The NIL and the Transfer Portal

Throughout the NCAA Tournament, two topics have been brought up often by numerous coaches in their press conferences.  The NIL and the transfer portal.  While the coaches' opinions on them varied, there did seem to be a consensus that they've both changed college basketball forever.  And that they've both gotten out of control and require some sort of reform or, at the very least, regulation.

Let's start with the NIL.  The NIL is never going away.  Now that the cat's out of the bag, there's no putting it back in.  Especially since a number of states have passed laws that essentially ban schools from limiting student-athletes' ability to earn money, whether it's through the NIL or other means.  Those various state laws have created confusion, though, and have a chance to create an unlevel playing field based on what's legal where.  That's why the NCAA, conferences and schools want there to be some sort of federal guidance.

No one wants to get rid of the NIL.  Everyone seems to be in agreement that it's a good thing.  But they've also seen the impact they directly have, not just on recruiting, but on team building.  Which isn't just a basketball thing, either.  We've seen it in football and other sports, too.  Players are essentially free agents on the open market looking for the best NIL deal.  It's not about the team, school, program or coach.

The NIL has had another profound impact on college basketball, which is either a positive or a negative depending on how you look at it.  Because of the NIL, guys are staying in school longer.  They're making plenty of money.  In some cases their making more through NIL deals than they would playing professionally, so there's no benefit in being a one-and-done college player just to ride the bench in the pros (whether it's in the NBA, Europe or elsewhere).  The NBA knows this, too.  Which is why they shut down G League Elite, the NBA-sponsored team in the G League for post-high school players who aren't eligible for the NBA Draft yet.

Also because guys are staying in school longer, rosters now have many more upperclassmen than they did even a few years ago.  Which isn't a bad thing at all.  But it also means freshmen aren't getting as much playing time.  More importantly, between COVID years and transfers, there aren't as many scholarships available for freshmen.  In the one-and-done era, teams were built around highly touted recruits (or recruiting classes) that would stay for a year or two before being replaced with a new class of highly regarded recruits.

It's crazy to think that we're longing for those days and looking back at them fondly, especially since the biggest problem people had during the one-and-done era was the near-constant roster turnover.  We still have that near-constant roster turnover, only for a very different reason.  The transfer portal.  Which is something that has gotten completely out of hand.

In 2021, the NCAA changed the transfer rules for football and basketball (as well as baseball and men's hockey) to put them in line with other sports.  Student-athletes are no longer required to sit out a year if they transfer using the portal, and they can enter the portal simply by telling their current school that they want to transfer.  Once their name's in the portal, coaches and staff from other schools are allowed to contact them.  Basically, they're being recruited all over again.

Among the many problems with the portal, one is the most glaring.  It opens the day after championship selections are announced.  Which means while 68 teams are preparing for the NCAA Tournament, everybody else is having their roster stripped bare because their players are entering the transfer portal.  In the three days between Selection Sunday and the First Round of the NCAA Tournament (not including the First Four), more than 300 players entered the portal.  That's ridiculous!

While there were other reasons at play, as well, that's why teams like St. John's and Oklahoma opted out of the NIT.  With guys entering the portal, they didn't have enough players left to field a team.  And their coaches were busy scouring the portal trying to scoop up anybody they could who they think will help their team.  Which is another part of the problem.  Because, since coaches can start contacting players immediately once they enter the portal, those non-tournament teams get first crack at the guys who do put their name in.  

Recruiting is already a grueling, year-round process.  Now these coaches have to recruit not just incoming freshmen, but potential transfers.  They also need to make sure they keep their own players happy so that they don't want to leave.  It's a miracle if they ever get a chance to actually coach!

Beyond needing to construct, in some cases, an entirely new roster every season, the transfer portal has all but eliminated program-building.  Gone are the days when a group of freshmen comes in, develops together, reaches an NCAA Tournament and leaves its mark on the program.  With the transfer portal, there's none of that.  If there isn't instant success, the players don't stay and the coach is likely out the door pretty soon, too.  They aren't given a chance to build something lasting by bringing in their guys to play in their system.

There are a few things the NCAA needs to do in order to fix the transfer portal, which disgruntled players are far too quick to take advantage of.  One is incredibly obvious and doesn't put teams at a disadvantage.  Instead of opening the portal the day after the selections are announced, you open it the day after the championship game.  This way, players have more time to think about it.  But, frankly, that's not even the reason why it should be pushed back.  It's because it's asinine to basically penalize teams for being good by letting the bad teams get a three-week head start on snatching up players in the portal.  Their focus during the NCAA Tournament should be on coaching and trying to win a championship.

I'm also not a fan of how freely players are able to transfer.  How many guys are there playing in the tournament who've played for a different school every year?  Why?  Are they NBA journeymen who keep getting cut?  You're obviously not attending any of these schools for academic reasons.  And, did you ever think that maybe if you're on school No. 4 in four years, the schools themselves might not be the problem?

Going to the same one-time transfer rule as other sports and dropping the requirement that they sit out a year made sense in theory and certainly seemed reasonable.  But, in the three years since it's been in place, we've certainly seen it abused.  And the "one-time" part certainly isn't being enforced, either.  If it was, maybe we wouldn't see guys "attending" four different schools in four years.  They get to do it once.  If they transfer again after that, they sit out a year.  Let's see how many guys try to transfer multiple times if that's put back into effect.

Certain exceptions, of course, can be made.  The same graduate transfer rules apply.  If you graduate and have eligibility left, you can absolutely use it somewhere else.  You put in the work and earned a college degree.  You shouldn't be penalized.  Likewise, if a coach leaves and you want to follow the coach who recruited you to their new job, that's fine.  You likely chose the coach, not the school.  The opposite applies too.  You don't necessarily have to follow your old coach, but you can leave your old school without penalty if the coach who recruited you is fired or leaves.  Those are the only exceptions.  I'm hesitant to include that "family hardship" exception because that one was abused plenty, too.

Most people can agree that a little guidance and regulation regarding the NIL, preferably from the federal level, will make that process clearer and easier for everyone to understand.  It would also hopefully help create some sort of national standard instead of varying from state to state like we have now.  Something absolutely must be done about the transfer portal, though.  Because, while the NIL has the potential to be very good, the transfer portal is ruining college basketball.