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J.J. Watt Rips NCAA for ‘Cannibalizing’ College Hoops Over Timing of Transfer Portal

The former NFL star has a point.

Brigid Kennedy

NCAA March Madness signage on Mar 20, 2025.
NCAA March Madness signage on Mar 20, 2025. / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Former NFL star J.J. Watt is unimpressed by the timing of the NCAA's college basketball transfer portal, claiming its opening in the middle of the March Madness tournament is ultimately "cannibalizing" the sport.

Watt unleashed on the timeline on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday night, writing, "The NCAA transfer portal opening before March Madness ends (same as football portal opening before bowl season ends) is preposterous. Literally cannibalizing your own sport. Imagine NFL free agency starting the Monday after Wild Card Weekend ..."

We know at least one storied college hoops coach agrees with the ex-defensive end. After Arkansas' upset win over St. John's in the round of 32 on Saturday, coach John Calipari lamented having to deal with the transfer portal come Monday while preparing for the Sweet 16.

"Welcome to my world," Calipari told reporters. "So Monday we're really preparing for a game and we're having individual meetings about 'Are you coming back?'"

"You know if they put their name in the portal they probably don't have an option to come back," he continued. "You care about the kids. At the end of the year, it's all about them, whatever they choose. ... It's their choice. And I've always been that way. But it's getting harder to be that way."

Both stars have a point—when you're on the biggest stage of the season, you don't want players thinking about where they're going next, nor do you want to expend energy on recruiting. And it's surely even tougher to handle in the era of NIL.

Moreover, to Watt's argument, there was similar chatter in the NFL last season when high-profile coordinators were in the middle of interviewing for head coaching positions with other clubs while their current teams were making postseason runs.

The point being: it's hard to focus on two things at once. And it would make college hoops (and really every other sport) more interesting and maybe more competitive if it didn't have to be that way.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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