What Should Change About the ‘Transfer Epidemic”?

(Chicago, IL) – Forget the flu, the epidemic sweeping America is that of college basketball players transferring to other programs. Roughly 600 players have relocated in the past two years and it is affecting college programs large and small.

Former Missouri Valley Conference players Rayonte Rice (Illinois), Joey King (Minnesota) and Nick Zeisloft (Indiana) are transfers that will make a difference this year in the Big Ten and there are many reasons that players transfer, but for the traditional and romantic fans, players leaving State U to play for some other ‘enemy’ is a tragedy.

Head coaches in the Big Ten unanimously told me they aren’t fans of the epidemic either.

Whether the traveling player is of the instantly eligible graduate or the traditional sit out a year before you can play underclassman, the coaches believe changes to how transfers are handled is needed. Minnesota’s Richard Pitino told me when you lose out recruiting a high school student, “you better break up amicably.”

Pitino also told me he wishes the graduates weren’t immediately eligible.

 

Purdue’s Head Coach Matt Painter and Northwestern’s Chris Collins both think the rash of player movement speaks more to the attitudes of society’s desire for instant gratification than it does about a problem in with college basketball.

Painter says early departures make it hard for teams to grow up and as he says, “it’s tough to get older.”

 

Collins thinks the free-wheeling departures actually does a disservice to the players that should learn how to overcome adversity instead of just looking for an easier road. The Northwestern head man says nobody likes the current situation, but now there are three separate stages of recruiting.

 

It may not be as easy to move around as some think. Indiana’s Zeisloft says the journey from Illinois State to Indiana required that he jump through a lot of hoops.

 

One Big Ten official told me the NCAA and the conference are looking hard at the epidemic. That official told me college basketball would love to see a change in when players could become professionals. They would love to see basketball players have the same rules as their brethren from the baseball diamond. Those players can turn pro right out of high school or they have to wait until after their third year to move on.

If that can’t happen the official said even if the NBA would add a second year to the current ‘one-and-done’ rule the college game would improve. Those changes affect the transfer situation only in passing, but college basketball would benefit.

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