What you need to know about the college basketball transfer portal this spring
The transfer portal has become essential for building a roster in college basketball.
In recent seasons, Indiana has utilized the portal to add multi-year starters like Xavier Johnson (Pittsburgh) and Miller Kopp (Northwestern).
This spring, the Hoosiers are expected to be active in the portal to fill various roster needs. Indiana is expected to lose four starters from its 2022-23 team that finished 23-12 and advanced to the second round of the 2023 NCAA tournament.
The transfer portal will look different this spring than in previous years.
In August of 2022, the NCAA Division I board adopted changes to transfer rules to “provide greater clarity for student-athletes and member schools within the transfer landscape across all sports.”
The significant change effective this spring is the notification-of-transfer window, a 60-day window for winter sport student-athletes to enter the portal. This window does not apply to postgraduate students.
The new rules state that the 60-day window opens “beginning the day after championships selections are made in the sport.” For men’s college basketball, the window to enter the transfer portal began on Monday, March 13 and will conclude on Thursday, May 11.
Postgraduate student-athletes for fall and winter sports could enter the portal before March 13, but must enter by May 1.
The window deadline is only for student-athlete to enter the portal and doesn’t require a student-athlete to choose a new school by May 11. For college coaches, it’ll be as important as ever to continue recruiting their current players for next season until the deadline to enter the portal passes.
The one-time transfer waiver is also still in effect, meaning that if a student-athlete has not transferred previously, they are immediately eligible at their next school.
The NCAA Division I board did not, however, implement a proposed exception to the new transfer rules that would have allowed “student-athletes to transfer multiple times and be immediately eligible if they meet progress-toward-degree requirements at their new school.”
The rule change also states “any school that considers athletics when awarding scholarships to transfer student-athletes to provide that scholarship for the rest of a student’s five-year eligibility or until they complete the requirements for their bachelor’s degree, unless the student transfers again or engages in professional athletics opportunities.”
While the NCAA does not provide public access to the transfer portal, several resources are available to track the names of student-athletes entering the portal.
Verbal Commits is the most frequently updated resource, which features a constantly updated feed of portal entries. Verbal Commits also tracks portal entries on its Twitter account.
As of early Tuesday morning, Indiana has not had a player from its current roster enter the portal.
Last offseason, four Hoosiers – Khristian Lander, Parker Stewart, Michael Durr and Rob Phinisee – left via the portal. Indiana did not bring in a player last offseason via the portal.
There are currently over 600 players in the portal, according to Verbal Commits.
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