Transfer Portal to Greatness

A summary of my game so far and insights and questions about the portal and recruiting. For the record I sim all my games. I never play out a game in any sports management game I play including OOTP and the DDS games. Just my preference because I like to build up a long history in my games.

I'm playing as Coach John Wick of the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, my alma mater and a lower level team in the lower level Sunbelt Conference. I like that type experience better than playing the major conference teams.

For my first season, 2022, I was given a really bad team, as expected, but with a couple of good players, including a sophomore point guard who would come in really handy down the line. My goals were to finish with 10 wins and to not finish last in the conference. I finished next to the last in the conference and won exactly 10 games, winning number 10 in the first round of the Sunbelt Tournament by beating the last place team. My record was 10-21. Totally expected, though I did realize when the next season came around that I had changed my offensive and defensive strategies at the start but had absolutely forgotten to set my practice schedule to match my strategies. My bad. I guess I had some reallly confused players on the court.

I then had a couple of players go into the portal. These were freshmen who were 1 star with 4 star potential. I played them but didn't start them, choosing some higher rated players to try to get some more wins. This is an interesting and continuing dilemma with the portal. Do you play that future potential talent, or do you play better developed players to get more wins now? I thought I needed more wins now. So a couple of potentially really good players left seeking more playing time, and that opened up the portal for me.

I ended up signing three players in the portal, including one really big one, a center from LSU. Galen Weaver. 6-9. Incoming sophomore. Three years of eligibility. 4 star potential. He has been the center of my team since then. Scorer, high percentage shooter, rebounder, good on defense. I also was able to pick up a good center in recruiting, Nick King. He was underrated coming out of high school and is now a 4 star.

I have questions about Weaver. He started 29 games his freshman year at LSU, averaging 16.3 ppg and 6.8 rebounds. Why did he enter the portal? Whatever the reason, I offered him a scholarship in round one before even scouting him. And I got him.

For 2023,with Weaver and my developing point guard and a couple of other good players including King, and practicing my actual offensive and defensive strategies, I improved to 16-16 and went to the semis of the Sunbelt Tournament before losing.

And then I was able to hit the portal again after the season and picked up another couple of good players including Russell Prewitt, a shooting guard from University of New Orleans. He would be a key cog in what would happen next.

For 2024 I had my point guard, DeWayne Casper, now a fully developed senior, Prewitt at shooting guard, and Weaver and King. I played Weaver at PF and King at C. And after experimenting in November and December, I began starting transfer Lee Jackson from Sacred Heart at shooting forward. Others were higher rated, and the AI, which I consult before making my own depth decisions, told me not to play him. But he had a 10 in outside shooting, and his shooting stats were really good in the minutes he played subbing for the starting SF. Once I set that lineup, the team became really good, with other portal players playing a lot of reserve minutes and with Prewitt really heating up to close out the season. I went 24-11, tied for first in the Sunbelt, won the tournament, and went to the NCAA tournament as an 11 seed on an 8-game winning streak. I won the first two games and reached the Sweet 16 before falling to Villanova by 7 points. Nice.

I start the 2025 season with 9 recruited players and 6 portal players. I've consistently been able to get better players from the portal than from recruiting and much easier than spending a summer and fall wooing them. But on the other hand I have lost several players with high potential to the portal who may have been really good if I had played them a couple of years.

That' the dilemma of the portal. Is it supposed to work that well? And do really good players jump into the portal sometimes looking for even better options? Looking at real life, I know that it can work that well for some teams but often doesn't, though it is a fact of life in NCAA basketball now. And it is certainly fun to play the portal.

I don't know the exact reason Weaver transferred - maybe he clashed with the coach or other teammates? Maybe he wanted to be the #1 option and wasn't going to be that there? There are a lot of reasons the players can transfer.

As to is it supposed to work that well I mean sure, why not? It's not like you built some untouchable squad - making a S16 run as an 11 seed is a fun accomplishment but certainly not unrealistic in any way.

And do really good players enter the portal? Right now Kel'el Ware (possible 2024 lottery pick) is transferring after being a frosh at Oregon, Caleb Love was a huge name for UNC and he's in the portal, Kerr Kriisa was Arizona's starting PG and he's in the portal, JJ Starling was a 5 star prospect for ND and he's transferring to Syracuse, Brandon Murray has transferred from LSU and Georgetown in back to back years and I just saw today Hunter Dickenson is entering the portal as a grad transfer from Michigan not to mention tons of others who were starters at large programs who want a different place to play. IMO the portal is terrible for college sports but its a reality and is therefore reflected as such in the game.

It is fun, and the portal indeed can work that way. I'm wondering, if I had kept those potential 4 stars by starting them and enduring 1 or 2 rough seasons with them, if they would have developed as well as the portal players I got. Of course we will never know. But what I did was fun, and now I have to see if I can maintain the level I'm at now, much less reach the Final Four. I would think my recruiting ability will improve some with my success, too.

I think you've done a good job of capturing the possibilities of using the portal. The most interesting part to me, in the end, was not Weaver, but Jackson. He's a 2 star with 3 star potential. The AI wanted me to start another transfer from Weber State, Rosen, a 3.5 star with 3.5 potential, over him. Both were sophomores. I play a lot of players in Nov and Dec. Most of that time I split their time with Rosen starting. a 7 jump shooter and 4 scorer with some other good ratings. Jackson a 5 scorer and 10 jump shooter with some weaker ratings in other areas. And before we hit conference play a good look at the stats showed Jackson was going to get me more points. So I went all in with him in conference play and the tournaments and it paid off. For the year Jackson hit .570 FG % to .401 for Rosen, for example. That's another enjoyable part of the game, even when simming all games, going into the data to try to put the best lineups and rotations and reserves on the court.

BTW I gave the game a good review on Steam where I'm jwarrenw13, and I encourage others to do so if on Steam.

I love reading these kind of stories.

I've mentioned before that I work the table for a mid major div 1 team. I had a long conversation with the HC of the women's team at our post season thank you dinner. HE intentionally now recruits about 60% through the portal. HS players are such a crap shoot and at the mid major level even more so. But he's discovered that you can get some plums out of the portal that you had no shot at when they were freshmen. At the same time, he has, going into the coming season, maybe the greatest player in program history, who he recruited out of high school. The answer is work both as hard as you can.

My conclusion is, if you are at a mid major especially, make sure you have enough $$ in your budget for the portal too so that is your #1 priority.