Eli Knight
A major part of college basketball that has become more evident in recent years is the transfer portal. Players, mostly from top schools but also from non power 5s (most recently Robbie Avila), have entered the portal, looking for either a bigger role on their new team or a more known team for their draft stock. However, many fans are worried that the integrity of the game is being taken away, as the players will to work towards a goal has diminished knowing that they could leave after the season if they are unhappy. Many of the denouncers do not want to eliminate it in its entirety, but more set limits on it to prevent overuse. In this article, we will breakdown how far it has come, and whether it truly is a problem that needs to be stopped.
This college basketball offseason, across all divisions there are over 1,000 players in the transfer portal, including 7 from Duke. With many Power 5 schools like the Blue Devils, teams are forced to essentially start over at the beginning of each new season. It makes it harder for fans to stick with a team as they have no players to follow throughout their 4 (or 2) years.
The other side of this argument is in major support of the players choices, as the portal allows them to move freely throughout teams. Without the ability to transfer, or even with a minimized version of it, many athletes would be stuck on teams where they are not seeing minutes and not helping their draft stock.
The main problem with many of the arguments being made in favor of minimizing the portal is that there are no real legal problems with it. Aside from moral issues with players losing desire to work, there is no rational that could truly sway the NCAA committee into making a major change. So, while there may be problems with the current state of the portal that have hurt major teams, including blue bloods like Duke and Kentucky, college basketball fans should not expect any significant changes to the system, at least not soon.
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