Every interesting to look at the portal page on ESPN.com right now. 7 UNC players in portal and dozens of other major program players. In general, the key to portal movement among the top conferences is either (a) coach has left or been fired or (b) player scored less than 10 points a game. You have all these 4-5 star guys who feel they didn’t get a chance to play. Sure, only a few would consider the Ivies but that is an opportunity for a major talent upgrade if only the Ivies decide to go for it.
They won’t. Probably ever.
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Pretty much the entire Tennessee women’s basketball team is in the portal.
Lots of players are also forced into the portal by their coach. If a guy isn’t contributing and coach doesn’t see a future for him in his program, kid gets pushed in that direction.
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No scholarship, no NIL and more academics.
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Right- called college!
They are not mutually exclusive. But there should be the requirement that the players attend class and move towards graduation. Allowing players to maintain eligibility while not going to class and transferring after the season for a new contract is a joke in “college” basketball
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Yes, I agree completely. Kids who get off track academically almost immediately and then transfer multiple times is terrible. A lot of those kids are in college for 4-5 years and don’t get a degree. As per your comment, a kid can probably take 12 credits 1st semester as a freshman, not go the class second semester and transfer.
I just want the CBS and ESPN reporters to ask the players about their favorite classes, the most interesting thing they learned in college, what they are majoring in, etc., rather than “what does it mean to you to achieve X?” or “what does it say about this team that….?” Let’s at least get some level of reality on the table about the academic status and engagement of these college basketball players.
And if that seems too mean, perhaps the old concept of just putting them on staff like the IT folks and the maintenance crews and not pretending that they are students would be the answer.
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