LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — When in doubt, portal.
I’m not talking about college basketball players lined up for miles to plunge into the NCAA transfer portal.
As one college coach explained to me, by the time players put their names in the portal, they know which schools are interested and how much money they can command.
“When the word gets out that you have NIL money, it’s like moths to a flame,” the coach said.
Flame on.
So, again, when in doubt, portal.
I’m talking about me.
The rebuilding of the Louisville, Kentucky and Indiana men’s basketball teams remains the topic du jour on the local sports scene, considering the considerable comings and goings on the local rosters.
Fierceness, Sierra Leone and $130 Churchill Downs infield tickets for the Kentucky Derby 150 day will have to wait. Let’s portal.
Question 1: How did acing the portal translate into success last season?
There are multiple ways to consider this one. There’s also one important thing to remember. The sample size is tiny. Last season was the first season of portal madness.
Coaches are scrambling to determine the sweet spot on how many veteran players they can integrate into a roster while maintaining locker room unity.
Some, like Pat Kelsey of Louisville and Mark Pope of Kentucky, will have to go strong and deep because their rosters were essentially empty when they took over at their new jobs.
Others, like Mike Woodson of Indiana, are shopping by need: A center (Oumar Ballo of Arizona); guards (Myles Rice of Washington State and Kanaan Carlyle of Stanford) and a shooter to be named later (perhaps Luke Goode of Illinois or Zach Anderson of Florida Gulf Coast).
On Wednesday morning, Indiana ranked first nationally in recruiting the portal at 247Sports. Louisville’s six commitments had the Cardinals No. 14. Kentucky was locked in a six-way tie for 51st with five other programs but the Wildcats have one commitment.
1. I’ll start by looking at the teams that ranked in the Top 10 in portal recruiting last season, according to the tracker at 247Sports.
Five of the Top 10 portal winners — West Virginia (No. 2); Villanova (4); St. John’s (6); Arkansas (7) and Ole Miss (9) — failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
TCU (3) made the tournament but did not win a game.
Kansas (1) and Texas (8) and exited in the Round of 32.
Gonzaga (10) ran into Purdue in the Sweet 16.
Alabama (5) was the Happy Ending story. Nate Oats recruited four guys from the portal. Two — guard Aaron Estrada and front-court player Grant Nelson — were major contributors to the Crimson Tide’s Final Four run while a third, guard Latrell Whitesell made 48 three-point shots in limited playing time.
The overall NCAA Tournament record of the top 10 portal teams was 8-5, with the Crimson Tide delivering half the wins.
Four Top 10 portal teams — Gonzaga, Alabama, St. John’s and Texas — finished in the Top 25 in Ken Pomeroy’s final computer power rankings.
Strength of schedule questions make overall records deceiving. I prefer to look at conference records. Those are more revealing. Only 4 of the Top 10 portal winners delivered winning conference records. That list featured Gonzaga (14-2); Alabama (13-5); Kansas (10-8) and St. John’s (11-9).
Everybody else was .500 or worse. You have been warned.
2. What about teams that made the Sweet Sixteen of the 2024 NCAA Tournament? Or Final Four squads? How did they score in the portal?
Connecticut had a low portal rating (No. 95) but their big catch, Cam Spencer from Rutgers, was one of the best and most efficient players in the tournament.
Purdue ranked No. 122 but Lance Jones helped shoot the Boilermakers to Phoenix. Bama ranked fifth. North Carolina State started five transfers and had the No. 25 class.
Overall the Sweet Sixteen teams broke down like this in the 2023 portal recruiting rankings.
Top 10 — Alabama, Gonzaga.
Top 25 — Arizona, North Carolina, Creighton, NC State.
Top 50 — Iowa State, Illinois, Clemson, Houston.
Top 75 — Tennessee.
The rest — UConn, San Diego State, Purdue, Marquette, Duke — did it with high school recruits and a solid recruiting group.
3. How about the schools that did king-sized portal rebuilds after last season? Programs that brought in six or more players, the situation that confronts U of L and UK?
I wish the news was more uplifting. But …
According to the information at 247Sports, 20 programs added six or more transfers prior to last season
Four — NC State, Florida, Utah State and Texas Tech — made the 68-team NCAA Field. West Virginia and Memphis added 10 portal players and whiffed on the post-season.
Chances are their coaches are back in the portal today.
Remember: When in doubt, portal.
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