Portal Poachers: The New Recruiting
The college recruiting landscape is changing. Our thoughts on the transfer portal and what every program should put into it to be successful
The nature of collegiate recruitment has changed. There were 1779 transfer students within, in, or out of Division I college basketball last year, according to Verbal Commits. That’s the equivalent of the 13 available scholarships on 137 college rosters — about nine or ten conferences worth of teams.
High school recruitment outside of top-tier three-stars and above is occurring less frequently, pushing those players to prep schools for extra years and lower levels like Division II. Even those sought-after top-tier recruits are more frequently walking nontraditional paths, going to programs like Overtime Elite or G-League Ignite.
The proliferation of the transfer portal in an era where the NCAA approves nearly every transfer waiver and athletes have an extra year of eligibility from COVID has created an even more rigid hierarchy in college hoops. The major conference programs are looking to mid-majors and low-majors for impactful players that can come in and play right away. In essence, the schools at the top of the hierarchy can stay old and stay good, simultaneously attracting those top recruits while adding veterans from other programs.
That phenomenon is driven, in large part, to the NIL legislation that has passed and affords financial opportunities to these young men that aren’t readily available at their current schools. Those are life-changing opportunities, and it would be foolish for a player not to explore their options, especially considering many of them dream about playing under the bright lights and at the highest levels of competition.
It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Major conference programs have more pressure to win now. ADs and boosters know there are pathways to win immediately, to quickly turn around a program via the transfer portal, and patience with new staffs or multiple poor seasons in a row is rare. In order to make room for those additions via transfer portal, there have to be players that move down, and major conference programs will revoke scholarships for guys after a disappointing season.
The transfer portal isn’t just for these big programs, even if they have a distinct advantage to get the best and most proven players out of it. Mid-majors and low-majors can take second chances on retreads and former major conference guys — and it can change their program.
We still vehemently believe in recruiting young guys and the value of player development. In no way should the transfer portal be the only place schools look for players and be what they use to completely replace high school recruiting. But it’s a great way to augment rosters and, at this point, a necessity for all programs to not just monitor but master.
We have a few ideas for how college programs can utilize the transfer market, or at least what they should be doing to monitor transfers proactively. College basketball’s world isn’t as large as you may think; information on who will be looking to the portal is often out there far before guys formally enter, and they rarely enter to move up conferences without knowing what their potential interest will look like. Staying ahead of the curve isn’t rocket science, but there are ways for all three levels (high major, mid-major, low major) to do so effectively.
High-Major Programs
Some programs are already doing this, so please don’t assume we’re trying to be revolutionary or have great foresight. But it’s an incredibly effective model for the programs that have the means to make it happen. Not every high-major program will be able to do this; what happens at North Carolina is different than what happens at Washington State. Still, the model can be best-prepared for each spot to the best of its ability — and should still be able to beat out mid-major programs head to head.
At a bare minimum, all teams in a Power Conference should beef up their basketball support staff roles. While the NCAA has limits on full-time coaches and hands on deck on-court, we’re seeing growth across the board in support staff roles, particularly with scouting coordinators, recruiting directors, and the like. Teams are getting run more like NBA front offices, and we’re a few years away from these recruiting directors being closer to equal footing with assistant coaches as opposed to supporting roles for young and hungry coaches.
Actionably, we see a three-step approach that any of these programs can use regardless of staffing level, budget or status.
Step #1: Talent Identification. The time to start with this is, frankly, in early January. Looking at statistical producers from lower leagues, putting feelers out there to AAU coaches for guys who are unhappy at other high-major programs, and starting to look at needs for next year’s roster can take shape around this time. It typically takes 6-8 weeks of the season to figure out your own roster and which young guys you can project to help immediately or long-term. Once the dust settles from that, preparing a board of target positions/ skill sets, followed by the names from lower leagues worth monitoring the rest of the way, help programs be proactive and prepared for the transfer portal.
Timing is difficult. Most mid-major guys who enter the portal do so during the NCAA Tournament. Good teams that keep playing into March have good players, meaning they could have plenty of spots to fill from players who turn pro or graduate. When these guys hit the portal, the program has to be ready, and ready quickly. Having a deep network and putting feelers out there early is vital, as is preparation for who to go after.
Step #2: NIL Coordination. Coaching staffs need to coordinate with their boosters, alumni and athletic director to have ready-made NIL deals for athletes before they walk into the school on a recruiting visit. It needs to be part of the pitch at the time of first contact, and it needs to be readily detailed: what the money looks like, what the asks of the athlete will be to make it happen, what other potential perks come with it. Also important: what other guys on the team are getting/ able to get. Coaches need to be able to prepare their answer to this question and either be transparent or have a great way with words to slither out of that one.
Step #3: Know and sell the right opportunity. While this doesn’t sound very different than a normal recruiting pitch on the surface, it’s worth knowing that the typical “stars and bright lights” pitch doesn’t always work with guys who have already walked the walk and gone through a successful college career. They come prepared with questions that have more substance and need them answered accurately. You can sell them on a vision and the right role, on their growth to become pros, but simply make sure the pitch is a little more nuanced than with younger guys.
Mid-Majors
At the mid-major level, programs have the distinct privilege of being able to pull from both above and below. When poaching from below, many of the same concepts from above apply. Having staff dedicated to finding talent at that level may not be financially feasible for everyone, but at least delineating responsibilities among the staff is important. NIL preparation can help win recruiting battles over other players at their level.
Realistically, the onus is on these teams to find the right retreads from Power Conferences that are available on the market. The right mid-major in a good league can fend off other power conference schools they’ll compete with if what they offer is minutes; often guys at that point just want to go where they feel they will play. However, a lot of work needs to go into figuring out why the player didn’t make it at his prior spot.
Sometimes the best places to go? Back to high school and AAU coaches.
That’s the biggest reason why we applaud coaches like Todd Golden at Florida for going out to watch AAU games even if they aren’t recruiting any of the guys on that team. It’s all about developing those relationships, and the players who move down a peg in college tend to fall back on their prior relationships to help guide them to a place that makes them happy. Win over the support system and keep strong ties with those AAU coaches (even when not recruiting those guys) and you have a leg up on the competition.
Low Majors
Man, it’s tough to be a low-major program right now. Budgets are tight, good college leagues are poaching the players you put so much time and effort into developing, and program continuity is difficult to attain as a result. Let’s be somewhat clear here: low major teams aren’t losing 6-8 guys a year en masse. What they are losing are their best players, and that’s a blow that hurts.
We could keep talking about the trickle-down effect, how guys from the programs above will be looking for homes and can head to these low majors. Many of the transfers they get are actually from players on a similar level; those who enter the portal and strike out elsewhere or are acutely aware of their level and just need a change of scenery.
To me, the real opportunity is in expanding coverage of Division II and JuCo programs, as well as beefing up freshman recruiting. There are quality players that get overlooked because of the proliferation of transfers and the extra COVID year. It’s caused a backup on the high school end, keeping good players unsigned longer and Division I caliber guys pushed to other routes and levels.
That’s where investing in recruiting-specific staff at the low-major levels can really come in handy. Having a person on staff whose job is simply to dig deep and find those obscure gems can be invaluable to keeping the roster fully stocked. Bryant University got mocked a bit for their volunteer position listed as “Director of Roster Management and Portal Relations”, but it’s honestly a very smart way to go about business at their level. More eyes and ears can only help those who must cast a wide net across multiple different channels.
A Plan to Help
Here’s where content meets a plan of action from us at The Box and One. Over the next few weeks, we’ll do a dive into some of the best players, conference by conference, who could be targets for other programs to look at next month. Our focus will be on younger guys, not grad transfers, as it’s really difficult to predict who would want to take an extra year of eligibility.
We do a ton of deep dives here at The Box and One with an NBA Draft focus. Sometimes the way to find the right future draft sleepers is to find them while they’re at lower levels of college hoops. If that can be beneficial to mid-major programs (and to the players within them), then it’s a worthwhile endeavor that isn’t just self-serving.