The NCAA, after a year of just watching how the new transfer portal rules and NIL laws would impact the college sports landscape, decided to finally stand up and take some action.
On Wednesday it was revealed the NCAA is enacting transfer windows for every sport, which will include a 60-day window for college basketball players. The window begins the Monday following Selection Sunday, meaning March will not only be madness because of the NCAA Tournament, but a flurry of transfer news as well.
Here is a full look at the NCAA’s transfer windows for every sport:
Fall sports: a 45-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in their sport, or May 1-15. Reasonable accommodations will be made for participants in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision championship games.
Winter sports: a 60-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in the sport.
Spring sports: Dec. 1-15, or a 45-day window beginning the day after selections are made in the sport.
Additionally, the NCAA board stated there will be exceptions for student athletes who have head coach change or other impact to their season out of their control, like we saw with the pandemic response.
“Like their peers in the general student population, college athletes choose to transfer for any number of reasons,” Georgia President and NCAA Board of Governors member Jere Morehead said. “We believe the changes enacted today enable member schools to adapt to students’ needs, while also positioning students for long-term academic success. These changes to NCAA rules recognize further study is needed on graduation rates before we consider authorizing multiple transfer opportunities with immediate eligibility. We will continue to review potential modifications to transfer rules as the landscape evolves over time.”
The big thing to watch here will be how this impacts players making decisions on the NBA draft. Last year, Gonzaga had a hard time landing key transfers early in the process, simply because the future of Drew Timme, Julian Strawther, and Rasir Bolton was very much up in the air.
If that problem arises again in future seasons, it may make it more difficult for players to be willing to commit to the program without knowing what exactly the roster will look like.
Of course, Gonzaga has managed to profit handsomely off the transfer portal in recent years, including this offseason when they added LSU big man Efton Reid and Chattanooga guard Malachi Smith – each who will contribute significantly to Mark Few’s squad in 2022-23.
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