Three local transfer portal survivors describe the journey
There's a new method of transportation in college basketball.
Everyone is familiar with it, the usage rate is soaring, but it's still a bit mysterious.
For an explanation, let's ask some players from the area: What is it like to go through the transfer portal?
The panel of experts includes three players who changed teams during the offseason:
Naperville North grad Kenzie Hare portalled to Iowa State after averaging 14 points at Marquette last season.
Mundelein's Conor Enright had some big moments last March while helping Drake reach the NCAA Tournament and is now at DePaul.
St. Viator grad Jeremiah Hernandez used the portal a second time to transfer to Ball State. A couple years ago, he moved from Kent State to Southern Indiana.
All three had extenuating circumstances. Marquette women and Drake men went through coaching changes, while Southern Indiana is ineligible to play in the NCAA Tournament because it recently moved up from Division II. By shifting to Ball State, Hernandez has a chance to experience March Madness.
The physical process is pretty mundane. Visit the compliance office, fill out a form, send an email. Then the athletes have to watch a video produced by the NCAA, which sounds like a great gig for “The Simpsons” character Troy McClure. “So you've entered the transfer portal. Now what?”
Hernandez reports the video hasn't changed since two years ago. But once all that happens, the real fun begins.
“I would describe it as speed dating,” Hare said. “It's really fast. When you are getting recruited out of high school, you have years and years to make relationships and talk through a bunch of things. In the portal, you're talking to multiple coaches every single day, which was really crazy.”
Hare said the time span from entering the portal to receiving texts from coaches was less than five minutes.
Enright gained some fame with his performance in the Missouri Valley title game, so the timing was right to grab the attention of coaches across the country.
“That first day, it felt like I had 30 phone calls,” Enright said. “I thought it would be really cool and then I actually kind of hated it. It was really stressful and I realized I had to start telling schools, 'No, I'm not going to go there;' just being straight up and don't waste their time.”
Hernandez, who lived in Palatine during his high school years, blossomed at Southern Indiana last season, averaging 17.2 points. So he was also in demand, but subject to the whims of coaches who cast a wide net when looking to add players.
“There were some schools that were calling, but sometimes you wouldn't hear back from them again,” Hernandez said. “Ball State kept consistent with it and helped make it an easy decision.”
Another issue when walking into the transfer portal is saying goodbye. Even if coaches depart, there are still teammates, friends, fans and old college haunts that get left behind.
“It was definitely hard just because I committed to Drake when I was 16,” Enright said. “It was tough leaving friends behind and fans I really got to know. But they understood moving closer to home. Family's important to me, so they saw that.”
Of course, the other side of the portal brings new friends and opportunities. While Enright moved from Iowa to Lincoln Park, Hare went from a city school in Marquette to the more traditional college town of Ames, Iowa. Hare said one of the first team outings when she arrived at Iowa State was going fishing.
“Marquette didn't have a football team, so going to the football games has been really fun with my teammates,” she said. “I think Ames is absolutely amazing. The city (life) was fun for a few years, but I was looking for something different. I really enjoy the college town. We average 10,000 fans per game, which is crazy.”
DePaul has a completely new roster this year with coach Chris Holtmann. There are pickup games at LA Fitness with better teammate familiarity. Enright said the Blue Demons players live in the same apartment complex and bonded through video games over the summer.
“It's awesome,” he said. “I've got a lot of cousins that live down here (in Chicago). I went home two days ago for my mom's birthday, so doing little thing like that I definitely appreciate because I couldn't before.”
Hernandez knew a few of his new Ball State teammates from playing against them when he was at Kent State, so he had a pretty good idea of what to expect. His advice as a transfer portal veteran is don't be afraid to explore the unknown.
“When I came out of Kent, I didn't have the stats I did last year,” Hernandez said. “This was definitely better than the first time.”