By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst
April 4th, 2023
(Cover photo courtesy Grand Canyon University Athletics)
(Note: this was posted on the IlliniGuys.com message forums Tuesday morning. For instant access to the very latest Illini news, subscribe to IlliniGuys.com here: https://illiniguys.com/subscribe/
Happy Post National title game day.
It's a wild time for college athletics, and basketball is probably the craziest. There are roughly 4500 players on Division I basketball scholarships. Take out roughly 800 that are out of eligibility, then throw in a few NBA guys and you have 1,243 guys in the portal. That is over 1/3. And more are coming. Portal Kombat.
For high school kids, this is a wild time. First, they continue to lose opportunities to kids that are using 'COVID years'. Second, high majors aren't often taking 4 or 5 Freshmen, because they will transfer out anyway. What's crazy is the best way right now to build a program is to find a kid like Jayden Epps that has already gotten experience and has used his transfer, but still has 3 years of eligibility left