Izzo on the transfer portal

[uconnfan68]

Izzo chides 'unhappy' transfers, rips portal rules

Tom Izzo warned that the NCAA's new rules on "unhappy" athletes looking to transfer could result in "unintended consequences."

www.espn.com

He's not a fan. That's not a surprise. What I found interesting is that 19% of the kids who entered the portal on scholarship do not receive an offer out of the portal. So, one in five who entered the portal are going to lose their scholarship. That belies the narrative that the portal is good for the athletes. It is, not surprisingly, a vehicle for big programs to pick up talent from smaller schools while shedding kids who are not performing.

For what it's worth, we are using it successfully, but I still think it's bad for basketball and not in the best interest of student athletes.

Who wants a short 68yo guy playing basketball?

 

[McLovin]

It’s funny to see which coaches are the ones complaining about portal and NIL… it’s usually the old guys who probably cheated before and are now mad it’s legal for everyone to do what they used to do.

As for 1/5 kids not getting a scholarship, it’s a total non-story. The number of D1 scholarships remains the same every year. They are all being filled by the best players who deserve them.

 

[CL82]

Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. You've clearly followed basketball for a long time, you've really never heard of kids getting scholarships pulled? That seems surprising to me.

The larger point is there are a finite number of scholarships for D1 basketball. If 19% of kids are being deemed not worthy and not getting an offer, where do you think those scholarships are going?

I've heard of kids getting their scholly pulled, it happens. Is it equivalent to 19% of the people in the portal? No way.

Are you telling me that 800 kids a year lost their scholarships in men's basketball, annually? I don't see it. Even if you go with the 19% number that would be 345 kids. I don't think it's that high.

 

[don356]

My guess is you are going to see this uncertainty on the two time transfers go by the wayside until they come up with clear rules. The Ncaa has been way to inconsistent on this, and they are now staring at likely trouble if they don't clean it up.

From Rothstein's twitter

Source: Wright State's Tanner Holden has received a waiver from the NCAA and is eligible for the 2023-24 season. Holden is a two-time transfer who started his career at Wright State and spent last season at Ohio State. Averaged 20.1 PPG during the 21-22 season at Wright State.

 

[navery12]

I've heard of kids getting their scholly pulled, it happens. Is it equivalent to 19% of the people in the portal? No way.

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Are you telling me that 800 kids a year lost their scholarships in men's basketball, annually? I don't see it. Even if you go with the 19% number that would be 345 kids. I don't think it's that high.

800 kids getting scholarships pulled, no. There are a multitude of reasons that make up that number. Kids walked away from basketball or moved down to D3 before the transfer portal and the same things are happening now. If you can play, you'll get a scholarship, the same as it was before the portal.

These scholarships aren't disappearing, someone is using them. I'd be curious to see this number in a few years, because I think these numbers are being heavily influenced by the Covid seniors. Even just doing rough math, theres ~4700 scholarships for college basketball with 363 teams, so a little under 1200 per year assuming an even split pre-Covid. Every year the majority of that 1200 would graduate and move on, and a new freshman class would come in. Now all of a sudden you're seeing a 15-25% increase in the player pool when half the senior class returns for a 5th year

 

[CL82]

800 kids getting scholarships pulled, no. There are a multitude of reasons that make up that number. Kids walked away from basketball or moved down to D3 before the transfer portal and the same things are happening now. If you can play, you'll get a scholarship, the same as it was before the portal.

These scholarships aren't disappearing, someone is using them. I'd be curious to see this number in a few years, because I think these numbers are being heavily influenced by the Covid seniors. Even just doing rough math, theres ~4700 scholarships for college basketball with 363 teams, so a little under 1200 per year assuming an even split pre-Covid. Every year the majority of that 1200 would graduate and move on, and a new freshman class would come in. Now all of a sudden you're seeing a 15-25% increase in the player pool when half the senior class returns for a 5th year

Yeah, in the absence of more complete information, your inclination is to say everything's the same even though the numbers would seem to indicate otherwise. I'm inclined to disagree, but the data isn't out there to quantify it 100%.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of kids who don't see playing time but stay at a college for various reasons. The portal is an inducement for them to throw their hat in the ring, and sometimes they're going to come up empty. That's unfortunate and not in their best interest.

In any event, I think we both thoroughly understand each other's positions. I don't see a whole lot of point in continuing the discussion. Not that I mind it, but I suspect it is boring to everyone but the two of us.

 

[nomar]

Scholarships are year to year, so if a school is pushing player into portal they don't have a firm hold on that schollie anyway. CBB is now very much a year to year proposition for players.

I agree. I was responding to your suggestion that these types of guys are taking some kind of gamble by entering the portal and should be responsible for the consequences of that.

 

[Fishy]

If you're worried about not getting an offer then don't enter the portal. The portal really not meant for marginal players. If you have really solid value a scholarship offer will come your way....otherwise stay put and graduate, you're not a pro anyway.

Those players are effectively being shoved into the portal.

One of the portal’s functions is to launder the act of having your scholarship yanked.

I’m amazed that some of you are unaware of this.

 

[MexicoHusky]

The portal is a choice student athletes didn't have before. I love it, but apparently it has some risks.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I think Deon or someone said there’s no point in recruiting high schoolers because you don’t know what you’re going to get. College sophomores are experience and you know who they are

 

[Scrutineer]

Just curious what percentage of players didn't have their scholarships renewed before the portal? I imagine it was way lower, but it was some percentage. So the difference between before and now is some percentage lower than 19%.

How much of that percentage now is due to the covid grads taking up scholarships? It's just awkward timing to say it's solely due to transfer rules. I mean theoretically if most Covid eligible players could take an extra year you are talking about thousands of extra eligible players who have 4-5 years college experience. Those players either stay at the school they were at, eating a scholarship, or enter the portal thus increasing the number of transfers and potentially either crowding out a younger player, or becoming one of the X %.

The "shiny" object (player in portal) is only as good as the player projects to be for various rosters.
I've said it before. There are way too many kids with inflated opinions about their ability. The reality of their ability versus what they've been told by their "posse" will hit the fan more negatively then they imagine.
It's too bad because they're still being used as they were used in the past. I vividly recall John Calipari telling Mike Williams how he can be an NBA shooting guard.
Why did he tell a 6'2" guard shooting 30% on three's that he could make the NBA? Because Calipari knew Williams would play his heart out trying to do that. You can say it was a motivation technique but I'd say it was a way to use the kid to help the coach get where he wanted to go.

 

[jibsey]

Hey Tom: Your salary is $5.7 million and you are the highest paid coach in college basketball. You're breaking my heart with your sob story about how "you paid your dues." Seems to me that you've been collecting and not paying more than your share of dues off the backs of student athletes. The question I have is why is your net worth only $13 million after all those decades as a big time "dues paying" coach? Is the portal the problem or maybe some bad investments?

He's a crybaby on the court too.

 

[huskymedic]

B1G Coaches doing a lot of chattering about the portal:

Big Ten coaches slam 'mischievous acts' amid transfer portal tampering allegations

Badgers coach Greg Gard and other Big Ten coaches did not hold back on transfer portal tampering allegations.

247sports.com