Pitino Predicts Transfer Portal Chaos

[caw]

Things the transfer portal has caused:

• the weakening of top teams
• player development being less emphasized in todays game
• NIL markets to soar since players can renegotiate every year to the highest bidder
• No roster continuity meaning no truly great teams that grow together

College basketball nowadays is pretty much like watching Jalen Brunson being the best player in the NBA. I dont think we’ve seen a truly great team or player to watch since COVID.

College hoops is suppose to be a breeding ground of the stars of tomorrow, not guys moving up for their 15 seconds of fame at a high level.

Even in college football almost every top school is going to have a QB that is a transfer portal pickup next year and was not developed by that coach. It’s sickening and no coach worth his salt wants to deal with that when college is suppose to be about developing young men. Nowadays it’s more about GMing the best roster for the year.

It's not all the portal. It's a confluence of things that are making top teams weaker especially now relatively speaking.

The fifth and sixth year COVID players (some are transfers, some are not) have taken minutes from talented but unreliable freshmen across the country. This actually raises the level of play around the country and where you see more parity in the game with older players being able to out muscle/out smart/etc. young talented players. NIL also plays a big role with more fourth, fifth and sixth year players staying with even low level NIL being more than they would likely make in the real world.

G-league Ignite and other pro-options for top 1 and done options has weakened the freshman talent pool where teams like Duke and UK are not getting all the top talent (last year alone that would have included Scoot, the Thompson twins, Miller, maybe Cissoko and this year would have included Buzelis, Holland and Smith). They are still getting the top talent coming into the NCAA's but it pushes talent down a notch coming in across the board.

Then you have the portal and players transferring all over the place.

 

[McLovin]

Would’ve 100% preferred us to beat a Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, Duke in the Final Four/Championship then to have been in probably one of the most unmemorable Final Fours of Houston, FAU, and Miami (even though I was very thankful for those ticket prices and who are we to complain about how we win a championship, talk about arrogant and spoiled).

It’s what made 99’ and 04’ so special.

By what metric/eye test is college basketball better than ever?

FYI, you cited “roster continuity” as a victim of the transfer portal and last years final four was made of 2 mid majors with tons of roster continuity.

But I think most people on here would agree that something that makes college basketball special, especially the tournament, in Cinderella runs… and the last few years has delivered plenty of those.

I’d rather see FAU, Miami or SDSU make a Final Four than Kansas or Duke make it for the 50th time. But that’s just me…

 

[Edward Sargent]

Things the transfer portal has caused:

• the weakening of top teams
• player development being less emphasized in todays game
• NIL markets to soar since players can renegotiate every year to the highest bidder
• No roster continuity meaning no truly great teams that grow together

College basketball nowadays is pretty much like watching Jalen Brunson being the best player in the NBA. I dont think we’ve seen a truly great team or player to watch since COVID.

College hoops is suppose to be a breeding ground of the stars of tomorrow, not guys moving up for their 15 seconds of fame at a high level.

Even in college football almost every top school is going to have a QB that is a transfer portal pickup next year and was not developed by that coach. It’s sickening and no coach worth his salt wants to deal with that when college is suppose to be about developing young men. Nowadays it’s more about GMing the best roster for the year.

I don't think the portal has caused your four bullets but the one and done approach certainly has with Kentucky the prime example and Duke not far behind

 

[FreeKlaiber]

It creates an English Premier soccer league world. If you are a big team (status & nil $) you will be a magnet that yearly can draw the top talent from across the "lesser" teams/leagues every off-season. Great to be UConn caliber, & know you can just potentially replenish your roster yearly if recruiting doesnt come through in given year.

Pitino's point about leagues like the MAC is valid, as the rest of the countries teams will be turned into minor leagues, just developing players to be poached next year by the "Premier league" teams. I dont begrudge the great players in smaller programs getting their names out/NIL $ (Cam from Loyola U) but it would stink for a mid-major program and coach trying to develop a team IMHO.

Over time there won't be as many Florida Atlantics or Gonzaga breaking through unless they have NIL $. If I was a coach of a mid-level league (or a Depaul bottom dweller) I would be recruiting players from overseas as much as possible, as they rarely get NIL due to the rules

 

[Zonepress]

This is such nonsense, it's made the top teams better and you keep posting this nonsense in thread after thread.

The Jalen Brunson comment is just weird.

I don't like the bastardized NIL and there should be more limits to free agency but the point you keep harping on is just wrong and you ruin thread after thread with it.

Great post

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Breaking news: Pitino predicts the sun will come up tomorrow morning!

 

[Mazhude]

It ended up being great for Steph and college basketball overall that he stayed there. Guys don’t need to move up for a spotlight. If you’re good, you’re good and people will find you.

Also, continuity and development matters.


There has to be a way to at least fix the transfer portal. That would go a very long way.

Did it end up being great for Steph? Certainly didn't hurt his pro career... but what if he wanted to win a college championship? What if he felt like Davidson was his only option out of high school? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't what Steph wanted for his college experience...

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

FYI, you cited “roster continuity” as a victim of the transfer portal and last years final four was made of 2 mid majors with tons of roster continuity.

But I think most people on here would agree that something that makes college basketball special, especially the tournament, in Cinderella runs… and the last few years has delivered plenty of those.

I’d rather see FAU, Miami or SDSU make a Final Four than Kansas or Duke make it for the 50th time. But that’s just me…

Yes, Cinderella runs are exciting. But not when almost everyone is a Cinderella. Everything is good in moderation. Lol

It would also make sense how simple roster continuity in an era where most teams have none can get you to a final four. Same way Marquette isn’t that talented but they’re a top 5 team because of it.

It's not all the portal. It's a confluence of things that are making top teams weaker especially now relatively speaking.

The fifth and sixth year COVID players (some are transfers, some are not) have taken minutes from talented but unreliable freshmen across the country. This actually raises the level of play around the country and where you see more parity in the game with older players being able to out muscle/out smart/etc. young talented players. NIL also plays a big role with more fourth, fifth and sixth year players staying with even low level NIL being more than they would likely make in the real world.

G-league Ignite and other pro-options for top 1 and done options has weakened the freshman talent pool where teams like Duke and UK are not getting all the top talent (last year alone that would have included Scoot, the Thompson twins, Miller, maybe Cissoko and this year would have included Buzelis, Holland and Smith). They are still getting the top talent coming into the NCAA's but it pushes talent down a notch coming in across the board.

Then you have the portal and players transferring all over the place.

I agree the G League and pro options don’t help. Luckily that changes next year as it seems everyone is choosing to go the college hoops route. There was a lot of great talent that was missed on over the years. Think the last great year for it was 2021 with Cunningham, Suggs, Mobley, and more. And to think this could’ve also included Jalen Green and Kuminga!

My casual rebuttal.

• I don't see the top teams being especially weakened. According to KenPom, Houston as the #1 team is right on par with the strength of usual #1 seeds at +32 adjEM. That's roughly the average over the last 10 years on this date. Only 2015 Kentucky, 2019 Virginia, and 2021 Gonzaga were on another tier above from the other #1s. This year's squad is significantly stronger than last year's Houston. Purdue is above average in strength for #2 in the rankings as well. We're on the stronger side for a #3.
• Player development is extremely emphasized. Because most players get better when they actually play in real minutes. Do you think Samson improved more not playing last year or having a role this year? This (along with COVID 5th years) is greatly increasing the parity in college basketball, which is good for the sport and good for March Madness.
• I don't see how soaring NIL markets is a problem. It'll rise to the level it can, just like it presumably did in backdeal recruiting. We've seen countless examples of the most expensive or transfer in/FA heavy teams being mediocre or crap in all sports (see Kansas this year).
• Roster continuity? Purdue literally brought almost everyone back. We at UConn had a core coming back from a title team. People aren't generally going to transfer out from strong teams.
• 2021 Baylor and Gonzaga were both extremely strong teams post-COVID. Baylor shot 41% from 3 as a team and had 4 guys make 1.5 3s per game (we had a good shooting team last year and had 2 guys at that threshold). And they had Davion Mitchell absolutely lockdown perimeter defender. Gonzaga was loaded with Timme, Suggs, Nembhard, and Kispert.

The top 3 teams are about on par numbers wise but talent wise, only Zach Edey is an NBA prospect outside of us. Not another player that’s top 75 on draft boards for next year. Outside of the top 3 no team has less than 6 losses. That’s not normal at this time of year.

I agree players get better when they play. Something most young talent are not nowadays because of the portal. Not sure how Samson not playing until he’s a junior is an example of the opposite (even though that wasn’t because of transfers).

2021 was actually a pretty fun year for college hoops. Baylor and Gonzaga were both great teams.

 

[Captbluefin]

Slick Rick had no problem with it when he snagged one of our players from last year.
Then he recruited over him and he plays a smaller role with St Johns

 

[REB1094]

Here are the players that Rick Pitino plays 10+ minutes a game:

1. Daniss Jenkins: transfer
2. Chris Ledlum: transfer
3. Joel Soriano: SJU player
4. Jordan Dingle: transfer
5. RJ Luis: transfer
6. Glenn Taylor: transfer
7. Nahiem Alleyne: transfer
8. Brady Dunlap: SJU recruit
9. Zuby Ejiofor: transfer

Rant incoming..sorry in advance

He pushed his entire team into the transfer portal and replaced them all by other guys he wanted from the transfer portal.

Complaining about MAAC guys getting poached but he poached his own MAAC guy Jenkins with him. Complaining about not playing Siva as a freshman and building him into a champion but he recruited Ejiofor who was a P5 guy that wasn’t getting minutes and left. Hinting about NIL but took Alleyne from the reigning champions seemingly either by lying about playing time or convincing him with NIL, because Alleyne’s role is exactly the same there as it was here.

I get that he wasn’t luring guys into the portal for him (maybe exception Jenkins), but sorry Coach… even if you’re correct in what you’re saying, you can’t complain about it when you were more than happy to do it yourself a year ago. I feel like if St Johns was more successful this year, his attitude right now would be much different.

Nobody forced him into this job. He name dropped coaches who left because it wasn’t the same game they grew up with. That’s 100% a choice that Pitino could have made and can make any time. He chose this job knowing everything he’s talking about, and now can’t stop whining about it

 

[BRS24]

Wait. So Pitino said “It’s going to get to the point, somebody’s going to take them [the NCAA] to court that they want to transfer mid-semester to play." That's just dumb. It's up to the incoming school to verify a student's academic standing and whether to accept them, so suing the NCAA is moot.

 

[gtcam]

Is it though?

YES

 

[gtcam]

I agree with this sentiment. But I also believe there is no going back, so the idea is to move forward thoughtfully. The box is open, let’s not try to put pandora back in it, let’s find a reasonable way forward.

You can and should be able to take a step back, relook and if it did work, take pieces of that and reimplement. Forging ahead and ignoring the past is not the always the answer.
As far as thoughtfully moving forward, that ended in 2009.

 

[dennismenace]

Wondering about his all white suit and shoes (pic in the Post link)?

Here is his commentary:

Pitino's all-white appearance came as a surprise and was propelled by his wife, Joanne

"My wife and kids kept saying: ‘You've got to wear the white suit,'" Pitino said. "I said, ‘that's Kentucky, guys.' They said, ‘no, you have to do it. Your players will absolutely love it.' Until 2 p.m. yesterday, I wasn't doing it. I called up Armani and I said: ‘That white jacket you told me about, do you have it? White pants and white shoes?' They said ‘yep.' So I said, ‘let's go. Let's do it.'

"When I got to the tailor, he said ‘I can't do it. I'm off in three hours.' I sweetened the pot a little bit, and he did it."

If he just added a black western tie he be the new Col Sanders ("from Kentucky") and can start his own fast food franchise.

 

[BlueMAB]

he plays a smaller role with St Johns

Not really.
1) UConn - 17.9 minutes/game
SJU - 17.5 minutes/game

UConn - 5.0 FG/game
SJU - 5.6 FG/game

2) He has started 2 fewer games, but wasn't ever considered a full-time starter on either team.

3) We were still going to bring in a Cam Spencer. It's more important to compare his role on this year's SJU team, to what it would have been on this year's UConn team.

Who would he take minutes from? I'd argue he's playing a bigger role with SJU than he would have with UConn this year. Hurley was also recruiting over him.

Pitino is a steaming POS throwing stones from a glass house, but I think NH made the right decision to transfer, even if he picked the wrong destination.

 

[Inyatkin]

Things I've learned in this thread: Jalen Brunson is the best player in the NBA and San Diego State is bad.
Pretty sure neither one is remotely true

 

[cohenzone]

“Hunting Season” begins soon. Pitino is right. I am a dyed-in-the-wool free market capitalist, SO…………if players can change teams at will, they should be dropped at will (along with their scholarships) if they don’t produce.

Monopolies quite often don’t benefit the consumer. And by the way, I don’t especially disagree with you. If athletes are employees, they have to take the full treatment. Don’t pass the boss’s evaluation, you find employment elsewhere. The portal is a crap show and coupled with NIL, the major college sports scene is not pretty.

 

[dennismenace]

Things the transfer portal has caused:

• the weakening of top teams
• player development being less emphasized in todays game
• NIL markets to soar since players can renegotiate every year to the highest bidder
• No roster continuity meaning no truly great teams that grow together

College basketball nowadays is pretty much like watching Jalen Brunson being the best player in the NBA. I dont think we’ve seen a truly great team or player to watch since COVID.

College hoops is suppose to be a breeding ground of the stars of tomorrow, not guys moving up for their 15 seconds of fame at a high level.

Even in college football almost every top school is going to have a QB that is a transfer portal pickup next year and was not developed by that coach. It’s sickening and no coach worth his salt wants to deal with that when college is suppose to be about developing young men. Nowadays it’s more about GMing the best roster for the year.

Weakening of top teams - Agreed but makes overall competition better.

Player development being decided by the student athlete who chooses when and where he might best benefit instead of being a McDonalds All American handcuffed to a Dook or North Carolina bench. We just have to look at what has happened to Uconn women and I love Gino A. but he was putting John Wooden's teams to shame.

NIL markets -- Most students in all schools including universities are not prepared for the real world which in the USA is still quasi capitalist/free market vs central planned economies. The sooner students get some real world training the better. I defer comment on what will happen if the college players unionize.

No roster continuity - that's true but at what cost to the individual players which is how this thing got started. I remember Shabazz commenting on being hungry some times while people were making money selling Uconn shirts with his name on them. That hit home to me.

If college hoops "is supposed to be a breeding ground of the stars of tomorrow" the NBA wouldn't have a G league. They pay players to finish what they didn't learn in college. At Uconn student athletes have a ton of support from academic as well as career planning to make them the best all around young adult they can be. I think kids have to grow up a lot more early today because of the world we live in. But they do have to respond if they want to grow and reach out to what is being offered to them. I am finding that parents who care about their kids find out what Uconn Nation is all about.

I appreciate all your insights which are very thought provoking. I don't follow College FB so no comment. I personally think Uconn will benefit more than most schools as a result of these changes because they really have some great staffs on men and women basketball personnel and a great overall university.

 

[prankster]

“Hunting Season” begins soon. Pitino is right. I am a dyed-in-the-wool free market capitalist, SO…………if players can change teams at will, they should be dropped at will (along with their scholarships) if they don’t produce.

I kind of disagree.

I believe that there should be a mechanism by which the "non- productive" athlete can be dropped from the roster, and the team's athletic scholarship opened up for another player (freshman? transfer?).

And then the "dropped" student-athlete be permitted to continue his or her education, the same as any other scholarship student. And that scholarship can be forfeit on the same basis as that of any other student (grades, class attendance, behavior issues, etc).

I also feel that somehow the additional semesters/years spent on academic scholarship under this scenario should subtract from the now student/non- athlete's eligibility.

Somewhat more complicated, but I do not believe that scholarship athletes should be completely disposable. Education should be foremost, at least as a proffer.

 

[superjohn]

San Diego State, even worse.

Please do not frame it as me complaining about our program winning a championship. That’s not what’s happening.

We are talking about how bad college hoops is right now.

Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, LJ Cryer, Dalton Knecht, Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson, Jaden Bradley, Hunter Dickinson, Keshon Gilbert, Curtis Jones, Tre King, Harrison Ingram. Those are some of the transfers for the top teams this season, those teams have been strengthened overall by transfers. College basketball teams are stronger at the moment than they were 4-10 years ago because of the portal, the additional time players are afforded because of Covid, and because of the NBA being largely uninterested in traditional big men.

You just say stuff over and over like it's fact with nothing to back it up.

 

[Kowalski]

Wait. So Pitino said “It’s going to get to the point, somebody’s going to take them [the NCAA] to court that they want to transfer mid-semester to play." That's just dumb. It's up to the incoming school to verify a student's academic standing and whether to accept them, so suing the NCAA is moot.

So if a school is able to approve a basketball transfer for the spring semester (after the player started the season at another school), should that be allowed? I bet some would say yes, for instance to let a player experience a possible run to the final four or championship. I say it’d be a disaster for the sport.

Or should the NCAA, as a governing body, be able to set reasonably restrictions on transfers to protect the competitive nature & viability of the amateur sports? That’s where I come down & they should add more restrictions on the current transfer rules too.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Weakening of top teams - Agreed but makes overall competition better.

Player development being decided by the student athlete who chooses when and where he might best benefit instead of being a McDonalds All American handcuffed to a Dook or North Carolina bench. We just have to look at what has happened to Uconn women and I love Gino A. but he was putting John Wooden's teams to shame.

NIL markets -- Most students in all schools including universities are not prepared for the real world which in the USA is still quasi capitalist/free market vs central planned economies. The sooner students get some real world training the better. I defer comment on what will happen if the college players unionize.

No roster continuity - that's true but at what cost to the individual players which is how this thing got started. I remember Shabazz commenting on being hungry some times while people were making money selling Uconn shirts with his name on them. That hit home to me.

If college hoops "is supposed to be a breeding ground of the stars of tomorrow" the NBA wouldn't have a G league. They pay players to finish what they didn't learn in college. At Uconn student athletes have a ton of support from academic as well as career planning to make them the best all around young adult they can be. I think kids have to grow up a lot more early today because of the world we live in. But they do have to respond if they want to grow and reach out to what is being offered to them. I am finding that parents who care about their kids find out what Uconn Nation is all about.

I appreciate all your insights which are very thought provoking. I don't follow College FB so no comment. I personally think Uconn will benefit more than most schools as a result of these changes because they really have some great staffs on men and women basketball personnel and a great overall university.

Our old UConn women’s team did reach a point where they were too dominant for the sport I so agree. Once it gets to the point you’re blowing #2 ranked teams out by 30 some parity may be needed.

To clarify NIL, I LOVE the fact that players are getting there’s. But there has to be more structure in place for it. The transfer portal situation leaves the door open for athletes to (rightfully) negotiate every year on their value to almost absurd amounts in some cases with almost no regard to the development or coaching they would get. In a non-transfer portal world athletes could try and be smarter about the overall decision they make knowing they have to make it work at that school and not leave at the first sign of adversity/biggest bag that calls. The way it is right now is not the spirit of the rule that a lot of people thought of when we wanted this in place and most of that can be blamed on the portal.

The G League is currently a very bad experiment for the NBA which is why we’re probably starting to see the pendulum swing back towards college hoops. It’s virtually impossible to teach a team of 18 year olds good basketball and winning habits against grown men fighting for roster spots. So happy they’re getting rid of it soon. These guys need college to learn how to develop good winning habits. Well hope they get something out the classroom too lol

Also agree about the fact that this staff is pretty perfect for this era of college hoops because of how hard they work. Because you have to work REALLY hard year round to be successful. Which is honestly unfortunate for coaches work life balance. Our team this year has a great blend of continuity with 4 players who received a lot of time on last years team, another guy who was on the team who is now a contributor this year, a top 5 portal player (minimum), and a top 10 freshman recruit. Brilliant job of roster construction during this era.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, LJ Cryer, Dalton Knecht, Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson, Jaden Bradley, Hunter Dickinson, Keshon Gilbert, Curtis Jones, Tre King, Harrison Ingram. Those are some of the transfers for the top teams this season, those teams have been strengthened overall by transfers. College basketball teams are stronger at the moment than they were 4-10 years ago because of the portal, the additional time players are afforded because of Covid, and because of the NBA being largely uninterested in traditional big men.

You just say stuff over and over like it's fact with nothing to back it up.

The top 3 teams are about on par numbers wise but talent wise, only Zach Edey is an NBA prospect outside of us. Not another player that’s top 75 on draft boards for next year. Outside of the top 3 no team has less than 6 losses. That’s not normal at this time of year.

Only names I’m familiar with are the UConn ones, Dickinson, Love, and Ingram. If those names are the ones the sport is suppose to be selling itself on then it’s not in a good place.

 

[auror]

Only names I’m familiar with are the UConn ones, Dickinson, Love, and Ingram. If those names are the ones the sport is suppose to be selling itself on then it’s not in a good place.

If you're not familiar with Dalton Knecht, then you don't follow college basketball, you follow UConn.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

If you're not familiar with Dalton Knecht, then you don't follow college basketball, you follow UConn.

Maybe at the time. This is just me, but there’s not many players that I feel like are worth watching. Would honestly rather watch Caitlin Clark and Juju Watkins than anybody in the men’s game this year. But again, that’s just me.