NCAA Basketball: 3 ways to make the Transfer Portal better
By Bryan Mauro
Shorter Transfer Window
The transfer window for NCAA basketball is already fairly short. It runs from March 13th-May 15th and if a player enters the portal over that 2-month period they are officially eligible to be “contacted” by coaches and transfer without having to sit out a year. As we discussed earlier the contacting of players is a gray area. Shortening the transfer portal is likely going to decrease the number of players in the portal because it is going to force coaches to make their decisions on players earlier and in many cases force the hand of the players as well.
The transfer portal opening on March 13 is something that has never made sense given it is open right in the middle of the NCAA tournament and before the tournament and the NIT even started there were already almost a 1,000 players in the portal. Coaches should not have to recruit transfers when trying to win a National Championship. It doesn’t make sense and is just another thing the NCAA does that makes you scratch your head.
The transfer window is two months long and with so many players still waiting to use their Covid year the NCAA has said that you are only granted the immediate eligibility waiver on the first transfer. A couple weeks ago they released their documentation for a second transfer and showed that it would be almost impossible to receive immediate eligibility without a waiver from the school, and approval by the NCAA, to play immediately. That still has not stopped players from transferring and players are still entering the portal at record pace. I have always been about the players and think they should play where they want but this is ridiculous. There are over 1300 transfers with over a month to go before the portal officially closes. Shortening the window will allow everyone to have a chance to evaluate everything after the season ends.
Open the window after the NCAA tournament and keep it open for a month. The last month should be used for players to take visits and commit to their new schools before summer starts. It’s uniform, it’s easy, and it gives players and coaches time to think about their wants and needs before the portal opens.