How the NCAA basketball transfer portal has changed the emphasis on recruiting high school players

Gonzaga coach Mark Few is well aware that experience is king in college basketball

If there's any college basketball coach who's good at reading a room, it's Gonzaga's Mark Few.

On top of turning what was once a small mid-major program in Spokane into a national brand and consistent winner over the last 25 years, Few's forward-thinking has helped usher in a new era of college athletics. People forget it was Few who testified in favor of student-athletes receiving compensation for their name, image and likeness before Congress back in 2021, an issue he felt should have been addressed a long time ago. He's had his basketball program at the forefront of another potential shift in conference affiliation, which up to this point has been driven by the value of college football.

But Few understands the surrounding landscape, which is why Gonzaga over the years has been rumored to be in talks with other Big 6 leagues, namely the Big 12 and Big East, in an attempt to stay relevant with other high-major programs. Every season he prepares for the NCAA Tournament with a rigorous nonconference schedule because he understands the West Coast Conference, while improved, is not going to give the Bulldogs the same level of competition as Purdue, UConn or Kentucky. He's always thinking one step ahead, never settling for the standard, and understands how important it is for his program to adapt rather than resist change.

Look no further than the transfer portal. Few has seized the opportunity to bring in experienced talent via the portal that was granted to him by recent changes to how the NCAA handles transfers, as well as NIL.

John Stockton on college basketball landscape: 'If you're making decisions only for money, you're making a mistake'

Transfers have played a huge role in the history of Gonzaga men's basketball, as some of the program's best players — Dan Dickau, Nigel Williams-Goss, Brandon Clarke and Kyle Wiltjer to name a few — blossomed into All-Americans after coming to Spokane. Bringing in talent from other programs isn't new to Few, but since the NCAA passed the one-time transfer rule in 2021 and extended the transfer window to be open for 45 days starting the Monday after Selection Sunday, monitoring the portal has become more than just a single offseason task.

“We were in the arena preparing for UCLA [in the 2023 Elite Eight], and we did a Zoom call with Graham Ike right after practice," said Gonzaga assistant coach Stephen Gentry on a recent episode of Gonzaga Nation. "It’ll be no different this year. We’ll be preparing for a team here late in the year and we’re still calling kids and doing Zoom calls and setting sights on next season."

Of course, looking ahead to the future also involves trips on the recruiting trail, where Few and his coaching staff tried to reel in some big fish lately. Gonzaga was a frontrunner to land 2024 five-star guard Zoom Diallo, who would've been one of the highest-rated recruits in program history before the Tacoma native chose Washington instead. The Bulldogs were also a finalist to land 2024 five-star power forward Asa Newell and 2024 four-star guard Trent Perry, though both decided to stay close to home — Newell (Montverde Academy, FL) picked Georgia while Perry (Harvard-Westlake, CA) chose USC.

Few struck out on both high-level recruits, but based on how college basketball is shifting away from a youth movement, there's plenty to suggest having older players might be better than having young and inexperienced talent.

Much of the parity in college basketball this season, which Brendan Marks addressed in an article from The Athletic, is due in part to the lack of really talented freshmen in today's game, combined with the abundance of upperclassmen and fifth-year seniors that were granted extra eligibility from COVID-19. 

Per KenPom, only six of the top 100 players in offensive rating are freshmen. In the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, that number was 14. Last season, there were only two freshmen in the top 100. Playing time has remained roughly the same since 2020, though in 2019 nine freshmen ranked in KenPom's top 100 players in percentage of minutes played — this season, there are two.

The 2023 recruiting class was seen as a relatively weak one in terms of potential NBA talent. Bleacher Report's latest two-round mock draft had just 14 one-and-dones in the top 58 picks. Early thoughts on the 2024 recruiting class indicate another relatively weak class, though the accuracy of that assessment remains to be seen.

Regardless, don't expect Few to change his ways.

"Everybody’s recruiting top-50 guys,” Few said to The Athletic. “Well, they’re still 18, and they’re going against 23-year-olds.”

Gonzaga's Stephen Gentry on NCAA Tournament speculation: 'The challenge is all the noise'