John Calipari’s dark transfer portal prophecy is coming to fruition, and teams are helpless to stop it! The NCAA Transfer Portal opened right after the Round of 32, and it has programs in shambles right now. More than a thousand players have entered the portal till now, looking for a better opportunity to grow and perform.

There is always a mixed response when someone enters the transfer portal. For coaches who’ve spent months or even years on certain prospects, it feels like a slap in the face — and John Calipari treats it exactly like that! Before the season, the Arkansas head coach made headlines by only wanting to use eight or nine scholarship spots. His point? “They’re leaving anyway, and why would I develop a kid for someone else?” 

It takes real effort and dedication to develop a prospect for the next level. And no one knows it more than coach Cal. He’s sent dozens of players to the NBA — more than most coaches could dream of. But what do analysts feel about the transfer portal and its impact on college basketball?

Matt Norlander from CBS Sports College Basketball agreed with Calipari. “I just don’t think this is remotely beneficial to the sport that it opens now.” He said, pointing to the transfer portal buzz. According to him, the portal opens up way too early for it to make sense. “At the absolute earliest, the portal should be opening after the Elite Eight. If you wanna say, okay we get to a Final Four and there’s only four teams left in Division I that’s competing for the national championship…I get that. I wouldn’t even push back on that.”

Not only that, he mentioned how coaches that are playing in the Sweet Sixteen have to deal with this as well! Norlander explained how a lower-seeded team in the third round of March Madness had an entire meeting dedicated to the transfer portal, and that’s just not done. “This is so emblematic to me of where we don’t need to be in college basketball.” Norlander said.

But what kind of a response does Calipari have about the portal now that his team is in the Sweet Sixteen? Has he changed his views, or built a strategy to deal with the departures? Let’s find out!

John Calipari’s strategy to deal with the NCAA transfer portal

Against all odds, coach Cal has revived Arkansas basketball! The Hall-of-Famer got off to a very slow start, earning criticism and hate from the NCAA community, but none of that affected his game plan. With the Hogs set to play in the Sweet Sixteen, even amidst injury troubles, we can safely say that John Calipari knows what he’s doing.

The transfer portal poses a question most coaches struggle to answer. Watching players you’ve developed walk away isn’t easy — but Calipari? He knows how to deal with it. “A lot of guys put their name in the portal and I say, ‘You gotta go now,’.” Calipari said on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. “If you’re gonna do it I’ll see ya’. You pour so much into these young people. If they’re not coming back loving each other, what is this, one way?” 

He also spoke about how the transfer portal and the lack of scholarship spots are taking away opportunities from deserving freshmen. According to Calipari, there are about 700-800 high schoolers who deserve scholarships. However, because of NIL and a lack of spots, he’s now barely able to recruit three or four. And that’s compared to the seven or eight he used to.

The Arkansas players, however, have remained fiercely loyal. Many of the current Razorbacks transferred over from the Wildcats to play under Calipari. Boogie Fland, their star freshman, even decommitted from the Big Blue Nation after Cal left. That bond and that chemistry is part of the reason they’re in the Sweet Sixteen. It will be interesting to see if John Calipari’s team can make a deeper playoff run amidst all the transfer portal buzz. Cal predicted it, but no one was willing to listen!