The new landscape of college basketball with NIL and the transfer portal has completely shaken up the sport into a whole new realm. And this season, the portal is as hectic as it's ever been.
The portal opened on March 24th, and the amount of entries on just the first day alone shattered previous records. On the first day of the transfer portal opening, over 1,700 players entered it on the men's side. This broke the past record of transfer portal entries on opening day which was at just 291. Almost 900 players on the women's side are already in the portal as well.
Some of these names are former highly-touted prospects as well, such as Mackenzie Mgbako, Mookie Cook, or Joson Sanon.
With all of the chaos that's arising with the portal and the new opportunities that come with it, some think that its opening during the NCAA Tournament is bad for the sport of college basketball.
College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein shared his strong opinions on why the portal should be opened at least a week later moving forward than it was this season.
The transfer portal opening in the middle of the NCAA Tournament is terrible for college basketball. pic.twitter.com/5AlMpGYGlV
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 27, 2025
"The transfer portal right now in college basketball being open in the guts of the NCAA Tournament is a terrible thing for the sport...College basketball is celebrated and college basketball is revered because of the NCAA Tournament," Rothstein said. "It is the greatest postseason and the greatest event that we have in sports, and putting the transfer portal and the opening of the transfer portal in the middle of all that takes attention from the showcasing from the event that everybody looks forward to, and it is also the apex of the sport."
Rothstein makes a ton of sense here and many fans and analysts around college basketball would agree. The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament is right in the middle of the biggest event this sport has, and with how many athletes utilize the transfer portal nowadays, especially big-time recruits, attention can be taken away from the very tournament that makes college basketball so beloved around the nation.
The analyst had some suggestions, such as making it a week later after the Elite Eight is over or after the tournament altogether.
"If you want to move it to the Tuesday after the national title game, that would be ideal. But we can't continue to just drop the transfer portal opening in the middle of the NCAA Tournament."
Now, it hasn't been reported that the Duke basketball program is dealing with any drama regarding the portal with its season still going on, but the chaos that is the portal in this day and age of college basketball takes glory away from the NCAA Tournament, and the opening of it needs to be pushed back after this season.