How well has hitting the transfer portal translated to wins?

[TankedCat]

I'm too lazy to do the research but seeing Kansas get slapped by UC after backing up a truckload of money to Hunter Hitman Dickenson, and then thinking about UK's challenges with portal success, I'm wondering

has any team hit the transfer portal - not just to get a complementary player but went heavy on the transfer portal and it resulted in the team leading their conference, making a final four run, whatever? I don't know about UT other than Knecht and while he is certainly the key player, they are also a veteran heavy team.

I'm wondering if there is proof the ROI is worth it? There may be multiple examples, I don't really keep up with this stuff.

 

[bthaunert]

I’m sure it’s pretty consistent that most teams have transfers that are a big part of their program. UConn’s top 2 scorers are both transfers. Houston’s leading scorer is a transfer. UT’s leading scorer is a transfer. I’m sure there are plenty more.

 

[TankedCat]

I’m sure it’s pretty consistent that most teams have transfers that are a big part of their program. UConn’s top 2 scorers are both transfers. Houston’s leading scorer is a transfer. UT’s leading scorer is a transfer. I’m sure there are plenty more.

ok, so it does make an impact of note

I knew I had a minor sampling from my POV

 

[AGEE11]

Miami paid a TON for transfers last year and made the Final 4.

Even had an existing player make a stink about a transfer getting more. Pack from K St was the transfer I think

 

[chroix]

I’m sure it’s pretty consistent that most teams have transfers that are a big part of their program. UConn’s top 2 scorers are both transfers. Houston’s leading scorer is a transfer. UT’s leading scorer is a transfer. I’m sure there are plenty more.

Our leading scorer is a transfer.

 

[chroix]

Oscar transferred here and had an amazing first season.

 

[Mike-D]

ok, so it does make an impact of note

I knew I had a minor sampling from my POV

Take Reeves and Tre Mitchell before he was injured this season, off the team, and find out. Of course it's impactful. Any team that doesn't actively use the portal, their head coach should be fired.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Just off the top of my head teams that had one or multiple transfer players playing a big role recently:

UCONN last two years
Miami Final Four
Kansas national champion
UNC final four
Baylor national champion
Gonzaga championship game
Texas Tech Final Four
……

 

[KA4Prez]

Not all transfers are the same.

A transfer, who was already good, and was recruited as a transfer to come in for a role (even a starring role) is NOT the same as a guy who was just a player who transferred. Half of players "transfer" at some point during their career, if it lasts more than a few years.

Now, regarding UK and the portal.

UK recruits better than any program. Their "transfers" are almost always going to be late additions who fill a specific role. Grady, Reeves, Mitchell, etc. The core will always be built through recruiting, but it's crucial to go to the portal and fill a role or two that you may lack due to injury or a gap in recruiting.

 

[TankedCat]

Take Reeves and Tre Mitchell before he was injured this season, off the team, and find out. Of course it's impactful. Any team that doesn't actively use the portal, their head coach should be fired.

I wasn't really focusing on a team that went to get 1 guy, I was talking about a team that was built with multiple portal guys.

 

[K_TIME]

It's hard to argue portal players are not a way to build a team that can win it all.....maybe not the entire roster but certainly part of the roster.

Houston - Top scorer is Baylor transfer
UConn - Top scorer is transfer from ECU, second leading scorer from Rutgers,
Purdue - 3rd leading scorer is transfer SIU
UNC - 3rd and 4th leading players from Stanford and Notre Dame
Tennessee - Knect thier best player from Northern Colorado

I'll throw Kentucky into that top tier of teams that can win this title....Reeves is our best player IMO...from portal.

So you can't really make an argument the portal can't work....it obviously has worked and would be foolish for Cal to revert to a majority high school roster which will be mostly led by Freshmen. For instance, it would be wrong to not go get a shooter/wing player to play (or lead) guys like Boogie, Richmond, Knox, Perry....assuming Reed goes NBA.

 

[truebluewildcat]

Overall, I think portal is and will be a wash.

For every team that gets a portal gem, there's dozens that won't sniff the tournament with their transfers.

People are cherry picking out successes, and that's great, but it's not like if most programs didn't receive any transfers that they wouldn't have any dudes in those roles. They would have dudes they recruited, developed, and who have come up with the rest of the team in those roles.

That's especially the case at top tier and blue blood programs. Honestly, the Cincinatties and Texas Techs of the world probably can make out. However, upper echelon programs losing dudes they recruited/developed and having to replace with guys coming from mid majors...more often than not probably going to draw the short straw.

"Well look at what our transfers on our team are doing..." yeah look at what our players who rolled out have done for other teams. We all know the Cal transfer out list by heart and the could've, would've, should've been.

Reeves is a baller, glad we have him, if he didn't come here somebody would be in that role most likely balling.

How many transfers have we had period, or were key on most if not all of Cal's FF sniffing/and title run teams?

I know we had transfers leading an NIT team, 9 win team, early loss to St. Pete, and KSU teams...

 

[JonathanW]

I'm too lazy to do the research but seeing Kansas get slapped by UC after backing up a truckload of money to Hunter Hitman Dickenson, and then thinking about UK's challenges with portal success, I'm wondering

has any team hit the transfer portal - not just to get a complementary player but went heavy on the transfer portal and it resulted in the team leading their conference, making a final four run, whatever? I don't know about UT other than Knecht and while he is certainly the key player, they are also a veteran heavy team.

I'm wondering if there is proof the ROI is worth it? There may be multiple examples, I don't really keep up with this stuff.

Every team hits the transfer portal, and is also hit by the transfer portal.
Should you expect to build your team around portal guys? No.
Can you use the portal to fill holes/gaps? Yes

Just off the top of my head, when UNC made that surprise run to the title game a month after being either considered one of the last 4 IN or one of the last 4 OUT, a big reason for that run was Portal guy Manek. I think Houston has also used Portal guys.
And reaching the F4, winning a championship, yes takes a good team, but it also takes luck. More often than not the best team does not win the title. That's how a OAD tournament works. Look at UT. Regardless of whether they win the title or even make the F4, is there any doubt that Knecht made them a significantly better team and greatly increased their chances of reaching those goals? No! Same for Reeves.

Yes some Portal guys are disappointments. Same can be said of some (probably as many if not more) Top Recruits. Bradshaw, Edwards much of this season, Livingston, Collins, Boston, Clarke, Askew, Ware, Whitney, Montgomery, Quickley (FR yr), Diallo, Vanderbilt. All disappointments as highly rated FR. Does that mean we should give up on building using highly rated FR? No! If you did then you would also miss out on Dillingham, Sheppard, Wallace, Tyty, PJ, Johnson, Jackson, Maxey, Herro.

There are more ways than one to build a successful team, a team capable of winning a championship.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

I’m sure it’s pretty consistent that most teams have transfers that are a big part of their program. UConn’s top 2 scorers are both transfers. Houston’s leading scorer is a transfer. UT’s leading scorer is a transfer. I’m sure there are plenty more.

UK's leading scorer is a transfer

 

[FitchandMurray29]

Not a splashy team or recognition but Florida cleaned up and built a team that’s solid almost only through the portal in 1 year with Clayton, Pullin, Samuel, and others.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Arkansas failed this year. The transfers didn't live up to the hype.

 

[Jeff2Reed]

Off topic a bit, but just imagine Reed and Dalton paired up this season with Dilly off the bench. Wagner killed any shot of that, but that would have been unreal.

 

[Stretch98]

And if you consider the football side, the impact has been monumental. Wan'Dale Robinson and Will Levis and Ray Davis and on and on.

 

[uk78]

We have heard Cal use the "grown men" excuse with some of our losses. Those players are typically a combination of mid-range players who have stayed in a program year after year (versus jumping to the NBA or elsewhere) and a portal Senior or two.

Right now people are back on the Cal bandwagon and our team looks very good. If there is a loss that bandwagon may crash.

 

[TriCountyCat]

Worked pretty well for this guy.

This is a team no one will want to play in the tournament.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...ournament-as-southland-conference-champs/amp/

 

[JC CATS]

Overall, I think portal is and will be a wash.

For every team that gets a portal gem, there's dozens that won't sniff the tournament with their transfers.

People are cherry picking out successes, and that's great, but it's not like if most programs didn't receive any transfers that they wouldn't have any dudes in those roles. They would have dudes they recruited, developed, and who have come up with the rest of the team in those roles.

That's especially the case at top tier and blue blood programs. Honestly, the Cincinatties and Texas Techs of the world probably can make out. However, upper echelon programs losing dudes they recruited/developed and having to replace with guys coming from mid majors...more often than not probably going to draw the short straw.

"Well look at what our transfers on our team are doing..." yeah look at what our players who rolled out have done for other teams. We all know the Cal transfer out list by heart and the could've, would've, should've been.

Reeves is a baller, glad we have him, if he didn't come here somebody would be in that role most likely balling.

How many transfers have we had period, or were key on most if not all of Cal's FF sniffing/and title run teams?

I know we had transfers leading an NIT team, 9 win team, early loss to St. Pete, and KSU teams...

There are teams that get transfers that font sniff the tournament, but if they didn't get the transfers would they have been as successful

 

[know1]

I'm too lazy to do the research but seeing Kansas get slapped by UC after backing up a truckload of money to Hunter Hitman Dickenson, and then thinking about UK's challenges with portal success, I'm wondering

has any team hit the transfer portal - not just to get a complementary player but went heavy on the transfer portal and it resulted in the team leading their conference, making a final four run, whatever? I don't know about UT other than Knecht and while he is certainly the key player, they are also a veteran heavy team.

I'm wondering if there is proof the ROI is worth it? There may be multiple examples, I don't really keep up with this stuff.

There's basically no objective way to measure it.