While most people pay attention to college basketball from November through March, those within the game will tell you that a major part of the sport is built by what happens in the offseason. But the offseason, for many, has become this beast that is nearly as busy and time-consuming as the regular season.
Due to the added workload of managing players entering the transfer portal as well as the shock to college athletics brought by name, image and likeness legislation, coaches are working to alleviate some of the stress by restructuring the calendar.
According to more than two dozen coaches interviewed by CBS Sports this summer, significant changes are needed — and so significant changes are on the way.
Men’s college basketball was recently allowed by the NCAA’s Division I Council to be part of a “pilot program” that could, theoretically, empower the sport to govern itself in ways never allowed before. That was overdue. One of the first efforts in this trial period is to overhaul and improve the calendar and how the sport is recruited, mostly from March through August.
“It grew and grew and grew until it became a monster and you couldn’t stop it and it became a 365-days-a-year type thing,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said.
This calendar makeover was taken on to modernize it to the cadence of recruiting and cater to the value of prospects being courted. It needs to get to a place where it provides a healthier work/life balance. It needs to give high school prospects and college transfers adequate-but-separate recruitment opportunities.
And where does it all start? The transfer portal. Its open and close dates are pivotal — and the window is due for a contraction.
Here’s how the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) hopes to change college basketball starting in 2024.
New portal window for 30 days
The top complaint with the portal is how long it’s open. An…
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