CBS: How the transfer trend has altered the way coaches recruit at AAU level

[BleedGopher]

per CBS:

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.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...-altered-the-way-coaches-recruit-at-aau-level

Go Gophers!!

 

[EG#9]

It's interesting that guys with out the shady/sleazy rep were enthusiastic about taking transfers. If this is the prevailing attitude among college coaches now, then I think the transfer market will get even crazier over the next 5 years. Only X number of years ago, a player transferring pretty much had to go to a certain type of program (unless that player was transferring from a smaller school ex:Ohnstadt here).

I have wondered if it might benefit a school like Minnesota that's not one of the handful of elite schools to have one of their coaches spend part of his time recruiting developing relationships with blue chips that they know they have little/no chance of landing out of HS with the idea that a relationship will be established if that player decides to transfer later on in his career.

I was shocked the Gophers were not more active on the transfer market this Spring and that they decided to take Lofton. Time will tell on that decision obviously, but in the future I think it is smart business to hold a scholarship open for a potential transfer addition. Then again, I believe we have had a scholarship defection almost every year for 15 years or so (more common than you would think around the country), so maybe we can just bank on having that scholarship open up on its own. Of course, sometimes it's nice to have that scholarship available so you can take a kid who leaves mid school year.

 

[corcoran1]

It's interesting that guys with out the shady/sleazy rep were enthusiastic about taking transfers. If this is the prevailing attitude among college coaches now, then I think the transfer market will get even crazier over the next 5 years. Only X number of years ago, a player transferring pretty much had to go to a certain type of program (unless that player was transferring from a smaller school ex:Ohnstadt here).

I have wondered if it might benefit a school like Minnesota that's not one of the handful of elite schools to have one of their coaches spend part of his time recruiting developing relationships with blue chips that they know they have little/no chance of landing out of HS with the idea that a relationship will be established if that player decides to transfer later on in his career.

I was shocked the Gophers were not more active on the transfer market this Spring and that they decided to take Lofton. Time will tell on that decision obviously, but in the future I think it is smart business to hold a scholarship open for a potential transfer addition. Then again, I believe we have had a scholarship defection almost every year for 15 years or so (more common than you would think around the country), so maybe we can just bank on having that scholarship open up on its own. Of course, sometimes it's nice to have that scholarship available so you can take a kid who leaves mid school year.

Quality transfers with a proven ability to play are in high demand. With programs the equivalent of MSU taking these guys now, getting good transfers for a developing program is at least as hard as getting good high school players. In fact it is probably harder because everyone knows for sure they can play, and proven players can choose established winners virtually every time unless here are off-court problems associated with the player.
Unless we originally came in second or close during the first recruiting cycle, I think it would mostly be a waste of time now. Once a winning program established, it would probably work. Just like everything else in sports is easier when you are successful, e.g. high school recruiting, fund raising, pay raises, keeping good staff members, positive press coverage, alumni support, summer camp income.