2025 Transfer Portal

[tower912]

Like recruiting, fundraising never ends.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

The issue isn't whether Shaka can identify and develop talent.

It's the fact that his stated approach to NIL eliminates him from competing for recruits in three talent-rich pools.

First, in the post-NIL era, top-ranked HS players rightly expect an NIL package. Shaka's public statements on the topic state that if a player has that expectation, he won't recruit that player. That leaves us out of the running for players at the talent level of guys like Liam McNeely, Jackson McAndrew, or Kon Kneuppel.

Second, couple NIL with the immediate eligibility of transfers, and there is now a strong pool of late-bloomers that don't get high major offers out of HS, but after a year or two emerge with solid high-major potential.  And there is a market rate for these players as well, and because those players expect NIL at market rates, they're off the table for Shaka. Ironically, guys like Kolek and Prosper would fall into this category today.

Third, you have the transfers from high major programs that are going through a coaching change. For better or worse, the sport is 100% invested in the notion that players sign with the coach, not the school, and if the coach leaves it's just expected that the roster will jump en masse to the portal. Obviously, once again there is a market price for these players, taking them out of consideration for MU.

The only pool Shaka can recruit if he sticks with his "no NIL for newcomers" approach is the borderline top 100 who aren't quite good enough to command an NIL package, but where an MU offer is likely the best they'll see.

The situation is no different than other self-imposed restrictions that MU placed on itself in the past--no prop 48s, no players from academically suspect programs, no JUCOs (or only 1 at a time), etc.  When you take away a potential pool of talent, you remove one of the tools that can be used to succeed.

That's not to say that Shaka can't develop players or doesn't know what he's doing. It's the observation that when you limit the talent pool, you self-limit your potential for success. 

Nobody's saying that Shaka has to go full Pitino and buy the best players on the market every year.  But when we see teams like Creighton and UConn and Xavier succeed by blending a mix of top-ranked recruits, lower rated development players, and transfers, it's only natural to wonder whether they have a better approach.

If you start with a belief that Shaka is a better coach and developer of talent than McDermott or Hurley--which I think most here believe--the only rational explanation as to how those teams finished ahead of MU in the standings is a difference in talent.

Feels like a fait amount of what you've written is just wrong.

-Marquette recruited and was in the running for Knueppel. I have no inside knowledge but from what I've gathered here the reason he chose Duke wasn't because of NIL. 

-Your post makes it sound like freshman don't get an NIL package at Marquette.  "No NIL for newcomers", to the best of my knowledge, is false.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but the difference is Marquette won't pay an incoming 5 star freshman more than a returning sophomore, junior or senior. Sure, that will eliminate some options for Marquette but it hasn't stopped Shaka from successfully recruiting top 100 guys and I don't think it means we'll never be able to sign a top 50 guy.   

-I find it amusing people keep mention OMax when talking about the portal.  Most of the people who are upset that Shaka doesn't use the portal want guys that are going to contribute significantly right away.  OMax transferred in after averaging under 3 PPG at Clemson and then averaged under 7 PPG his first season at Marquette.  It feels like the portal posse would have been whining and wouldn't have had the patience for him to develop into an NBA player.

-As others have mentioned, you listing Creighton and Xavier of having great success because of the portal is absolutely bizarre when you compare those schools to Marquette. 

-Also, I don't think anyone here thinks Shaka is a better coach or better developer of talent than Hurley.   

[The Sultan]

Yeah, like a lot of things Equalizer posts about, this post leaps to a lot of incorrect conclusions. By everything that I have heard, Marquette was a close second to Duke and NIL was not the reason for his ultimate decision - it was just that Duke is Duke.

[tower912]

Hey, Rico, change the title on this grotesque abomination to 'Portal Combat', or 'Portal John'.

[Billy Hoyle]

Yeah, like a lot of things Equalizer posts about, this post leaps to a lot of incorrect conclusions. By everything that I have heard, Marquette was a close second to Duke and NIL was not the reason for his ultimate decision - it was just that Duke is Duke.

Bucky offered more money than Duke too. But like you said, Duke is Duke

[avid1010]

Bucky offered more money than Duke too. But like you said, Duke is Duke

I was told Duke offered the most...and it was a 2 year contract.  Guess I had that wrong!

[DoctorV]

Hey, Rico, change the title on this grotesque abomination to 'Portal Combat', or 'Portal John'.

Great work.

Portal Potty would also work

[willie warrior]

Bucky offered more money than Duke too. But like you said, Duke is Duke

Why cant it be Marquette is Marquette?

[Uncle Rico]

Why cant it be Marquette is Marquette?

Because of the fans

[forgetful]

Every time I see someone post about Liam McNeely, my mind jumps to Liam McMorrow, and I get confused, because we did successfully sign him.

Am I the only one?

[MU82]

Putting this here because we've both been outspoken (albeit sometimes sarcastic) participants in this thread ...

Got to sit down at a local brewery with PointWarrior yesterday. Enjoyed a lot of Marquette talk, as well as a couple of tasty brews. PW is not only a good guy but an honest one - he set up the meeting so he could pay off the bet we made. (I said we'd beat X in the BET; he said we wouldn't.)

Also liked meeting PW's brother ... despite him being a Weasel!

One of the fun parts of being in the Scoop community has been getting to meet several of y'all over the years. Looking forward to the next opportunity, whenever and wherever it might be!

[The Equalizer]

Why are Xavier and Creighton being brought up as examples of success? Id take our last 3 years over either of theor last 3 years.

The comment was intended to suggest that we can and should be competitive with their ability to fund an NIL program--not on court performance.

[PointWarrior]

Putting this here because we've both been outspoken (albeit sometimes sarcastic) participants in this thread ...

Got to sit down at a local brewery with PointWarrior yesterday. Enjoyed a lot of Marquette talk, as well as a couple of tasty brews. PW is not only a good guy but an honest one - he set up the meeting so he could pay off the bet we made. (I said we'd beat X in the BET; he said we wouldn't.)

Also liked meeting PW's brother ... despite him being a Weasel!

One of the fun parts of being in the Scoop community has been getting to meet several of y'all over the years. Looking forward to the next opportunity, whenever and wherever it might be!

Putting this here because we've both been outspoken (albeit sometimes sarcastic) participants in this thread ...

Got to sit down at a local brewery with PointWarrior yesterday. Enjoyed a lot of Marquette talk, as well as a couple of tasty brews. PW is not only a good guy but an honest one - he set up the meeting so he could pay off the bet we made. (I said we'd beat X in the BET; he said we wouldn't.)

Also liked meeting PW's brother ... despite him being a Weasel!

One of the fun parts of being in the Scoop community has been getting to meet several of y'all over the years. Looking forward to the next opportunity, whenever and wherever it might be!

Yes, good beer, good company, good Marquette talk.  MU82 left off that I had asked him to open the conversation with a "Greg Gard sucks" to take a shot at my brother who did not know I was meeting to pay up a beer bet to a fellow scooper.  While he did not do that, it did not take long to take a few shots at the Badgers. 

[MU82]

Yes, good beer, good company, good Marquette talk.  MU82 left off that I had asked him to open the conversation with a "Greg Gard sucks" to take a shot at my brother who did not know I was meeting to pay up a beer bet to a fellow scooper.  While he did not do that, it did not take long to take a few shots at the Badgers. 

Relating to the thread ...

Your brother quickly brought up how his Weasels are now rejecting their decades-long recruit/develop/retain philosophy ... while our Warriors, who for years brought in impact transfers and jucos, are now the college basketball face of the recruit/develop/retain model.

All for better or worse for both programs - time will tell!

[Scoop Snoop]

Yes, good beer, good company, good Marquette talk.  MU82 left off that I had asked him to open the conversation with a "Greg Gard sucks" to take a shot at my brother who did not know I was meeting to pay up a beer bet to a fellow scooper.  While he did not do that, it did not take long to take a few shots at the Badgers. 

You needed Rico to be there to open with "Greg Gard sucks". I hope your brother, being a weasel, didn't pull off the "I forgot my wallet" excuse when the final bill came.

Nice to read a post on this tread that is free of some of the "I'm right! which means, you're wrong!" BS from one clearly disturbed scooper in particular.

Getting back to the thread's subject- Shaka's system will probably play out over the next several years, even though there is no shortage of scoopers who have authoritatively mandated  that this coming season will determine whether or not it works.

[Spencer Pratt]

FWIW, T-Rank has our talent ranked 4th in the conference for 2026.  Also has our overall ranking at 4th as well.

https://www.barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?sort=tal&conlimit=BE

[wadesworld]

You needed Rico to be there to open with "Greg Gard sucks". I hope your brother, being a weasel, didn't pull off the "I forgot my wallet" excuse when the final bill came.

Nice to read a post on this tread that is free of some of the "I'm right! which means, you're wrong!" BS from one clearly disturbed scooper in particular.

Getting back to the thread's subject- Shaka's system will probably play out over the next several years, even though there is no shortage of scoopers who have authoritatively mandated  that this coming season will determine whether or not it works.

You do realize that pulling Muggsy into every single post you've ever made, even posts responding to posts that have absolutely zero to do with Muggsy, is just as bad/annoying as whatever you think it is that Muggsy does wrong, right?

[Scoop Snoop]

You do realize that pulling Muggsy into every single post you've ever made, even posts responding to posts that have absolutely zero to do with Muggsy, is just as bad/annoying as whatever you think it is that Muggsy does wrong, right?

Far from "every single post" I've ever made, but...fair enough otherwise.

I have been making a conscious effort recently to lay off of Muggsy quite a bit recently but I'm not completely there yet. Advocating for assassination and military adventures annoys me, to put it mildly. However, when someone lacks the ability to reign in those impulses? Yeah... it's probably best to keep my opinions mostly private. That does not mean I will not comment when I think appropriate though.

[MU82]

FWIW, T-Rank has our talent ranked 4th in the conference for 2026.  Also has our overall ranking at 4th as well.

https://www.barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?sort=tal&conlimit=BE

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

Torvik has us ahead of Creighton, which has gone heavily into the portal.

Made me look twice to see Georgetown at #3. Not sure I believe it ... and I definitely won't believe it if Sorber goes to the NBA. They went from OK to horrible after he got hurt last season.

[muwarrior69]

Yes I'm sure about that.

Do you really think that programs stop fundraising just because they have enough to get by?

The AD stated:
The growing presence of NIL and future revenue sharing agreements, the impact of the transfer portal, ongoing legal challenges, and the potential for future conference realignment all present both challenges and opportunities. These developments emphasize the need for us to continue investing in our programs to remain competitive...

The AD's letter did not instill confidence that they will have enough to get by in the future as things are unclear what revenue sharing, what the impact of free agency and legal challenges will have and where will that revenue come from.  I hope all the optimism here pans out.

[Uncle Rico]

The AD stated:
The growing presence of NIL and future revenue sharing agreements, the impact of the transfer portal, ongoing legal challenges, and the potential for future conference realignment all present both challenges and opportunities. These developments emphasize the need for us to continue investing in our programs to remain competitive...

The AD's letter did not instill confidence that they will have enough to get by in the future as things are unclear what revenue sharing, what the impact of free agency and legal challenges will have and where will that revenue come from.  I hope all the optimism here pans out.

It won't

[Scoop Snoop]

The AD stated:
The growing presence of NIL and future revenue sharing agreements, the impact of the transfer portal, ongoing legal challenges, and the potential for future conference realignment all present both challenges and opportunities. These developments emphasize the need for us to continue investing in our programs to remain competitive...

The AD's letter did not instill confidence that they will have enough to get by in the future as things are unclear what revenue sharing, what the impact of free agency and legal challenges will have and where will that revenue come from.  I hope all the optimism here pans out.

"Continue investing" does not instill confidence? There are plenty of unknowns like the ones you stated. He will address those issues as they become clearer. Why does this not instill confidence?

I believe in another post, you defined success as making it to the national championship game. If so, Auburn and Duke failed this season. Expecting Marquette to match the fund-raising ability of bluebloods and winning enough recruit bidding battles by having a comparable war chest (I think you also called for this, correct?) is, I think, unrealistic. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

Torvik has us ahead of Creighton, which has gone heavily into the portal.

Made me look twice to see Georgetown at #3. Not sure I believe it ... and I definitely won't believe it if Sorber goes to the NBA. They went from OK to horrible after he got hurt last season.

Easy to miss but he had the link sorted by returning talent.  You need to sort it by Rank, which was:

St John's (6)
UConn (16)
Creighton (19)
Marquette (42)
Villanova (47)
Providence (56)
Xavier (58)
DePaul (63)
Georgetown (74)
Butler (75)
Seton Hall (151 - yikes)

[MU82]

Easy to miss but he had the link sorted by returning talent.  You need to sort it by Rank, which was:

St John's (6)
UConn (16)
Creighton (19)
Marquette (42)
Villanova (47)
Providence (56)
Xavier (58)
DePaul (63)
Georgetown (74)
Butler (75)
Seton Hall (151 - yikes)

That makes more sense. Thanks.

I'm skeptical of Creighton, but we'll see soon enough.

[Gato78]

The AD stated:
The growing presence of NIL and future revenue sharing agreements, the impact of the transfer portal, ongoing legal challenges, and the potential for future conference realignment all present both challenges and opportunities. These developments emphasize the need for us to continue investing in our programs to remain competitive...

The AD's letter did not instill confidence that they will have enough to get by in the future as things are unclear what revenue sharing, what the impact of free agency and legal challenges will have and where will that revenue come from.  I hope all the optimism here pans out.

I am pretty sure he is referring to the revenue lost to the class action suit which tentatively costs each team their NCAA income. There will be a big gap if you include that and the fact that donors' dollars must be spread around to the NIL payments (however they are made). There will be a big cash crunch coming.