We live in an age of instant gratification.
We get annoyed if a website takes more than a few seconds to load. We pay extra for same-day delivery. We do our banking online because drive-through isn’t fast enough anymore.
We want our news now. Our photos now. Our TV shows on demand.
It should come as little surprise, then, that college basketball players raised in this generation are more impatient than ever, unwilling to wait for playing time, itching to bolt if their expectations aren’t met.
They are transferring at such an alarming rate that the trend is being termed “an epidemic” and was one of the hottest topics at the national coaches meeting during the recent Final Four.
More than 700 players are transferring this spring from the 351 Division I men’s programs around the country. That’s an average of two per team. Roughly 40 percent of them are switching schools in their first two years. Seventy-five of them have graduated and are changing schools for their final year of eligibility, a growing movement that has decimated some mid-major rosters.
Ten years ago, only 250 players transferred. Three years ago, it was around 450.
“Transferring 25 years ago was really frowned upon, was like there was something wrong with your basketball program if someone wanted to transfer to another school,” said University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga, who has had six players transfer in and out over the past three years.
“Now, transferring is so commonplace that last year, I heard a statistic that only seven Division I schools did not have someone transferring. That means 344 schools had at least one transfer, and two was normal.”
The college revolving door is not exclusive to student-athletes. A July 2015 study published by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that 37.2 percent of college students who started in 2008 transferred at least once. Of those who transferred, 45 percent switched schools more than once.
The graduate-transfer rule states that if a student-athlete completes his or her undergraduate degree in fewer than four years of athletic eligibility, they can go to another school that offers a graduate program not offered at his/her current school without the penalty of having to sit out a season.
What started as a well-meaning rule for athletes who excelled in the classroom has instead become a way for mid-major players to bolt to higher-profile schools for their final year of eligibility.
Gary Waters, the coach at Cleveland State, is a victim of the transfer craze. Over the past two years, he lost three standout players — Bryn Forbes went to Michigan State, and fifth-year graduates Anton Grady (Wichita State) and Trey Lewis (Louisville) opted for more exposure their final season.
“I understand why the kids do it,” Waters said. “It’s hard to say no to a high-major team that wants you, and everyone around them is telling them to leave. What bothers me more is that some schools are poaching players from other schools, to the point that they have a War Room and assistant coaches are assigned to track players at other schools who are on schedule to graduate with eligibility remaining. They make lists of players to raid, and then get the word to the kid, through a contact, that they’re interested in signing him for the final year.
“Those coaches don’t have to put in the work, and they get a finished product, a ready-made player. It’s not right. I am penalized because I coached a kid up and got him to graduate early. I know of six or seven mid-major coaches who had multiple players transfer and then lost their jobs the next season because the team didn’t perform. I don’t know if people realize how severe a problem this has become.”
Waters also said the suggestion that players are seeking specialized masters programs is “a farce.” Most of these moves are “strictly about basketball.”
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said he is more concerned about the flood of graduate transfers than the one-and-done incoming freshmen.
“I would tell you this: The one-and-done from high school is not the story of college basketball,” Krzyzewski said in March during the NCAA Tournament. “The one-and-done with the fifth-year graduate player is what is the main story for college basketball. There are many, many more of those. And that’s hurt a lot of our mid-major programs when these kids leave and go. Many, many more. Very few one-and-done from high school, very few compared to that.”
ESPN college basketball writer Jeff Goodman has kept a comprehensive college transfer list for the past eight years and follows the issue closely. He said there are lists of potential transfers that circulate among college coaches, schools get the word out through intermediaries as to who they are pursuing, and when April rolls around, they swarm.
“More often than not, it’s not the actual kid (with the idea to transfer),” Goodman said. “I think it’s the people around him that are telling him, ‘Hey, you should get out of there. You could play somewhere else right away. You’re not getting a fair shake. You should be getting more touches, a bigger role.’ Social media doesn’t help matters, either. People can get to these kids easily and tell them they should leave.”
In many cases, the fifth-year graduate players are being more sought after than McDonald’s All-Americans.
Larranaga tells the story of his visit to the home of Los Angeles Lakers power forward Tarik Black in spring 2013. Black, 6-foot-9, was about to graduate from Memphis and was looking for a new challenge for his final year of college basketball. The Hurricanes coaching staff was very interested in him.
“I thought the meeting went very well, thought maybe we had a shot, but when I asked him what were the other schools he was considering, he named nine of the best basketball programs in the country, including Duke, Georgetown, Kansas and Texas,” Larranaga said. “He had everybody recruiting him and he ended up going to Kansas.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, this kid’s transferring, there must be some baggage.’ No, these kids are prime prospects, 21, 22, 23 years old, only one year left, they can come in and get you over the hump.”
It doesn’t appear the trend will cool any time soon. The NCAA has taken note, although there doesn’t seem to be any quick solution.
“The issue of transfer rules, whether it’s for undergraduates or graduates, is one of the most hotly debated and discussed, I think, in sport right now, whether it’s football or basketball,” Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, said at the Final Four. “The challenge is, it’s really hard to figure out a right way to resolve this issue.”