Transfer Trend Changing AAU Recruiting

July 28, 2014 /

Having spent eight of the past 12 days on the recruiting trail and speaking with a couple dozen coaches, one thing is clear: college basketball recruiting has recently and appreciably been altered due to players already enrolled in Division I.

As anyone who’s followed the sport the past few years knows, there has much debate regarding transfers and whether the number of kids changing schools is good or bad. The most recent tally, by ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman, puts the 2014 transfer total at more than 625. As has been the case each year for the past half-decade, the latest transfer census is a record high.

Bleating from coaches be damned, the number of departures keeps going up.

Still, according to NCAA research, the percentage of D-I college basketball transfers (between 13 percent and 14 percent) is lower than the national average of college students opting to switch universities (closer to 20 percent) as undergrads. Some coaches still have issues with this; others have come to terms with it. Plenty believe it never has been nor will be a significant issue.

Regardless of opinion, here’s the undeniable side effect: Most coaching staffs now recruit in a different way than even two years ago — essentially stockpiling an open scholarship, sometimes two, because a good transfer (a better player in many cases) can hold more value than a freshman.

I spoke with coaches who admitted that unless they landed the two, three or four players for 2015 they really wanted, an open spot would be saved for a transfer next spring. Why worry about filling up the roster months ahead of time when it’s reasonable and acceptable to use that final spot come March, April or May with a transfer?

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