A focus on the transfer portals impact on college basketball beyond UConn

[OkaForPrez]

No need to discuss the UConn impact here, it’s covered ad nauseum. I’ll only touch on it briefly to make my larger point.

Here are the speculated scenarios currently ongoing for us:

1) Hurley is reshaping the team to fit a new offensive style around our talent.

2) Hurley is over recruiting guys who are seeing the writing on the wall and are moving on to max playing time.

3) Hurley has lost his locker room and this is the result.

I don’t care to speculate on which it is. Leave it to the doomsdayers to hammer 3 and the scrappys to wonder about 1 and 2.

Here’s my current lament. One of my favorite parts about being a college basketball fan is the evolution of guys in the system. Watching Zay become Zay is what makes it worth while for me. Hilton Armstrong’s evolution into his senior version. Mek. Bazz. Kemba. Phil Nolan. Giff. I’m not lumping all of these guys into the same talent class of course I’m just saying watching them develop into the pieces they became was a huge part of the enjoyment. It’s the payoff.

What the sport appears to be evolving or devolving into depending on your perspective is an annual reindexing where guys who underperform are a high major level drop down and guys who overperform at a mid major level move up and so on and so forth down the food chain.

I never envied the 1 and done schools because I felt like they were selling their souls to stay on top. They were giving up the emotional cycle and journey of watching a team grow into its full potential over the course of seasons. UConn had that in 4 year bursts. It was great.

I don’t think we’ll ever see that again in the new iteration of CBB. That era is over.

When you ask people to think back on their favorite UConn players, Sterling Gibb’s doesn’t make a lot of lists, and it’s not because he was mediocre.

I worry that Sterlings will be the norm of the future.

Even if we end up with two stud ball handlers in the meat market, it won’t feel the same as it would have if we hung on to Gaff, and he overcame. This is not a Gaff debate, he merely makes the point.

I find this change sad. 1/3rd of CBB is in the portal. This isn’t a UConn problem.

 

[HuskyFich]

The problem with all of this, is that it still seems to be the best solution.

Yes, it has impacted roster construction and retention.

But, I will NEVER support restricting kids on making their own life's decisions due to a "commitment" by forcing them to sit out.

and for all you "your word is all you have" people out there, why'd you ever leave that job at 16 years old? You made a commitment to the company....(and at least you were getting paid)

 

[Kmba2Rmemba]

New transfer rules + NIL + social media = athletes taking back the power

Byproduct is the loss of sentimental value of college basketball days of the past. Just is what it is.

 

[navery12]

I think that's a popular opinion even if it's not one I share. I personally didn't get any more enjoyment over Whaley's improvement over the 4 years than I did seeing RJ Cole or Tyrese Martin improve in their 2 years here.

What I do wonder is how much winning would change people's answers. We haven't won at all in the NCAA tournament recently, so I can understand if in a disappointing season people like to have success stories to root for. For me personally, if we're making deep runs I'm not going to be upset that it's with a few transfers

 

[OkaForPrez]

The problem with all of this, is that it still seems to be the best solution.

Yes, it has impacted roster construction and retention.

But, I will NEVER support restricting kids on making their own life's decisions due to a "commitment" by forcing them to sit out.

and for all you "your word is all you have" people out there, why'd you ever leave that job at 16 years old? You made a commitment to the company....(and at least you were getting paid)

I don’t disagree that this improves the choices of the players and that’s ultimately a good thing in the macro sense.

Was it good for Sool that he can easily be pushed out after playing well enough in highschool to make our roster? I don’t know.

If he wasn’t ready but kept working could he be by his junior year? And would performing on the Big East stage ultimately be better for him than finding his legs at say penn state as a perennial bottom feeder?

Not for me to say. Loosening restrictions will make winners and losers where they otherwise wouldn’t have been, but ultimately to your point might raise the tide for all players.

 

[upstater]

As en educator, I really laugh at the hypocrisy of Jay Bilas bleating on about the need for an increased transfer portal while simultaneously ripping on colleges for not putting a priority on the education of student athletes (which he's right, they don't).

But anyone who thinks these transfers are an optimal outcome for education is kidding themselves. I'm not talking about grad transfers. Nor am I talking about Floyd, since he's early in his career where his education will not be impacted. But if you're Gaffney or Akok, the assumption that your junior credits are carrying over? Into a new major? A new curriculum? No. It doesn't work that way. Major requirements are designed by each department and school.

Bilas can't have it both ways.

I really do think it's high time basketball and football go pro. Provide an education for those who want one, pay the rest of the kids so they don't have to take classes. Let each program pay each school $1 a year for the license/branding of their name (i.e. UConn receives $1 so its teams can be called UConn) and make them totally autonomous units that can do whatever they want. They'll have to rent out facilities of course, but I'm sure there's a budget for that.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Water always finds its level. Prior to this run on the portal, kids were restricted for years. Now, it's all the way in the other direction. Eventually, the next crop of kids will hear about transfers that didn't work out or players that wish they stayed at their original school. It will sort itself out eventually, but won't be for a few years.

I saw on Instagram PSA Cardinals, Bouk's AAU team with a powerful post. "College coaches don’t need the transfer portal when you provide them with winners straight out of high school." There will still be the time and place for players that don't transfer, and I promise you it will go back to being the norm, rather than what seems like the exception with 30% of the sport in the portal.

 

[HuskyFich]

I don’t disagree that this improves the choices of the players and that’s ultimately a good thing in the macro sense.

Was it good for Sool that he can easily be pushed out after playing well enough in highschool to make our roster? I don’t know.

If he wasn’t ready but kept working could he be by his junior year? And would performing on the Big East stage ultimately be better for him than finding his legs at say penn state as a perennial bottom feeder?

Not for me to say. Loosening restrictions will make winners and losers where they otherwise wouldn’t have been, but ultimately to your point might raise the tide for all players.

This is a really good perspective...my argument for it is the NBA is getting younger and younger. Bouknight was ancient for the lottery, at 20!

These guys don't have the time to wait if NBA is their goal. Otherwise, it's the G League with a massive uphill battle to even get on the court.

 

[Billy Bob]

No need to discuss the UConn impact here, it’s covered ad nauseum. I’ll only touch on it briefly to make my larger point.

Here are the speculated scenarios currently ongoing for us:

1) Hurley is reshaping the team to fit a new offensive style around our talent.

2) Hurley is over recruiting guys who are seeing the writing on the wall and are moving on to max playing time.

3) Hurley has lost his locker room and this is the result.

I don’t care to speculate on which it is. Leave it to the doomsdayers to hammer 3 and the scrappys to wonder about 1 and 2.

Here’s my current lament. One of my favorite parts about being a college basketball fan is the evolution of guys in the system. Watching Zay become Zay is what makes it worth while for me. Hilton Armstrong’s evolution into his senior version. Mek. Bazz. Kemba. Phil Nolan. Giff. I’m not lumping all of these guys into the same talent class of course I’m just saying watching them develop into the pieces they became was a huge part of the enjoyment. It’s the payoff.

What the sport appears to be evolving or devolving into depending on your perspective is an annual reindexing where guys who underperform are a high major level drop down and guys who overperform at a mid major level move up and so on and so forth down the food chain.

I never envied the 1 and done schools because I felt like they were selling their souls to stay on top. They were giving up the emotional cycle and journey of watching a team grow into its full potential over the course of seasons. UConn had that in 4 year bursts. It was great.

I don’t think we’ll ever see that again in the new iteration of CBB. That era is over.

When you ask people to think back on their favorite UConn players, Sterling Gibb’s doesn’t make a lot of lists, and it’s not because he was mediocre.

I worry that Sterlings will be the norm of the future.

Even if we end up with two stud ball handlers in the meat market, it won’t feel the same as it would have if we hung on to Gaff, and he overcame. This is not a Gaff debate, he merely makes the point.

I find this change sad. 1/3rd of CBB is in the portal. This isn’t a UConn problem.

I sat next to Hilton Sr at a basketball tournament and we talked about Uconn and Hilton for a couple of hours.
He told me Hilton did not pick up a basketball during the off season after his freshman and sophomore seasons. He just hung out with his girlfriend and played video games. Really. And he said after his junior year he got serious and worked on his game and therefore the great results. NBA

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I root for the laundry and whoever happens to be wearing it at the time. I don't care if the teams is 12 transfers from the AAC or 12 5th year seniors.

 

[MexicoHusky]

It's very early in this new Transfer Portal world we are now in, but I don't think there's evidence that coaches and universities are using new rules to push out players who are not performing. I have no reason to believe this mass of transfers is not a result of player choice. Not a result of pressure from coaches and universities.

 

[Dean Wormer]

No need to discuss the UConn impact here, it’s covered ad nauseum. I’ll only touch on it briefly to make my larger point.

Here are the speculated scenarios currently ongoing for us:

1) Hurley is reshaping the team to fit a new offensive style around our talent.

2) Hurley is over recruiting guys who are seeing the writing on the wall and are moving on to max playing time.

3) Hurley has lost his locker room and this is the result.

I don’t care to speculate on which it is. Leave it to the doomsdayers to hammer 3 and the scrappys to wonder about 1 and 2.

Here’s my current lament. One of my favorite parts about being a college basketball fan is the evolution of guys in the system. Watching Zay become Zay is what makes it worth while for me. Hilton Armstrong’s evolution into his senior version. Mek. Bazz. Kemba. Phil Nolan. Giff. I’m not lumping all of these guys into the same talent class of course I’m just saying watching them develop into the pieces they became was a huge part of the enjoyment. It’s the payoff.

What the sport appears to be evolving or devolving into depending on your perspective is an annual reindexing where guys who underperform are a high major level drop down and guys who overperform at a mid major level move up and so on and so forth down the food chain.

I never envied the 1 and done schools because I felt like they were selling their souls to stay on top. They were giving up the emotional cycle and journey of watching a team grow into its full potential over the course of seasons. UConn had that in 4 year bursts. It was great.

I don’t think we’ll ever see that again in the new iteration of CBB. That era is over.

When you ask people to think back on their favorite UConn players, Sterling Gibb’s doesn’t make a lot of lists, and it’s not because he was mediocre.

I worry that Sterlings will be the norm of the future.

Even if we end up with two stud ball handlers in the meat market, it won’t feel the same as it would have if we hung on to Gaff, and he overcame. This is not a Gaff debate, he merely makes the point.

I find this change sad. 1/3rd of CBB is in the portal. This isn’t a UConn problem.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. The sport is changing, has changed. And a little part of us who enjoyed the patience of developing players, must change as well.
That being said , DH has to build a great culture so that the best players are not ready to bolt at the first opportunity. Bacot is returning to Carolina next year, even though he’d be a first round pick. We need our best guys to be willing to return, because they want UCONN to win.

 

[Horatio]

To be honest, some of the guys that left were AAC talented. Maybe a reset was needed to go along with us being in the Big East now. IJS. Maybe. Just trying to make sense of the current chaos

 

[MexicoHusky]

Here's a question I just thought of. KO was hurt pretty significantly by transfers. We had a very dynamic roster those last few years. We'd lose guys and our options to find last minute replacements was limited. I'm now wondering if the Portal would of helped KO? I think it would of. Maybe even enough to keep his job.

 

[superjohn]

Around 30% of all D1 basketball players are currently in the transfer portal, it's bad for the sport for a number of reasons.

 

[CL82]

New transfer rules + NIL + social media = athletes taking back the power

Byproduct is the loss of sentimental value of college basketball days of the past. Just is what it is.

I wouldn’t say “athletes taking back power“ as much as it being a case of the portal changing the perceived beta on transferring. I think it’s going to take a year or so for a new equilibrium to hit. Right now, everybody thinks that they will be snapped up no problem.

The portal is a blessing and a curse. For a lot of kids it’s going to be the vehicle by which they lose their scholarships.

 

[auror]

New transfer rules + NIL + social media = athletes taking back the power

Byproduct is the loss of sentimental value of college basketball days of the past. Just is what it is.

From a school/NCAA perspective, this is still a product. They are making money, and while I appreciate the moral aspects of player empowerment, I think it can significantly affect the product. If the NCAA had any brains or cohesion at all they'd be moving swiftly to create incentives for players to stay longer in one place.

This might just happen organically as some schools find what works and it filters out to the rest, but it's necessary. Multi-year NIL deals with signing bonuses that have to be returned if you leave, etc. Something has to give.

 

[HooperScooper]

I thought about this exact topic last night. Does this take away some of the fun of following college basketball, and the Huskies in particular? What if this leads to better teams for UConn and they win more? Is that the bottom line? Or do we want really good teams and see kids stay and develop?

I have to say the roster churn isn't fun. But I'll reserve judgement until we see the team next year. I just worry that with lots of new pieces and roles it will take a lot of time for the team to gel. It usually does under these circumstances. Will we see this issue every year?

 

[auror]

I thought about this exact topic last night. Does this take away some of the fun of following college basketball, and the Huskies in particular? What if this leads to better teams for UConn and they win more? Is that the bottom line? Or do we want really good teams and see kids stay and develop?

I have to say the roster churn isn't fun. But I'll reserve judgement until we see the team next year. I just worry that with lots of new pieces and roles it will take a lot of time for the team to gel. It usually does under these circumstances. Will we see this issue every year?

It's certainly an interesting development. I'm not going to lie to myself. I love the drama of it and analyzing new players in the portal, etc. It's a 2nd wave of recruiting this time with a lot more stats and tape available. It's exciting in a lot of different ways.

If it was mostly a one-way street, with only guys we didn't think could cut it leaving, and adding gems from the mid-majors and lesser P5 programs, I think we'd all be fine with it, whether we were winning championships or not. Of course, that's the thinking of the privileged 1% of the college basketball world. It sucks for most schools and their fans out there.

I think churn for most things sucks. The best seasons of tv shows are usually the 2nd and 3rd season, when the characters have become familiar but there is still room in the narrative for creativity and high stakes. We want to get to know the characters in sports, too.

 

[Huskymagic]

No need to discuss the UConn impact here, it’s covered ad nauseum. I’ll only touch on it briefly to make my larger point.

Here are the speculated scenarios currently ongoing for us:

1) Hurley is reshaping the team to fit a new offensive style around our talent.

2) Hurley is over recruiting guys who are seeing the writing on the wall and are moving on to max playing time.

3) Hurley has lost his locker room and this is the result.

I don’t care to speculate on which it is. Leave it to the doomsdayers to hammer 3 and the scrappys to wonder about 1 and 2.

Here’s my current lament. One of my favorite parts about being a college basketball fan is the evolution of guys in the system. Watching Zay become Zay is what makes it worth while for me. Hilton Armstrong’s evolution into his senior version. Mek. Bazz. Kemba. Phil Nolan. Giff. I’m not lumping all of these guys into the same talent class of course I’m just saying watching them develop into the pieces they became was a huge part of the enjoyment. It’s the payoff.

What the sport appears to be evolving or devolving into depending on your perspective is an annual reindexing where guys who underperform are a high major level drop down and guys who overperform at a mid major level move up and so on and so forth down the food chain.

I never envied the 1 and done schools because I felt like they were selling their souls to stay on top. They were giving up the emotional cycle and journey of watching a team grow into its full potential over the course of seasons. UConn had that in 4 year bursts. It was great.

I don’t think we’ll ever see that again in the new iteration of CBB. That era is over.

When you ask people to think back on their favorite UConn players, Sterling Gibb’s doesn’t make a lot of lists, and it’s not because he was mediocre.

I worry that Sterlings will be the norm of the future.

Even if we end up with two stud ball handlers in the meat market, it won’t feel the same as it would have if we hung on to Gaff, and he overcame. This is not a Gaff debate, he merely makes the point.

I find this change sad. 1/3rd of CBB is in the portal. This isn’t a UConn problem.

This is why the hard rules that existed about sitting out a year for transfers and the band on direct money to college athletes was put in place from the beginning.

No doubt the NCAA allowing NIL and free transfer rules encourages chaos, opportunism, and mercenaries, which is what life in the the real-world is like, which is why these things were not allowed in college basketball until now because any intelligent person knows what the outcome would be.

There are big-time programs like UNC, Kansas, and Villanova who have good players stick around for their college careers indicative of strong cultures that players want to be a part of.

 

[upstater]

The bad part of all this is not getting to see kids like Hilton Armstrong, Gaven Edwards, Niels Giffey, Kentan Facey, etc. develop. Heck, Boatright and Shabazz had a huge improvement at UConn. Okafor became a huge force over his career, from a defensive presence to an offensive arsenal.

It was fun watching these guys develop.

Not every UConn kid did though. Some stagnated.

But it was neat seeing other kids improve by leaps and bounds.

 

[Husky68]

The bad part of all this is not getting to see kids like Hilton Armstrong, Gaven Edwards, Niels Giffey, Kentan Facey, etc. develop. Heck, Boatright and Shabazz had a huge improvement at UConn. Okafor became a huge force over his career, from a defensive presence to an offensive arsenal.

It was fun watching these guys develop.

Not every UConn kid did though. Some stagnated.

But it was neat seeing other kids improve by leaps and bounds.

I enjoyed watching the freshman team play before the varsity game. Lot of kids got to at least get one year of college ball in with the fun associated with that.

 

[BackAftaThis]

I must have just missed this thread today before I started another one.

With all the doom and gloom on here lately, just want to put some analytical perspective on this.

There are about 350 total D1 teams.

There are currently 1,339 total D1 players in the portal. That is over 100 teams entire roster worth of players.

UConn has 4 kids in the portal. A whopping 0.2% of the portal.

We were very fortunate to be 1 of 3 teams last year not lose anyone.

Just put everything into perspective in the entire landscape of where the game is at today.

 

[fatlucy]

I think that's a popular opinion even if it's not one I share. I personally didn't get any more enjoyment over Whaley's improvement over the 4 years than I did seeing RJ Cole or Tyrese Martin improve in their 2 years here.

What I do wonder is how much winning would change people's answers. We haven't won at all in the NCAA tournament recently, so I can understand if in a disappointing season people like to have success stories to root for. For me personally, if we're making deep runs I'm not going to be upset that it's with a few transfers

TRUTH

 

[tcf15]

Unfortunately this seems like the new reality, but it's something that Hurley is coming to terms with apparently:

That’s his right, just like it’s Hurley’s to recruit with the urgency that his contract demands. And this is college basketball in 2022, as much about building a team year-to-year as developing something long-term. It’s taking place just about everywhere.

“Program-building, the way I’ve done it my whole career, with people staying together intact and proving and growing a role and going from somebody that you can’t play to playable to one of your key players, I don’t know how often that’s going to happen moving forward with the culture of basketball and the portal option,” Hurley said. “This is a wake-up call for me that I’ve got to continue to try to recruit young players that you could be with through their journey and develop over the course of years, and they’ll be willing to go through that process with you. My eyes are a lot more open to blending the use of the portal with that, and being much more flexible.”

He mentioned James Bouknight.

“I tell these kids the truth about themselves,” Hurley said. “Bouk will tell you what my nickname was. When I first started coaching Bouk I became known as ‘Shade King,’ like I’m throwing shade on people. Once James grew up a little bit, he moved me to ‘Truth King.’

“I would love to coach guys like [departed senior] an Isaiah Whaley, who paid his dues for two years before he even got a sniff, and a James Bouknight, who I didn’t start for half the year because he wasn’t ready all-around as a student-athlete and a young man. I wish every player would be all about the front of the jersey all year long like Andre Jackson.”