2025 Transfer Portal

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Re: NIL Money - Post # 208

Fieldhouse Flyer - what I really want to know is what your opinions are regarding the portal system and whether or not Shaka made a mistake by not taking any transfers in to improve the team. Please post in the 2025 Transfer Portal thread. Thanks!

My considered opinion is that the portal system, in its present unlimited incarnation, sucks more than anything else in college basketball. I also believe that Shaka made a very serious mistake by not taking any transfers to improve the team. To wit:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025

There are at least 8 teams that will have a $10,000,000+ roster in college basketball next season, per @247Sports sources. Eight will prove to be too thin a crowd for college basketball's $10 million club. Based on a variety of sources, schools believed to be operating in the realm of this golden tier are:

Arkansas
BYU
Duke
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisville
Michigan
North Carolina
St. John's
Texas Tech
 
These programs either have $10 million committed already or are easily capable of reaching that total in roster-building efforts by the end of this year's transfer cycle. They are 2025's whales of the portal, loading up on most of the priciest players and drastically inflating the market in the process.

There's another group of schools a rung below this. Don't cry for these guys, as they're still hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes (but is not exclusive to) Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, and Virginia

2025 Transfer Basketball Team Rankings – CBS / 247Sports – updated Friday April 25, 2025

1. St. John's
8. Creighton
23. Providence
25. Georgetown
28. Xavier
37. UConn
39. Butler
53. Villanova
77. Seton Hall
83. DePaul

Ten of the eleven Big East teams have improved their rosters through portal acquisitions. Unfortunately, Shaka is the odd man out, which may come back to bite Marquette next season.

MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES 5-YEAR ROSTER – Verbal Commits

[Uncle Rico]

My considered opinion is that the portal system, in its present unlimited incarnation, sucks more than anything else in college basketball. I also believe that Shaka made a very serious mistake by not taking any transfers to improve the team. To wit:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025
2025 Transfer Basketball Team Rankings – CBS / 247Sports – updated Friday April 25, 2025
Ten of the eleven Big East teams have improved their rosters through portal acquisitions. Unfortunately, Shaka is the odd man out, which may come back to bite Marquette next season.

MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES 5-YEAR ROSTER – Verbal Commits

Dayton sucks

[Jay Bee]

How did Shaka build these successful rosters over the last few years?

Steve Dub.

[panda2.0]

How did Shaka build these successful rosters over the last few years?

Transfers

[Zog from Margo]

I'm not sure if I'm completely missing your point but here we are -

Marquette should never be in the same recruiting pool as Boise state. It's great they found an unbanked recruit and he turned into an nba prospect. Those types of players 1. Don't grow on trees and 2. Are rarely/if ever ready to contribute at a level above what the Mwc is.

Marquette earned a 2 seed to of the last three seasons. Without looking, I would guess the best seed Boise received in the last 10 years is an 8 seed. Boise isn't in the same stratosphere as Marquette.

They can afford to take risks on unheralded players. If Marquette wants to maintain their stature built in the last five seasons, they cannot afford to take those risks.

Great for Boise that it turned out for degenhart and he stayed for all four years. For every degenhart there are 10 Caedin hamilton's and Keeyan's. The juice isn't worth the squeeze when there are present roster needs to stay competitive.

The issue is whether Shaka can assess talent and assess the trajectory of talent. You're effectively saying he can't. You need the confirmation of another high major coach extending an offer to believe that Shaka's assessment is correct. If Shaka recruited the kid who went to Boise state and he turned into an All BE player, you'd be upset because the kid didn't have other offers. You ignore that other high major coaches regularly make mistakes in recruiting. Bo Ryan and Dick Bennett often recruited relatively unheralded players and had programs that were better than MU's. Bill Colfield recruited all sorts of guys with lots of high major offers and he wasn't nearly as successful as Bennett or Ryan. In any event, you should just follow another team that lives in the portal. MU doesn't so you won't be happy.

BTW, how much did you give to MU's NIL fund? Just wanted to get a handle on the depth of your convictions.

[We R Final Four]

Transfers

Where did Kam transfer from?
Jop? Stevie? Oso?

[wadesworld]

My considered opinion is that the portal system, in its present unlimited incarnation, sucks more than anything else in college basketball. I also believe that Shaka made a very serious mistake by not taking any transfers to improve the team. To wit:

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025
2025 Transfer Basketball Team Rankings – CBS / 247Sports – updated Friday April 25, 2025
Ten of the eleven Big East teams have improved their rosters through portal acquisitions. Unfortunately, Shaka is the odd man out, which may come back to bite Marquette next season.

MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES 5-YEAR ROSTER – Verbal Commits

Nobody cares. You should worry more about Dayton missing the Tournament.

[panda2.0]

The issue is whether Shaka can assess talent and assess the trajectory of talent. You're effectively saying he can't. You need the confirmation of another high major coach extending an offer to believe that Shaka's assessment is correct. If Shaka recruited the kid who went to Boise state and he turned into an All BE player, you'd be upset because the kid didn't have other offers. You ignore that other high major coaches regularly make mistakes in recruiting. Bo Ryan and Dick Bennett often recruited relatively unheralded players and had programs that were better than MU's. Bill Colfield recruited all sorts of guys with lots of high major offers and he wasn't nearly as successful as Bennett or Ryan. In any event, you should just follow another team that lives in the portal. MU doesn't so you won't be happy.

BTW, how much did you give to MU's NIL fund? Just wanted to get a handle on the depth of your convictions.

Should Marquette recruit from the same pool as Boise state?

[wadesworld]

Should Marquette recruit from the same pool as Boise state?

But you want us to hit the portal for guys that we are way above recruiting in the same pool as the schools they're at.

[Scoop Snoop]

In any event, you should just follow another team that lives in the portal. MU doesn't so you won't be happy.

BTW, how much did you give to MU's NIL fund? Just wanted to get a handle on the depth of your convictions.

Waiting to see if there is a response to your suggestion and question.

[DoctorV]

I saw 5 unread pages in this thread and I thought to myself "wow there must've been a lot of activity/movement today in the portal"

.... Then I read a bunch of stuff about Boise St

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Caedin is a unique case. He was originally a 2024 recruit and was a late bloomer. He was a 3-star in the 2024 class. When players reclassify in the middle of the summer, recruiting services often don't update their profiles with where they rank in their new class. That's how Caedin became a 0-star. According to Ben Steele, Caedin had official visit offers from Gonzaga and Colorado. According to Caedin's high school coach, he was getting recruited by several Big 10 and PAC 12 (RIP) programs.

I don't know if Caedin will ever become a high-major player. I do believe he has high major passing ability for a big. I think he could become a decent rebounder and shot blocker. But that offense is...woof. He can draw fouls, but not much else.

I'm certainly not against the transfer portal. But I don't think having Caedin Hamilton on the roster has much to do with the transfer portal.

I'm okay with not being in the portal this season. Current reports are that 2,320 players have entered the portal. That's a new record from last season's reported 2,083. It's a new record despite an abnormally large senior class exhausting his eligibility due to this being (mostly) the last year of the COVID years (And to keep JayBee from pointing it out some of the record 2,320 are seniors who have exhausted their eligibility and are hoping for a waiver to be allowed a 9th year or whatever we're up to now). This means that a ton of teams have a lot of holes to fill, but there are fewer quality players in the portal because most of those COVID seniors are gone. To illustrate this point, Al Amadou is currently tied as the 353rd best transfer according to 247. Isaiah Abraham who barely played at UConn is tied for 293rd. These rankings aren't perfect of course, but it shows that there are likely only maybe 200ish high-major ready players in the portal right now. So, 75ish high-major and top mid-major teams are competing for 200ish high-major ready transfers. And most of those teams are hoping for three or more. Hell, Indiana, UCF, Iowa, Maryland, and Xavier have already combined for 42 transfers between the five of them.

This creates a basic supply and demand issue. High-major teams need more transfers than ever before, but there are fewer high-major-ready transfers available. This is going to result in non-high-major players demanding high-major levels of compensation and high-major teams relying on non-high major players for significant minutes.

The transfer market is nuts right now. I think it will get settled in the next few seasons.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025

There are at least 8 teams that will have a $10,000,000+ roster in college basketball next season, per @247Sports sources. 

Arkansas
BYU
Duke
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisville
Michigan
North Carolina
St. John's
Texas Tech
 
These programs either have $10 million committed already or are easily capable of reaching that total in roster-building efforts by the end of this year's transfer cycle. They are 2025's whales of the portal, loading up on most of the priciest players and drastically inflating the market in the process.

There's another group of schools hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, and Virginia

College basketball rankings: Transfer class fuels St. John's rise to No. 2 - Gary Parrish, CBS Sports - April 24, 2025

2. St. John's
This ranking is based on the Red Storm returning one of the top two scorers -- specifically Zuby Ejiofor -- from a team that finished 31-5 and advanced to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. That core will be joined by a recruiting class highlighted by North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson, Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins, Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon, Cincinnati transfer Dillon Mitchell, Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers and international prospect Imran Suljanovic.

4. UConn
This ranking is based on the Huskies returning four of the top seven scorers -- specifically Solo Ball, Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed and Jaylin Stewart -- from a team that finished 24-11 and advanced to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. That core will be joined by a recruiting class highlighted by Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr., Dayton transfer Malachi Smith, five-star freshman Braylon Mullins and four-star freshman Eric Reibe.

Big money buys good players.

[tower912]

It always has.  Right now, big money is buying mediocre players.   I think the pieces to be successful are already on the MU roster.

[tower912]

Thank you, TAMU, for the reminder about Hamilton's high school rank, suitors, and that Shaka swooped in and talked him out of a year at prep school.
  Thank you for the perspective on talent available in the portal.  Amadou is ranked in the top 20%.   Would he have seen the floor next season?

If Josh Clark had gone to Sam Houston State, averaged 7/5, and entered the portal, would MU be able to win a bidding war to get him?

How about Royce?  Ben?

[Uncle Rico]

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025
College basketball rankings: Transfer class fuels St. John's rise to No. 2 - Gary Parrish, CBS Sports - April 24, 2025
Big money buys good players.

Dayton sucks

[panda2.0]

Where did Kam transfer from?
Jop? Stevie? Oso?

Mostly Wojo.

Omax, Kolek, Morsell?

[Uncle Rico]

I saw 5 unread pages in this thread and I thought to myself "wow there must've been a lot of activity/movement today in the portal"

.... Then I read a bunch of stuff about Boise St

No suggestions of who Marquette should target or should have targeted in this portal cycle

[DoctorV]

Thank you, TAMU, for the reminder about Hamilton's high school rank, suitors, and that Shaka swooped in and talked him out of a year at prep school.
  Thank you for the perspective on talent available in the portal.  Amadou is ranked in the top 20%.  Would he have seen the floor next season?

If Josh Clark had gone to Sam Houston State, averaged 7/5, and entered the portal, would MU be able to win a bidding war to get him?

How about Royce?  Ben?

Shaka wouldn't have tried to get Josh if he would have gone to SH state, he would've just recruited a different project big.

Royce nope, he would have fetched a lot if he entered the portal this off season.
That's the best part of Shaka's system- quality players have been sticking around year in and year out.
The Parham/Owens combo recruitment is probably going to be one of the most important in Shaka's tenure at Marquette.
It would be really great if both of those guys became very good BE players because we likely get 3 more seasons of them.

As for Clark/Hamilton- the way I look at that is that if 1 of those 2 becomes a starting level BE player- Ben Gold quality or better- then it's fine if the other is a solid role player backup 5 for a few seasons. Completely different body types and uses at that position and both will be needed at different times if serviceable.
My money would be on Clark becoming a BE quality starter and Caedin a solid backup giving 10-12mpg.

If neither reach that Ben Gold type level then whoops, hopefully Sheek comes aboard?
Is he more of a 4 or a 5?
Now, if Clark becomes an Oso type quality player then Shaka will be cooking.
I really hope Clark can figure out defensive positioning/not getting lost and not fouling because his length can really play in Shaka's system

[tower912]

I see the long term floors of Clark and Hamilton as Burke and Ooze.  I think both have higher ceilings than their respective comps.

[DoctorV]

No suggestions of who Marquette should target or should have targeted in this portal cycle

Not from me. I've found comfort in the idea that I won't hear any Marquette portal news, and if I do it'll be a pleasant surprise.

I just more-so wonder who Rick and guys like Rick are picking up for next year, because it's a long offseason

[The Sultan]

No suggestions of who Marquette should target or should have targeted in this portal cycle

Just whining from the typical chicken-littles.

[Uncle Rico]

Just whining from the typical chicken-littles.

I don't disagree with the general point.  It's fine to augment the roster with the portal but Marquette isn't going from Shaka's creed, for better or worse.  He isn't portaling over players.

That also means he isn't going to get top transfers.  Those guys want the bag and minutes.  Until players start portaling out, people will just have to stamp their feet.

If you want to see massive roster overhaul, you might as well cheer for this year to be a colossal failure and force a reevaluation. 

[jfp61]

The $10 million club: College basketball's portal recruiting hits unthinkable levels of financial chaos - CBS Sports – April 17, 2025
College basketball rankings: Transfer class fuels St. John's rise to No. 2 - Gary Parrish, CBS Sports - April 24, 2025
Big money buys good players.

you donating the exta 3 million dollars they waste getting Aidan Mahaney and Joson Sanon who don't defender at all?

[We R Final Four]

Mostly Wojo.

Omax, Kolek, Morsell?

Year 1 to field a team......not Shaka's long term approach obviously. Its not that hard to understand really.