his services for a reported amount of 650,000 and a car. There are a lot of schools that can’t afford that and things like that are not in the spirit of what the NIL was created for at all.
No one has the answers to fix this but something has to be done before teams are going to start flipping over rosters every season. Not every player in the portal is transferring because of the NIL, some are legitimately trying to better their situation. It’s just hard to find that when guys like Hunter Dickinson, Max Abmas, Ryan Nembhard, Caleb Love, LJ Cryer, and Hunter Sallis are in the portal. It really does make you wonder how many of the 1300 players left of their own accord or were promised something to go to the next school.
The NCAA needs to step in and take some action, which we all know is not likely to happen. I do have a few requests though please keep this out of the politicians’ hands as they have better things to do. I also have some suggestions on things that could be implemented to make the transfer portal a lot more manageable and will provide some regulations into the portal to make this more about paying a player for the Name, Image, and Likeness and not like Free Agency.