Come for a shooting guard, stay to fill up 400 starting lineups – more than the 350-plus Division I college basketball programs.
The single-session, NCAA spring transfer window for men’s basketball opened its two-week calendar Tuesday, April 7, in the hours after Michigan topped Connecticut to win the national championship.
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By midday Friday, April 10, per USA TODAY Sports research, more than 2,000 Division II players had entered their names into the transfer portal this week.
Duke guard Nikolas Khamenia (14) handles the ball against TCU during the second round game of the 2026 NCAA men’s tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
A year ago, per data viewed by USA TODAY Sports, 2,754 men’s basketball players entered the portal for the 2024-25 year.
On Jan. 14, 2026, the NCAA’s Division I Cabinet adopted the following protocols for both the men’s and women’s basketball transfer portal:
“At the recommendation of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees, the transfer windows in men’s and women’s basketball will open for a 15-day period the day after the championship game for the respective NCAA tournament. The changes are effective immediately.
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When a head coaching change occurs, a 15-day period will open five days after the new head coach is hired or publicly announced. If a new head coach is not announced within 30 days of the previous head coach’s departure — and the 31st day after the head coach’s departure is after the championship game — a 15-day window will open. The additional head coach departure window is available only after the basketball transfer window opens through Jan. 2.
In basketball, midyear transfers are not eligible to compete at a second school if they enrolled at an NCAA school during the first academic term, regardless of whether they competed there.”
While mid-major basketball conferences are particularly being ravaged in this portal cycle – the Southern Conference, for instance, has 69 current portal entries from its 10-team membership, including seven of the 10 first- and second-team all-conference selections – the power conferences are not immune from departures.
The ACC, with 97 current entries among its 18 schools, tops among the Power Four with the quartet collectively has 322 players in the portal. The men’s total across NCAA Divisions I, II and III was 4,115.
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On the women’s side of things, 1,416 Division I players had entered their names by midday Friday; across all NCAA divisions, 2,352 players gained entry this week into the women’s transfer portal.
Just as in the men’s game, the women’s Power Four leagues also are absorbing massive turnover with 309 entrants from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences.
Mississippi State (six) and Tennessee (eight) are among the hardest-hit women’s programs in power conferences.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College basketball transfer portal has more than 2,000 men’s plaeyrs
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