The key college basketball transfer portal dates to know for 2026

Only eight days remain until the college basketball transfer portal opens this spring and college basketball programs across the country will use the window to retool their rosters ahead of the 2026-27 season.

IU basketball, which finished the 2025-26 season with an 18-14 record and an NCAA tournament miss, is expected to rely heavily on the portal to build its roster for year two of the Darian DeVries era.

Here are the key dates to know for the college basketball transfer portal window this spring:

Tuesday, April 7

This date, the day after the national championship game, is when the transfer portal officially opens this spring.

Until that date, the only players who can officially enter the portal are those at schools who have had a coaching change.

Players at schools that do not meet either of those criteria cannot officially enter the portal until Tuesday, April 7.

However, hundreds of players have already publicly declared their intent to enter the portal on that date.

Friday, April 10

This is the first date for players who enter the portal to begin making campus visits.

Because a recruiting dead period runs from April 2 to April 9, schools will be competing to bring their top portal targets on campus for the weekend of April 10.

Tuesday, April 21

This is the date that the transfer portal will close this spring, marking the end of a 15-day window to enter.

After this date, players will not be permitted to enter the portal unless there is a coaching change at their program.

Friday, April 30

This is the final day of the April recruiting period. From April 10 through April 30, visits, on- and off-campus, will be permitted.

Dates to know for May

A quiet period begins on May 1 and goes through May 9. In a quiet period, no in-person recruiting contacts are permitted off-campus.

On Sunday, May 10, there will be a one-day dead period for recruiting before a quiet period from May 11-14, an evaluation period for high school recruiting events on May 15-17, a two-day quiet period from May 18-19 and then a dead period to end the month from May 20-31.

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