Recruiting insider makes feelings known on 'absolutely absurd' contracts given to transfer portal players 

Over 30% of college basketball players entered the transfer portal after the 2024-2025 season. In one of the busiest windows of all time, the NIL-rich environment saw some players opt out of declaring for the NBA and WNBA drafts to stay in college basketball.

With programs mandated by the House vs. NCAA settlement to pay their players, some prospects have entered the portal to cash in on the new era of college sports, making effective roster building a new challenge for coaches in college basketball.

During this week's segment of "The State of Louisville" podcast, On3 analyst Joe Tipton spoke about the massive contracts that student-athletes who entered the portal commanded.

"Some of the money being tossed around for these players is absolutely absurd," Tipton said. "Even if I had to project on the conservative side. Probably Louisville's starting lineup, they're all probably millionaires. I think it all boils down to NIL, the second part of that would be, you saw guys leave and transfer that you normally wouldn't see enter the portal right?

"It's a little surprise. A lot of the time it makes sense cause you're not playing or you're at a mid-major and you're averaging 20 a game, yeah, you're gonna go into the portal and get paid. But some guys were leaving purely for financial reasons.

"If that's what you're after, then more power to you. I'd have a hard time turning down some of the money. But I think just how high some of the numbers got, like a $2 million offer, if you're a good player, it's common in the transfer portal," he added.

According to an On3 report, the Louisville Cardinals, under charismatic coach Pat Kelsey, were given the green light to splurge up to $10 million in the transfer portal after a promising season that culminated in their first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.

The Cardinals splurged on Ryan Conwell from the Xavier Musketeers, Adrian Wooley from the Kennesaw State Owls and Isaac McKneely from the Virginia Cavaliers.

TCU star links transfer portal and NIL to increased competition

TCU Horned Frogs star Olivia Miles, who surprisingly entered the transfer portal from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, revealed during an interview with the "Big Ten Network" that increased NIL opportunities have helped to bridge the gap between small teams and big teams in college basketball.

"I think with the increase in NIL opportunities and revenue sharing, it allows the non-traditional schools like TCU to compete with the traditionally big schools like UConn and Tennessee or whoever it may be," Miles said. "So it kind of levels the playing field. It allows for schools to compete with whoever they want in this day and age."

The massive migration in college basketball via the transfer portal in the last offseason has seen several top players join non-traditional blue bloods, which could shake up the usual pecking order.