NCAA Transfer Portal Officially Opens

The NCAA Transfer Portal officially opened at midnight on the morning of Monday, March 24, giving student athletes a chance to take their talents to a different school.

While hundreds of players have announced their intentions to transfer during recent weeks or even filed their paperwork to do so, this marks the official beginning of the portal season. As of right now, no members of Villanova Men’s Basketball have declared for the portal, although the Wildcats will lose all five of their starters from this season to graduation… which could be a problem, given they still don’t know the identity of their next head coach and have no recruits in the incoming class of 2025.

The portal will remain open for thirty days with a handful of exceptions, one especially pertinent to Villanova. Players on teams amidst a head coaching change, whether due to firing or leaving for another school, will have another 30 days to enter their name in the portal. That period for the Wildcats the second Kyle Neptune received a pink slip… and will trigger again if Villanova manages to hire away a coach currently at the helm of another NCAA program like Maryland’s Kevin Willard, New Mexico’s Richard Pitino or UCLA’s Mick Cronin.

Many players have followed their coaches from school to school in recent years, a sort of diet free agency, so even if the Wildcats get a late start on the portal because of their coaching search, they could poach players away from the team they swipe a coach from.

The Portal Report, a partner site of Philadelphia Sports Now, will provide to the minute updates on players in the transfer portal throughout the entire process.