LOS ANGELES (AP) — March Madness is looming. So is college basketball's transfer portal, and that worries Mick Cronin.
The Division I men’s portal opens for a 15-day window on April 7, a day after a new national champion is crowned in Indianapolis. This shortest window for entry yet follows a rule change this year to better align with the end of the season.
“We should do everything we can to stop these kids from transferring too much because nobody
is going to graduate,” the UCLA coach said Tuesday night after UCLA beat No. 9 Nebraska. “These kids aren’t going to have the grades if they’re transferring three or four times, so we got to do everything we can.”
Cronin is advocating for schools to be able to exceed the roughly $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap per school that began this season in order to retain their players.
“I know there’s people at the Big Ten office that are for it, that’s why I bring it up,” Cronin said. “I told them I would back them.”
Most schools are doling out the biggest share of the revenue pie to football players and giving whatever’s left to basketball players. Schools are allowed to share up to $20.5 million with their players, but there still exists an option to provide third-party deals outside the school-to-player payments for name, image and likeness.
“You should be able to go over the revenue share to be able to retain players,” Cronin said. “Very few of these guys are going to be able to retire on (NIL money), so we need to encourage guys not to transfer.”
The transfer portal allows any player to find a new school every offseason. Chad Baker-Mazara was on his fifth school at age 26 before he parted ways with Southern California's program last weekend.
“If you’re on your third school, they’re not going to pay for you to come back when you’re 25. You only went here for a year,” Cronin said. “They're all going to be left in the dust.”
Teams attempt to combat the transfer frenzy by having recruits sign multiyear NIL deals, but even then there are workarounds.
Cronin has worked the portal effectively in recent years, adding Donovan Dent and Johnny Juzang. But he also lost Aday Mara to Michigan, Dylan Andrews to Boise State and Berke Buyuktuncel to Nebraska.
“Berke's had a great year for them. I love Berke,” he said. “He's found a great fit, he's in a great system for him.”
Cronin said he receives calls from former players looking for help finding jobs.
“Guys need jobs when they’re 27 and they’re done playing in Europe," he said. "They have no resume because they've been playing basketball.”
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