Jim Henry: Transfer portal numbers way up
May 8—Almost daily there is a post on social media about a college athlete going into the transfer portal.
What exactly is the transfer portal?
It's a database of every athlete who is interested in transferring from his or her current school. All a player has to do to enter the portal is go to the school's compliance department and tell them he or she wants to go into the transfer portal. and the school cannot do anything about it.
There is one portal that can be accessed by a specific sport, and as of Friday there were 20,902 individuals in the portal.
That's a much higher total than in previous year. There are 1,581 players in the women's basketball portal, compared to 1,045 last year and 961 in 2018-19, the first year of the portal. Men's basketball is around 2,600 this year, more than double the previous two years.
"What you're seeing this year, with Division I (coaches) not being to go out and recruit and bring people on campus, they are taking a chance on some kids who have already done some things in college," Missouri Southern men's basketball coach Jeff Boschee said. "You can see the amount of Division II kids who are transferring up, the amount of low-major kids who are transferring up. A lot of high-major coaches have decided to go with them instead of high school kids."
Division I coaches remain in a dead period until June 1. They've been in this dead period since COVID-19 hit last year, unable to go on the road or bring kids on campus.
"Basically all they're doing is watching film," Boschee said. "In large part we had to do that, too, because it's hard for us to go anywhere to watch games because (attendance) may be limited to just parents."
A one-year exception allowing Division I athletes to transfer to another Division I school without sitting out a year helped generate the bigger numbers.
"All these kids know they don't have to sit out a year because of COVID," Lions women's basketball coach Ronnie Ressel said. "This year with the COVID rule, kids at the low- or mid-major level who had a good year and shined can try to go to a Power-5 school. and vice versa, kids at a Power-5 who did not play a lot can try to go to mid- or low-major and up their stock to be able to play more minutes."
Numbers are also larger because the NCAA allowed winter sport athletes to participate in the 2020-21 season without losing a year of eligibility.
"The Cam (Martin) situation (transferring from MSSU to Kansas), the (Ryan) Hawkins situation (transferring from Northwest Missouri to Creighton), you're getting a free year, and the way the Division I schools are recruiting, kids have the opportunity and experience to go to a higher level," Boschee said. "We joked around but we're kind of serious at the same time ... it's almost like Division II is a farm system for Division I. You get a freshman of the year, and you're scared he may leave in a year or two."
"There are so many more grad transfers this year than in past years," Ressel said. "There are 468 grad transfers (in women's basketball) compared to 160 in 2020. There have been some really good players in the portal this year. You wonder why, but they want to go see if they can do it at a better level."
All the transfers this year could affect upcoming recruiting classes.
"You look at the 2022 class, the '23 class of high school kids," Ressel said. "I think there are going to be some really good kids who could have played Division I not get the chance because there is not enough scholarship money."
Follow Sports Editor Jim Henry on Twitter at @Jim_Henry53.
