As the 2023-2024 college basketball season comes to a close with the dominant UConn Huskies taking the crown, the off-season is already well underway. Hundreds of athletes have departed their schools, bringing up perhaps the most popular source of debates surrounding the current era of collegiate athletics: the transfer portal.

Chaotic, free-for-all, disorganized and any other way you want to describe the state of transferring schools is probably an adequate definition. Even so, no matter how hard anyone argues their point or how much research they put into their debate, no one knows the “correct” way to fix the process.

The Good

Now, plenty of good can come from the transfer portal; just ask this year’s national champions. Three of the Huskies’ core eight players began their careers at other schools but ended up winning a national championship in Storrs, Connecticut. 

Champaign’s own Illini weren’t too shabby themselves this year, and head coach Brad Underwood has the portal to thank. Five of Illinois’ top eight players came from different schools, all joining to bring the Illini an Elite Eight.

The “good” of the portal looks beautiful and meant to be. Elite programs can add championship-caliber players to their roster, with the expectation that their veteran status will take the school to the next level. 

It’s also magical to watch mid-major players who were overlooked, come in and perform in front of a Power 5 crowd. See Grant Nelson, who played three years at North Dakota State University before transferring to Alabama. Watching this uber-talented player finally get his chance to shine in front of an SEC crowd and advance to the Final Four wouldn’t have been possible without the portal option.

Finally, some schools just aren’t the fit players once thought coming out of high school, or maybe they get recruited over and lose playing time. Transferring allows a reset of sorts, providing athletes the opportunity to tap into their full potential in a place that makes them happier. 

As long as immediate eligibility is available for all players and the restrictions are this loose, coaches only hurt themselves by not utilizing the portal. So the elite do, and so the elite will continue. 

The Bad

College basketball fans no longer have the assurance that any member of a starting five will return the following year. The lack of loyalty in the sport is evident every single offseason, and I’m not singling out any one party. 

It’s easy to blame players for not being loyal as they are the ones actively changing schools, and for some, this may be true. Former Illinois guard Jalen Coleman-Lands comes to mind, playing for four different schools in college. It’s difficult to defend players when they do stuff like this, especially when they started 103 of 172 games in their career. 

It’s not always the player’s fault, however, as coaches also play a role behind the scenes. Many players are forced out when they aren’t viewed as valuable to a championship-caliber roster or are placed in roles that do not favor their skillset. 

Illinois fans can relate to this through Brandin Podziemski, who was forced out of Champaign in 2022. After little playing time his freshman season and then three top-100 guard recruits arriving the next year, Podziemski had no choice but to leave. While it turned out well for Podz, this method of forcing players out isn’t healthy for collegiate athletics. 

Solutions?

I’m not sure if there is a way to fix this process now. It is possible that the NCAA allowed transferring to become so normalized that no real changes can be made. The atmosphere rising from the ashes of the portal is toxic and undesirable, and programs like Louisville and Michigan have paid the price. 

Chemistry is at an all-time low with players from all different schools joining together for a single year under a new coach. Fans can only buy jerseys at their own peril, as the player they support today may don a different jersey tomorrow. Over 1,500 players entered last year, and we can expect that number to continue rising year by year.

So for now, keep getting those transfers, Brad. Keep finding those Everyday Guys that didn’t know until they visited Illinois. Bring us back to the Elite 8 and beyond.

@benfader7

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