Some thoughts on Scheierman's move, the transfer portal, and next year’s team
I was off the grid for a few days but was quickly made aware of Baylor Scheierman’s decision to enter the transfer portal. Ugh. While I would usually just fire off a few tweets and call it good I thought this kind of decision – one that sent shockwaves throughout the college basketball universe – deserved a bit more space. Here is a bullet point list of my thoughts below because I hate reading/typing in standard paragraph form when I don’t have to.
+ As a wise man once said, the portal giveth and the portal taketh. SDSU has largely been unaffected by the portal/players transferring out for quite a while (Freidel wasn’t a surprise so that doesn’t really count). The Jacks dodged a massive bullet when Daum decided to stay for another year when he had every opportunity in the world to leave. They also landed a Big Ten-level player barely a month ago in Matt Mors. We, as SDSU fans, really shouldn’t be surprised that the portal was eventually going to turn around and bite us in the ass. I was a little surprised when Scheierman decided to test the NBA Draft waters because frankly, I thought he needed another full year to develop. In hindsight, we all probably should have seen the writing on the wall that he was on his way out in one way or another. Clearly, whoever he spoke to in the draft process told him he needed to play against better players and better teams on a more consistent basis.
+ The Athletic currently has Scheierman ranked as the third best player in the portal, behind Tyrese Hunter and Kenneth Lofton Jr. Unsurprisingly, the schools that reached out to him/his agent immediately following his decision is the “who’s who” of college basketball. The list of schools below is extremely impressive:
+ But maybe he’ll come back to SDSU… Ahh, wishful thinking, I love it. Initially, I thought there was a slight chance he could come back to SDSU - like a 5% chance, maybe. Then I read this quote from his agent, Austin Walton, in Kyle Tucker’s article in the Athletic:
“He wants to play for a winner. He wants the big stage. He wants the exposure,” Walton said. “He wants someone who is going to coach him hard and develop him to become an NBA player, whether that’s this year or next year. He wants to play with other really good players, because that unlocks him. He wants to showcase his versatility, show exactly who he is and a place that is going to allow him to be Baylor.”
I like to consider myself an optimist but I think there’s now less than 1% chance he comes back and that’s probably way too high.
+ Also, reading between the lines of Walton’s quote, is he inferring that Henderson didn’t “coach him hard?” Obvously, you can make your own interpretations but the whole quote is a little strange…."he wants to showcase his versatility, show exactly who he is and a place that is going to allow him to be Baylor.” Is there more to this situation that we don’t know or is this just an agent talking? Who knows but still kind of a head scratching quote.
+ I don’t blame Scheierman one bit for chasing the NBA dream. If he was told the best way to make the league is to get out of Brookings and go somewhere where he’ll play on ESPN/Fox Sports on a weekly basis, then hell, he’s got to do it. For that I don’t blame him one bit and I’ll be a fan of his wherever he goes with two massive exceptions: if he goes to any Big Ten school that isn’t Wisconsin or if he goes to Iowa St. (read between the lines on that one).
+ Considering who his agent is (a Kentucky superfan) I think there is a very good chance that he lands at Kentucky, which would be great.
+ Because he’s from Nebraska, and because Creighton brings back a loaded roster and because Henderson has a solid relationship with Greg McDermott, Creighton is probably seriously in the mix too, but of course that’s just my guess.
+ Scheierman shrunk his list of schools to 10 today:
+ The only real head scratchers on that list are Wake Forest, Mississippi St., and Clemson but there’s probably some connections between Scheierman/his agent that I’m not aware of.
+ Scheierman is about to get a ton of money wherever he goes. The NIL bag is a huge influencer in portal recruiting nowadays and whoever is lucky enough to get Scheierman isn’t going to get him cheap. I would expect a high five figure/low six figure deal for him wherever he goes.
+ There’s a lot of negative talk around the transfer portal and while I agree with some of the arguments/complaints, people have to remember we are still in the beginning stages of immediate eligibility x the transfer portal. It’s going to take some time for players and coaches to learn how to navigate this very new landscape.
+ However, if I was the one replacing Mark Emmeret, there are some changes I would make to the portal:
*Please note, I didn’t examine every single NCAA bylaw when coming up with these changes so they might not even be possible/realistic. They are more or less just broader concepts that could alleviate some concerns/problems with the portal.
A shocking amount of players who enter the portal never find a new home in Division I, with many being forced down a level or two (or no school at all). Players may need some protection from themselves, which is why I would implement a one-year portal ban after a player enters the portal. This means that if player x leaves Miami (for example) after his freshman year and transfers to USC, he must remain at USC for two full years before entering the portal again. Look, I’ve been there – you’re a student-athlete, did a lot of work/travel during the recruiting process, you sign with a school, everything seems good and then things go way south. You want out, you want to leave, you hate the coaches, you hate your teammates, you hate the trainers, you hate the food, you hate the school colors, you hate the logo blah blah blah whatever. A one-year “freeze” at a school, if you will, would make a player think long and hard about what the real issue is when wanting to enter the portal: Is it a problem with the school/team? Or is it a me problem? Further, it would force the player to at least attempt to make it work for at least an extra year than they may want. Keeping players, who enter the portal one year, at a school for two years may help prevent some of these issues that we seeing now. The exception to this rule would be if a player graduates, then they are free to enter the portal again.
Players can only enter the portal at certain period of time and must decide on a new school by a certain period of time (Lets call it what it is: a free agency period) .What this looks like exactly, I’m not really sure, but in theory, the portal could “open” immediately following the Final Four, and would last 3 months. By the start of July-ish, you have to decide on a new school. This would help to protect high school recruiting which has also become a mess due to portal madness. If that’s not enough time, there could be a month period before the fall semester that the portal is also open.
+ As for college basketball fans, the expectation should now be that every player will eventually enter the portal. Just accept it – it will much better for your mental health. Always remember that the portal giveth and the portal taketh.
+ Despite Scheierman’s absence I still am very confident in next year’s team. Henderson now gets a scholarship back that he can use to get a guy out of the portal, which is exciting. With or without another addition, this team will still be loaded and should be the favorites for the Summit League title next year unless USD pulls a portal rabbit (Freidel) out of their hat.
+ In other portal news, still no word on Freidel’s or Wingett’s landing spots. Twitter has been no help as they have both been radio silent. Both entered in mid-March, which means they have been in the portal for about 7-ish weeks, which is adequate time to find a new school. Very curious to know what the holdup is and where they will end up at.
Regardless, basketball news seems to never end nowadays and it’s a little exhausting. I’m onto Iowa….
Contact Addison DeHaven at adehaven@brookingsregister.com