{"id":970,"date":"2019-12-06T04:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/12\/06\/2019125college-basketballs-free-agency-the-transfer-portal\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:22:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:22:32","slug":"2019125college-basketballs-free-agency-the-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/12\/06\/2019125college-basketballs-free-agency-the-transfer-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball\u2019s Free Agency: The Transfer Portal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">By Bryan Schwartz<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Imagine a LinkedIn-style site for college athletes who want to attend a new school. Aaron Falzon experienced the real thing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cI put my name in,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/gobobcats.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/aaron-falzon\/8104\">Falzon<\/a>, who now attends Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. \u201cI went to go write my 20-page paper. 30 minutes later I had four emails, two texts and five missed calls, and I was like, what is going on?\u201d<\/p>\n<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-below\n          design-layout-inline\n          combination-animation-none\n          individual-animation-none\n          individual-text-animation-none\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:2500.0px;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n              \n                style=\"padding-bottom:66.68000030517578%;\"\n              \n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                \n          \n        \n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n              \n  \n\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/3X9A0151.jpg\" alt=\"Aaron Falzon warms up for his first home game at Quinnipiac against Albany. (Photo by Liz Flynn)\" \/><\/noscript><img class=\"thumb-image\" data-src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/3X9A0151.jpg\" data-image=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/3X9A0151.jpg\" data-image-dimensions=\"2500x1667\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"Aaron Falzon warms up for his first home game at Quinnipiac against Albany. (Photo by Liz Flynn)\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"5de9a97682623345266b08b0\" data-type=\"image\" \/>\n          <\/div><figcaption class=\"image-caption-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-caption\">\n<p class=\"\">Aaron Falzon warms up for his first home game at Quinnipiac against Albany. (Photo by Liz Flynn)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Welcome to the NCAA Transfer Portal, where the students can enter their name into a system that serves as a gateway to the vast reservoir of colleges seeking top athletic talent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The NCAA opened the portal Oct. 15, 2018, to give students the opportunity to change schools without the hassle of sitting out a year per long-standing transfer rules.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The portal gives athletes a chance to seek opportunities \u2013 the role of college in general. But it has turned into something much, much more, even for mid-major Division I schools such as Quinnipiac.<\/p>\n<p>   <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zd24Q8N3ZBI?feature=youtu.be&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1\" height=\"480\" width=\"854\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Quinnipiac men\u2019s basketball head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/gobobcats.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/coaches\/baker-dunleavy\/2447\">Baker Dunleavy<\/a> has recruited five transfer students, including one through the portal in Falzon. The portal is a profound development for the school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe wave of transfers isn\u2019t going anywhere,\u201d Dunleavy said. \u201cIt\u2019ll only get bigger. It\u2019ll only get more popular. I think player movement and freedom is something that continues to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The Bobcats took advantage of the portal to land Falzon, who previously attended Northwestern, a Big Ten school. Dunleavy found him on the portal and sent one of those emails that overwhelmed the Massachusetts-born player.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Why did Falzon leave a major school outside of Chicago to attend Quinnipiac in suburban Hamden, and play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with its one-bid status for the NCAA Tournament?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cI wanted to go to a place where I have an opportunity to play and have the chance to win a conference championship,\u201d said Falzon of Newton, Mass. \u201cAlso, the bonus when I come here is being close to home. Mom and Dad can drive to every game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>   <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m28!1m12!1m3!1d761301.3084553488!2d-72.56258422981709!3d41.810352762246154!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m13!3e6!4m5!1s0x89e7cffeecf87957%3A0x69bbae8db0eb612b!2sQuinnipiac%20University%2C%20Mount%20Carmel%20Avenue%2C%20Hamden%2C%20CT!3m2!1d41.4191748!2d-72.8926883!4m5!1s0x89e38209840725a5%3A0x5592087b9b70af7e!2sNewton%2C%20MA%2002459!3m2!1d42.337041299999996!2d-71.20922139999999!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1575573006418!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:0;\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Dunleavy, in turn, saw Falzon as a player who fit the team\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cFor us, we can be really opportunistic with transfers when they fit our culture and our identity and really being disciplined in knowing when that\u2019s the case,\u201d Dunleavy said. \u201cWith an Aaron Falzon, that was the case. We were really aggressive to recruit Aaron.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>The Bad<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Jaden Daly, a sports writer for <a href=\"http:\/\/dalydoseofhoops.blogspot.com\/\"><em>A Daly Dose of Hoops<\/em><\/a>, has been covering New York-metro area men\u2019s college basketball for 10 years. Daly has seen both sides of the story: the high-major schools bringing in players that out-matched their competition on the mid-major front and the mid-major schools taking advantage of this chance to recruit the nation\u2019s top talents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Between grad transfers ,players in the transfer portal and players that have entered their names in the draft teams will look very different come end of the summer. Roster management has become as important as any aspect of coaching for high major programs. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CollegeGameDay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CollegeGameDay<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Seth Greenberg (@SethOnHoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SethOnHoops\/status\/1116697665079840771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe lower level schools are losing out because now it&#8217;s created a marketplace where if you are a higher major and you&#8217;re losing out in recruiting, it&#8217;s a ripple effect with the one-and-done&#8217;s. You have to go to the next best option,\u201d Daly said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">That next option? Well, it\u2019s plucking the best of the best from conferences like the MAAC. In the portal era so far, Quinnipiac has not been a team that has had to see players leave to other schools. However just three years ago the Bobcats were forced to wave goodbye to their two top scorers in Mikey Dixon and Peter Kiss. Dixon joined St. John\u2019s in the Big East and Kiss is now playing at Rutgers in the Big 10.<\/p>\n<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-below\n          design-layout-inline\n          combination-animation-none\n          individual-animation-none\n          individual-text-animation-none\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:2500.0px;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n              \n                style=\"padding-bottom:64.07766723632812%;\"\n              \n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                \n          \n        \n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n              \n  \n\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_2216.jpg\" alt=\"Mikey Dixon (left) and Peter Kiss (right) pose together during their freshman year at Quinnipiac. (Photo by QBSN)\" \/><\/noscript><img class=\"thumb-image\" data-src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_2216.jpg\" data-image=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_2216.jpg\" data-image-dimensions=\"2500x1667\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"Mikey Dixon (left) and Peter Kiss (right) pose together during their freshman year at Quinnipiac. (Photo by QBSN)\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"5de9b125f2f83707bbf4a7d5\" data-type=\"image\" \/>\n          <\/div><figcaption class=\"image-caption-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-caption\">\n<p class=\"\">Mikey Dixon (left) and Peter Kiss (right) pose together during their freshman year at Quinnipiac. (Photo by QBSN)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">This has been the issue for mid-major teams in the last calendar year with the portal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cIf you&#8217;re a high major coach, you see a 15, 20 point per game scorer that goes into the portal,\u201d Daly said, \u201cwhy not take a shot at him? If you&#8217;re not able to get a one-and-done like a Kentucky or Carolina or Duke is going to get, you have to find some way to keep up with the Joneses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>The Jury\u2019s Still Out<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">On the other hand, mid-major schools need to compete with each other, and Quinnipiac\u2019s program is no different: it needs to find talent flying just below the major-school radar. The transfer portal facilitates that effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/maacsports.com\/staff.aspx?staff=2\">Jessica Hegmann-Grasso<\/a>, the MAAC\u2019s associate commissioner said, the transfer portal gives these types of schools, especially in her conference, ways to get a hold of the players they would not be able to typically recruit out of high school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe transfer option does benefit the mid-major conferences, like ourselves. Being able to get access to those players that may go elsewhere and then come back to us,\u201d Hegmann-Grasso said, \u201cwe do benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-below\n          design-layout-inline\n          combination-animation-none\n          individual-animation-none\n          individual-text-animation-none\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:1058.0px;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n              \n                style=\"padding-bottom:28.922494888305664%;\"\n              \n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                \n          \n        \n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n              \n  \n\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-05-at-8.39.58-PM.png\" alt=\"MAAC men\u2019s basketball has gained 20 transfer student-athletes for the 2019-20 season, while losing 11 in the portal.\" \/><\/noscript><img class=\"thumb-image\" data-src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-05-at-8.39.58-PM.png\" data-image=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-05-at-8.39.58-PM.png\" data-image-dimensions=\"1058x306\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"MAAC men\u2019s basketball has gained 20 transfer student-athletes for the 2019-20 season, while losing 11 in the portal.\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"5de9b17f882c696c1cf26d42\" data-type=\"image\" \/>\n          <\/div><figcaption class=\"image-caption-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-caption\">\n<p class=\"\">MAAC men\u2019s basketball has gained 20 transfer student-athletes for the 2019-20 season, while losing 11 in the portal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Hegmann-Grasso did point out that we are only in year two of the portal process. There is so much still to come.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cIt has only been two years. It\u2019s still new. Like anything else it takes that adjustment period to see how the full reaction will be from it. Right now it\u2019s waiting and seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">One thing that it has already accomplished is it has made it easier for the student-athletes to explore all of their options.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe process to dealing with the transfers prior to the portal was a lot more restrictive, a lot more interaction and conversation,\u201d Hegmann-Grasso said, \u201cwhere the portal is now making it a little bit more free.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Is it free enough? Not for ESPN\u2019s Jay Bilas.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now, Quinnerly will play as a 24-year old, redshirt senior. For what purpose? The NCAA\u2019s transfer policy is an unholy, unjustifiable mess. If Quinnerly played softball or all but five other sports, he could transfer at semester and be immediately eligible. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tju0iA1kGJ\">https:\/\/t.co\/tju0iA1kGJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JayBilas\/status\/1194302525144305664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The transfer portal has continued to progress this freedom that the student-athletes desire. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.qu.edu\/Profile\/61443\">Phillip Lamar Cunningham<\/a>, a professor of media studies who formerly served as co-director of the sports studies program at Quinnipiac University said that the portal, itself, has legitimized the power that the student-athletes can have. Though, he does not believe it has had an outstanding impact on the landscape of college athletics. <\/p>\n<div\n        class=\"\n          image-block-outer-wrapper\n          layout-caption-below\n          design-layout-inline\n          combination-animation-none\n          individual-animation-none\n          individual-text-animation-none\n        \"\n        data-test=\"image-block-inline-outer-wrapper\"\n    ><\/p>\n<figure\n            class=\"\n              sqs-block-image-figure\n              intrinsic\n            \"\n            style=\"max-width:2500.0px;\"\n        ><\/p>\n<div\n              \n                style=\"padding-bottom:73.9482192993164%;\"\n              \n              class=\"\n                image-block-wrapper\n                \n          \n        \n                has-aspect-ratio\n              \"\n              data-animation-role=\"image\"\n              \n  \n\n          ><br \/>\n            <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_7479.jpg\" alt=\"Falzon stands with his teammates before his first home game with Quinnipiac.\" \/><\/noscript><img class=\"thumb-image\" data-src=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_7479.jpg\" data-image=\"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_7479.jpg\" data-image-dimensions=\"2500x1875\" data-image-focal-point=\"0.5,0.5\" alt=\"Falzon stands with his teammates before his first home game with Quinnipiac.\" data-load=\"false\" data-image-id=\"5dea8d0120ab7d236ae07b7c\" data-type=\"image\" \/>\n          <\/div><figcaption class=\"image-caption-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"image-caption\">\n<p class=\"\">Falzon stands with his teammates before his first home game with Quinnipiac.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe transfer portal, like most NCAA initiatives, is a little late and doesn\u2019t necessarily change much as much as it capitulates to the forces that they already had to give way to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Knowing that you have options is an important part of a young athlete\u2019s mindset, and those are really on full display all the time now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cFor a small school like Quinnipiac, the benefits are if you\u2019re an elite college athlete, you are coming home,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cIf you are someone that\u2019s on the cusp of a major conference team but you can\u2019t really break through, you can possibly come here [Quinnipiac] and be a star. We see this in every sport. If you are a star in a mid-major you are suddenly more attracted to more established teams.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The new rules have led to confusion over the transfer portal\u2019s role. For Hegmann-Grasso and her colleagues in the MAAC\u2019s league offices, they just would like to see it play out a bit more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cI think it\u2019s just too early to start changing anything because it took a while to get to this point, and to just change it right away?\u201d Hegmann-Grasso said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we do our due diligence of really setting up a system, even though some were in favor for it and some were not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">It\u2019s just the start of more and more changes in college basketball, and so far, Quinnipiac can call itself a beneficiary. So far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Transferring is becoming the new norm in collegiate hoops and is changing mid-major basketball.  Quinnipiac is at the forefront of the NCAA\u2019s newest installment, the transfer portal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,236,6],"tags":[433,431,427,7,250,434,269,311,4,432],"class_list":["post-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capstone-projects","category-qnn","category-quinnipiac","tag-aaron-falzon","tag-bryan-schwartz","tag-capstone-projects","tag-hamden","tag-homepage","tag-maac","tag-ncaa","tag-qnn","tag-quinnipiac","tag-quinnipiac-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}