Transfer News

 It was a big news week for the UT Arlington Men's Basketball team, about as big as the off-season will allow. Several players for this past year's team have put their name in the transfer portal.

Chendall Weaver, the reigning Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year put his name in the portal. That news came out Monday. Shortly after Weaver's name went in, Kyron Gibson, last year's leading scorer at 11.2 points per game, put his name in as well. 

Then Friday, Shemar Wilson, the player I consider the most important piece to the team, announced he would return for the upcoming season. It's been the best offseason news so far this year.

Those three players had the making of a great team. They only won 11 games this year. But they were in most of the games this year they lost. They lost five games by five or less. They lost another three by less than ten. There were two that were exactly ten-point losses. Utah Valley, SFA, Sam Houston and Grand Canyon, all top teams in the WAC, were in those ten total games. A healthy Wilson, a more experienced Weaver and a senior Gibson would have been formidable. 

Now disclaimer, just because one enters the portal, doesn't mean they will be a guarantee to transfer out. But in the case of Weaver, there's zero chance he stays. He's already scheduled to visit UT-Austin and coupled with the last public information being Weaver was staying, confirmed by WAC Hoops Digest (perhaps the most connected and/or knowledgeable person regarding the men's basketball in the conference) it sure seems they were in contact with him while still under scholarship at UTA. That being the case, he wouldn't leave unless he knew.

The rules state schools can't recruit in such a manner, but the I've not met anyone who believes that is followed. I spoke to Greg Young in the offseason last year when several better players were lost to the portal. He believed at least one case where one university recruited a UTA player prior to portal entry. 

Gibson has received interest from several schools already, so I'd bet he will likely be on a different roster next year as well. UTA has had several in the portal prior, Taj Anderson, Dario Domingos, Montez Young, Jr. and Damonze Woods were good players, but not at the start power of the three previously mentioned players. I think Woods was going to be really good, as he showed flashes as a freshman, but the others were juniors with two years remaining at most.

UTA did sign a sophomore-to-be in Freds Pauls Bagatskis from Georgia Tech. He got less than 26 minutes total last year and scored eight points, didn't grab a rebound and went 3-8 from the field, 2-6 behind the arc.

The only plus so far is that only one WAC rival has weathered the storm, Grand Canyon. Utah Valley, after losing their coach, has been hit especially hard. Similar story for Southern Utah, though not as drastic. Seattle has lost a major piece too.

I don't want to go into it much as I've done it before. But I really dislike the transfer portal. Nothing is enforced. Schools recruit other school's players. Players enter the portal multiple times. Players being taught loyalty has no meaning. The meaning behind the rule is good. but it didn't solve anything that wasn't already on the books.

In my day, players could transfer, they just sat out a year. They didn't lose eligibility, but had to wait a year before playing. Situations change, I get that. But this constant reshuffling is not good for the game. I believe football has a lot of shuffling going on too, but as I don't actively follow a team, I don't know. But men's basketball has been a free for all. School career records are going to fall at a much smaller pace. Fans won't be able to invest in players. 

When fans lose interest, the sport will shrivel. But at least UTA has Shemar for another year.