College Basketball Transfer Portal Sets Record On Day 1 Of New 60-Day Window With 30% Of Teams Still Playing In Postseason

The transfer portal era of college sports, coupled with Name, Image and Likeness, has created a period of unprecedented player movement across the NCAA. Take Monday for example.

College basketball's transfer portal set a record on Monday. (Graphic assets via Getty Images)

For the majority of teams in men's college basketball, the season came to a close with the conference tournaments last week and/or last weekend. There are 358 teams in the country, and only 116 of them are still playing in either the NCAA Tournament, NIT or CBI.

So 242 teams are done for the year and players across the country are now seeking a new home for 2023 through the transfer portal. End-of-bench guys who couldn't crack the lineup at their current program are looking for a chance to play. Stars at mid-major schools are seeking the opportunity to play at the high-major level.

And then there's the financial element. Stars at the high-major level might choose to seek more money through NIL with a new program.

However, where in the past it was a free-for-all, the NCAA recently implemented new rules on player movement and the portal. That includes the new 60-day "window" in which a college basketball player can officially enter the transfer portal.

Anyone who enters the portal during this period will be immediately eligible if it is their first time transferring. Anyone who enters the portal after this period will have to apply for a waiver. Graduate transfers are exempt from this rule and can transfer at any time.

The 2023 60-day transfer portal "window" opened Monday.

It will close May 11.

Although the new regulations provide some coherency to the transfer process, as players aren't entering the portal at random times throughout the year, it created something of a "Black Monday," if you will. The same thing happened in college football.

On the day that the portal opens, players who have been chomping at the bit to enter the transfer portal all do so at the same time— on Monday. That led to a record amount of players looking to leave.

More than 170 players (!!) entered the college basketball transfer portal before 7 p.m. EST on the first day that it was open. Considering that college basketball teams are allowed to have 15 players on their roster (many don't), approximately 5% of players on teams that are not still playing entered the portal in just the first few hours that it was open.