Now that we are seeing the transfer portal (TP) play out, I am curious as to how the group thinks the TP will affect the NCAA landscape. Here are my thoughts:

1. My initial thoughts on the TP were that it would turn mid-majors into farm teams for P6 schools dooming mid-majors and conferences like the MVC. However, my opinion is changing.

2. Why is my opinion changing? Few reasons like:

A. The sheer numbers of kids entering the TP guarantees that some very good players are not gonna be picked up by P6 schools. There just are too many players getting bad advice and entering the TP. The P6 schools generally do have good recruiting classes coming in. If they are in the TP, most will only be looking for 1, maybe 2 players to fill a specific role. As a result, good mid-major schools will be in play for many players they may not have been able to recruit when they were in HS or that have blossomed elsewhere and entered the TP.

B. The key for mid-majors is to build their brand and show that you can provide what many of these TP kids are looking for. This includes a team that can get to the dance, playing time, TV exposure, development, NIL opportunities, NBA or overseas opportunities. You really need to market your brand as a school and coaches need to be recruiters. Big name mid-majors should do well in the TP. LU needs one or two good years of success to cement its reputation. I love how bold Drew was in his interview when he said LU was the best school in the Country for transfers. As LU continues build good history with TP kids, we will become more attractive to them.

C. Mid-majors still need to recruit freshmen, but the TP can get you what you can’t recruit. Loyola is a great example. The TP pick-ups are fantastic this year. Golden, Alston and Wilson are great pick ups who have shown they can play. They fit our needs and culture perfectly. We know their college stats and skills, what kind of people they are.

So, in the end, well run mid-majors with great culture and success should actually do quite well in my opinion.

What do you all think?

Interesting points — and I agree with the premise. The one downside I see in the Portal, besides having to re-recruit your existing players - is from a conversation I had with Wayne Tinkle in Indy a couple weeks ago during AAU.

He was lamenting the players they brought in via the portal and how it crushed their “culture.” So long as you know who your bringing in — it’s a home run…but as he told me - a couple of bad decisions take over the team.

I also think this is a huge risk when you're bringing in half a new team every year. The talent is tempting, but you can turn into Missouri State: Great on paper, but can't play together.

We're lucky (so far) that we have still have a group that's been together for several years and has bought in. But if we keep bringing in upperclassmen transfers to play major minutes, it might become hard to even recruit high school players that you can develop. I'm a little worried that every freshman we have is going to spend a year on the practice squad.

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I agree with most of what you said. I think overall, Loyola will benefit from it because we target players who are bought in for the long term and have been able to keep our guys from wanting to "transfer up". Mid-major or low P6 programs that are more transactional will become a revolving door. At our level, our culture is a huge competitive advantage over similar sized programs bc it should allow us to keep guys together over multiple years.

I am more concerned that NIL will hurt us against the bottom-tier P6 and upper-tier mid-major programs, since they generally have larger fan bases. On the other hand, I don't think we're recruiting the level of player that would command huge NIL money or the type of guy that is overly focused on it, so hopefully it's not a big issue.

This is what I was thinking about when I expressed doubts about transfers from certain programs.

And also, unlike the past, we don't have any four-year players who are obvious leaders in the program like Christian Thomas, Milton Doyle, Donte Ingram, Ben Richardson, Cam Krutwig, and Lucas Williamson were. I feel like Coach Valentine needs to work very hard to groom and develop Saint Thomas and some of the incoming recruits to be the type of players and leaders that exemplify what he wants to do here-- whether it's character, defensive intensity, on-court demeanor, physicality, etc. Transfer talent is going to be an important backfill this year and in the future, but to establish a blueprint to build success it needs to be led by four-year players who set the tone for the program.

To be fair, Norris will be going into his 4th year with the program (one as a redshirt), as will Kennedy. I think both have shown to be pretty damn good at exemplifying the qualities you listed that Drew wants to see. Welch as well, even though he hasn’t seen the floor as much. With those guys, along with the experienced players coming in, I think it’s potentially a really good mix of youth and experience.

Well, don’t forget Saint, Ben, Hutty have been here when we had Lucas, Hall, Clemons, Aher too. They have a year under their belts in the Culture. The goal is for them to grow and be working to get on the floor and continue the Culture for the new kids and transfers along with Norris, Quise, Welch.

AJ Green hits the portal....

... and enters his name in the NBA draft simultaneously. Would this be comparable to a double jump in checkers? All this portal and draft play is so fresh!

Pretty significant A10 transfer portal news. SLU is going to be very good next year.