The new thing: fake-recruiting for future transfers

[Jason Svoboda]

Now here's something so deliciously diabolical, it could only happen in college sports. The new rule that allows for all college athletes to be immediately eligible after transferring for the first time has brought about one of those unintended consequences that we're always hearing about. So here's how it's playing out right now, according to a few coaches I spoke with.

1) With the transfer rule being what it is, many players will probably leave for another school after their freshman or sophomore seasons. (This past season saw more than 1,800 players enter the portal.)

2) Many of those players will transfer because they are good but not getting the amount of minutes or touches to satisfy them.

3) What's starting to happen now is coaches are fake-recruiting players out of high school. By that I mean: there are some coaches -- allegedly -- who are recruiting players under the guise of showing interest to have them commit out of high school, but in reality they DON'T want that commitment out of high school. Instead, they want to play the field. For varying reasons, they want to player to start somewhere else in college. But the scheming coaches want to establish the relationship now, so that if and when that player eventually transfers, a relationship has already been developed. Even better: the player, in theory, will be more college-ready. The first school did the heavy lifting with development. Now it's time to scoop up the goods. And since the player already has an established connection with a coach or two on a staff, it makes the portal recruiting process that much easier to navigate.

It's not something happening everywhere, but multiple coaches at different levels of the sport swear it's going on.

LeBron James watches Bronny, Emoni Bates may have been overhyped and other takeaways from Nike EYBL

Nike's biggest event in grassroots basketball started last week and will culminate with the Peach Jam this weekend

www.cbssports.com

 

[King of Jones Hall]

Now here's something so deliciously diabolical, it could only happen in college sports. The new rule that allows for all college athletes to be immediately eligible after transferring for the first time has brought about one of those unintended consequences that we're always hearing about. So here's how it's playing out right now, according to a few coaches I spoke with.

1) With the transfer rule being what it is, many players will probably leave for another school after their freshman or sophomore seasons. (This past season saw more than 1,800 players enter the portal.)

2) Many of those players will transfer because they are good but not getting the amount of minutes or touches to satisfy them.

3) What's starting to happen now is coaches are fake-recruiting players out of high school. By that I mean: there are some coaches -- allegedly -- who are recruiting players under the guise of showing interest to have them commit out of high school, but in reality they DON'T want that commitment out of high school. Instead, they want to play the field. For varying reasons, they want to player to start somewhere else in college. But the scheming coaches want to establish the relationship now, so that if and when that player eventually transfers, a relationship has already been developed. Even better: the player, in theory, will be more college-ready. The first school did the heavy lifting with development. Now it's time to scoop up the goods. And since the player already has an established connection with a coach or two on a staff, it makes the portal recruiting process that much easier to navigate.

It's not something happening everywhere, but multiple coaches at different levels of the sport swear it's going on.

LeBron James watches Bronny, Emoni Bates may have been overhyped and other takeaways from Nike EYBL

Nike's biggest event in grassroots basketball started last week and will culminate with the Peach Jam this weekend

www.cbssports.com

I have actually thought it made sense for ISU to be in on some guys that we might have little chance with, for this very reason. Maybe a guy goes to a Power 5 but doesn’t like that he isn’t playing. A year or two later he remembers how much he liked the ISU staff, and bingo, we have a transfer from a big school that we didn’t have a realistic chance of getting out of high school.

 

[hans1950]

Have to wonder what percentage of players will actually benefit from the new rule. At least they will have options` I guess.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Have to wonder what percentage of players will actually benefit from the new rule. At least they will have options` I guess.

Yep, they will have options but it will be a net negative overall for the kids. We've already seen the velocity pick up with the number of transfers increasing year over year so as that continues to grow, it will end with many kids not walking away with a degree after participating in the system. Programs cannot get caught without players so they will work to fill their openings and you'll essentially have one big game of musical chairs.

Because the system is being pushed by and advocated for by the players, coaches will also feel less obligated to honor four-year scholarships. So you'll end up seeing more and more kids get cut even at lower levels as coaches focus on winning more. Some programs that is a third, fourth or even fifth focus, especially at low major schools where the deck is stacked against them so they try to program build.

Lots of kids will end up without a seat. When you consider the minute number of kids that end up playing professional basketball, that degree (and coming out without any college debt) is such a leg up in life that they don't realize or appreciate.

 

[dino]

Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish discuss this topic and the changing landscape of recruiting on the most recent episode of Eye on College Basketball Podcast. I’m not sure how to attach that but it’s worth a listen to get different viewpoints on how this is happening. They spend about the last 20 minutes of the pod talking about recruiting.
Parrish basically gives a bunch of off the record examples of how coaches are dealing with the new rules. I definitely recommend it to anybody and everybody.

 

[dino]

‎Eye On College Basketball: EYBL takeaways; Jalen Duren might play in college this fall; Emoni Bates didn't deserve to be overhyped (College Basketball 07/20) on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Eye On College Basketball, Ep EYBL takeaways; Jalen Duren might play in college this fall; Emoni Bates didn't deserve to be overhyped (College Basketball 07/20) - Jul 20, 2021

podcasts.apple.com

Skip to 49 minutes in for the recruiting talk.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish discuss this topic and the changing landscape of recruiting on the most recent episode of Eye on College Basketball Podcast. I’m not sure how to attach that but it’s worth a listen to get different viewpoints on how this is happening. They spend about the last 20 minutes of the pod talking about recruiting.
Parrish basically gives a bunch of off the record examples of how coaches are dealing with the new rules. I definitely recommend it to anybody and everybody.

Do they focus on any viewpoints outside of high majors?

 

[dino]

Do they focus on any viewpoints outside of high majors?

They do give an example from one mid major coach. That coach said he would try to use that as an advantage when competing with high major programs. You could try to sell to a high school athlete that they can play 30 minutes at a mid major or be the 4th best freshman that gets very little minutes on a high major. The coach does that understanding that the player could play his way into high major offers as an upper class men. The mid major coach understands the system and wants to sell his program as a stepping stone for freshman who want to play right away. They joke about treating mid majors as a triple aaa program where you play your way to the majors.

 

[dino]

From your original post I feel like Norlander did a good job of conveying that coaches are frustrated that this is happening. Parrish removes the emotion and describes how many coaches are adapting their recruiting philosophies with the new transfer rules.

As this relates to isu…if they can get this thing rolling it’s something that they will need to adapt to. I saw/heard coach Schertz talk about how he had one guy go D1 from LMU. He seems to have a confidence about recruiting players who will want to stick within the system. Having sustained success probably helped guys buy in at LMU when they could’ve transferred up.

 

[King of Jones Hall]

From your original post I feel like Norlander did a good job of conveying that coaches are frustrated that this is happening. Parrish removes the emotion and describes how many coaches are adapting their recruiting philosophies with the new transfer rules.

As this relates to isu…if they can get this thing rolling it’s something that they will need to adapt to. I saw/heard coach Schertz talk about how he had one guy go D1 from LMU. He seems to have a confidence about recruiting players who will want to stick within the system. Having sustained success probably helped guys buy in at LMU when they could’ve transferred up.

Again though, as I mentioned in my reply above, it can go both ways. I think ISU should be recruiting with the idea of getting guys now, but also with the idea of planting seeds for future transfers from major programs.

 

[dino]

Again though, as I mentioned in my reply above, it can go both ways. I think ISU should be recruiting with the idea of getting guys now, but also with the idea of planting seeds for future transfers

I agree with you there.

 

[SycfromBirth]

Yep, they will have options but it will be a net negative overall for the kids. We've already seen the velocity pick up with the number of transfers increasing year over year so as that continues to grow, it will end with many kids not walking away with a degree after participating in the system. Programs cannot get caught without players so they will work to fill their openings and you'll essentially have one big game of musical chairs.

Because the system is being pushed by and advocated for by the players, coaches will also feel less obligated to honor four-year scholarships. So you'll end up seeing more and more kids get cut even at lower levels as coaches focus on winning more. Some programs that is a third, fourth or even fifth focus, especially at low major schools where the deck is stacked against them so they try to program build.

Lots of kids will end up without a seat. When you consider the minute number of kids that end up playing professional basketball, that degree (and coming out without any college debt) is such a leg up in life that they don't realize or appreciate.

How does this work with academic progress scores and graduation rates? Didn't the NCAA have a rule about a certain % of kids graduating over a certain span of years?

 

[Jason Svoboda]

How does this work with academic progress scores and graduation rates? Didn't the NCAA have a rule about a certain % of kids graduating over a certain span of years?

Complete afterthought. Many articles discussing this have ADs and coaches saying they are worrying how the rates will be affected. I think we're still too new into the immediate eligibility that we don't have data. I think you'll see the NCAA be forced to come up with some sort of waivers or adjusted calculation to remove kids that don't end up at another school, move levels, etc.