As of now, there are 11 Indiana State players—including all 5 starters—who have graduated or entered the transfer portal. Reportedly, part of the coaching staff also will be joining Schertz in Saint Louis. This situation in college basketball has reached an absurd level.
The number of players in the Division I transfer portal is approaching 1500, a similar number total will be reached in Division II. The NCAA needs to make some changes; otherwise, why not just automatically declare all student athletes in the transfer portal unless they choose to opt out? Obviously, the NCAA can no longer prohibit players from transferring or place a requirement that they sit out one-year, as in the past. However, universities should be permitted to include stipulations in their athletic scholarships that are the equivalent to buyouts in coaches' contracts.
For example, if a player comes to a university, especially one with a high tuition, but must redshirt the first year because of an injury or some off-court complications, then he transfers after his freshman year without even playing, that student has cost the university tuition, fees, medical costs, physical therapy expenses, and various other expenditures, plus taken a scholarship from someone else. Therefore, the university should have a right to some compensation, particularly if the athlete is going elsewhere to make more money in NIL. A transfer rule could be similar to the stipulations on faculty taking a sabbatical: if a professor decides to leave the school within a year following a sabbatical, the entire sabbatical salary must be reimbursed to the university.
Likewise, the NCAA should institute procedures when a coach moves from one school to another, especially before the contract is up, that establish penalties if players follow the coach. Perhaps the new school should compensate the old school a certain amount for each player or the new school should forfeit a scholarship for each athlete poached with the coach.
The time has come for some innovative alterations to the current system.
NCAA would sure like to have regulations, but at the end of the day. If they try to regulate, someone is going to sue. And precedent is already set that if it's college athletes suing the ncaa. They are going to loose that suit. NIL was caused by lawsuits, and the portal was caused by lawsuits. Players don't see ncaa as development anymore. Funny thing is, all thst NIL money will be gone before these kids reach 30. I assume once we see all these college kids go broke in 10 years people will realize that maybe NIL being unregulated wasn't a good idea and the suits will stop. It is inevitable that these kids go broke. Its sad, but it is going to be true
NCAA would sure like to have regulations, but at the end of the day. If they try to regulate, someone is going to sue. And precedent is already set that if it's college athletes suing the ncaa. They are going to loose that suit.
The NCAA and its universities already have regulations and stipulations built into athletic scholarship offers that are signed by the students, who agree to abide by the conditions. I don't believe that all the legal minds available to the NCAA and the hundreds of universities under its purview cannot craft or alter the "continuance and/or discontinuance" section of the scholarship with a bulletproof clause to fairly address this transfer situation.
@valpopal Eventually if NIL continues, they will start contractually obligating players to stay. If these players want to treat the NCAA like a professional league, why shouldn't they get the same loyalty contracts as professional athletes.
Bradley looking like the team to beat next season.
https://twitter.com/portal_updates/status/1777817380812411263
With recent happenings in the valley. Id expect to see a very different preseason ranking
Indiana State's Aaron Gray has entered the portal. There are now 12 Indiana State players—including all 5 starters—who have graduated or entered the transfer portal. They only have 2 freshmen left who hardly ever played. I wonder if their 3 incoming high school recruits might consider de-committing as well.
The NCAA is being challenged to get rid of all transfer regulations, outside of transferring within season and being able to play. No limits on how many times you can transfer, where you can transfer, no longer having to sit out at any point, etc. It's a new team every year going forward
@valpotx This doesnt just stop at mid majors too. A lot of power 6 schools are also affected heavily with roster turnover. There needs to be regulation.
@valpopal The over/under on the number of these players who end up at SLU is 5.
I think we should look at the ISU situation as Mid Major Exhibit #1 in the case for saying that the current Transfer Portal has become an obscenity. I use that term -- obscenity -- very intentionally.
Here's a team that should be looking at returning the heart of its roster in anticipation of putting together a season aspiring to make a Sweet 16 run, at the very least. ISU students and alums should be anticipating a monster season after experiencing the disappointments of how the post-season turned out for ISU this season.
But instead, ISU is starting over. Not as in rebuilding after graduating a bunch of seniors, but rather as if they didn't have MBB team last year and are now reviving the sport. I don't revel in their misfortune. This could easily be VU if we had the talent.
The whole thing is creating warped values among these young men, destroying any connection between the students and their team, and generally advantaging a smaller and smaller number of schools.
Perhaps Coach Powell can pull off a miracle and have Valpo succeed as an exception to the otherwise relentless trend. But will it have much meaning if VU wins in part because the other MVC schools have become one-and-done or two-and-gone farm teams for the P6?
I wonder if the smaller schools will eventually be able to file some type of legal/antitrust action in the future, because you have public schools backed by the states that are driving these types of decisions for an entire body of schools, and seeking to only advantage themselves.
inept leadership from the NCAA, particularly under academia doormat Emmert, has been the cause of this Wild West culture of NIL and the transfer protocol. The NCAA as an institution needs to be blown up and rebuilt with leadership of more practicality.
From WTHI-TV Terre Haute
Sycamore basketball has had four starters enter the transfer portal today in Ryan Conwell, Jayson Kent, Isaiah Swope, and Julian Larry. Sports 10 has been informed center Robbie Avila is expected to enter the portal in the coming days making all five ISU starters in the transfer portal.
While each player has the option to come back, it's not likely they will with the NIL (name, image, likeness) market they've created for themselves.
Sports 10 was told by a source close to the situation last week that the Sycamores' starting five this year, based off their success and market ability, were worth a combined $1.7 to $2 million in the NIL market. ISU NIL pool money is between $300K and 400K.
Sports 10 was told one of the key reasons head coach Josh Schertz left for St. Louis was the increase in NIL money they were giving him, which was nearly one million dollars more than ISU.
This is the new landscape in all of college athletics.
I wonder if a NIL collective could have a player sign a 4 year NIL contract providing that the player could only receive NIL money from that school. But include a provision where a larger school could “buy out” the NIL contract if the player wants to transfer. That would compensate smaller schools when their players are raided and allow them to grow their NIL pool.
