It's happening to varying degrees in all college sports from what I've read. Basketball and football have, of course, the highest numbers of players entering the portal each year football getting the most pressure because it's the biggest money sport for the power conference schools.

I'm in total agreement with Dick Vitale.

I just read a bunch of articles about the pros and cons of the the transfer portal for college athletes and, as you would expect, it's controversial. In many ways it allows athletes to have more choices about their athletic careers but the downside, of course, is that some coaches and programs push the limits and find ways to abuse the portal to their advantage. Adding to the controversy is how players can now get paid for the the use of their NIL (names, images and likeness) which opens the doors for further abuse by 3rd parties and deep pocketed donors getting into the ears of players with promises of more money and stardom from their NIL if they transfer to their school.

The bottom line to me as an Aggie fan is, as Vitale has noted, that the mid-major programs are getting hurt the most and Manjon entering the portal is a perfect example. He was found, recruited, and developed by Les and his staff and he has excelled as a result of his time playing for the Aggies. Now he can enter the portal without having to consult his coaches prior to entering it or having sit out a year after transferring and the Ags are left with a big hole in their roster.

Players were much less likely to jump into the portal so quickly when they had to sit out one year after transferring. Now there is little incentive to think more carefully about making the decision to transfer. Loyalty and commitment to their current coaches and teammates has largely become a thing of the past.

As SI reported in June, roughly 40% of men’s basketball players who join Division I programs out of high school have left their initial team by the end of their sophomore year.

https://www.si.com/college/2021/11/05/ncaa-basketball-season-transfers-bluebloods-recruiting

Just as John Calipari built his Kentucky teams around his controversial style of "one-and-done" rosters, we now have coaches who are building their teams around finding talented players in the portal from "lower level" programs rather than putting their time and effort into recruiting and developing players out of high school. They're happy to let the smaller programs find the diamonds-in-the-rough, invest in them and develop them and then snatch them up when they enter the portal.

Ezra, along with BJ Shorts, are the two of the best PG's we've had here. His natural, physical ability and quickness are off the charts and he's incredibly strong as well. He's a hard worker and he's come a long way in just 2 years here. I think he also has the potential to get much better as well.

One of the main reasons he's has developed into such a good PG here is because he's been coached so well by Les who, as a former, small, pro PG, knows as much about the PG position as any coach in the country. In addition, he has been able to play a ton of minutes in every game. He'll be lucky to find that kind of coaching and minutes at the "next level."

Manjon averaged 15.0 ppg just behind Pepper at 15.1 ppg. He also led the team in assists with 81 which is nearly twice as many as Caleb Fuller who was second insists with 46. So we will be losing our #2 and #3 scorers ( Manjon @ 15.0 and Fuller @ 12.1) for a combined 27.1 ppg plus our #1 and #2 assist leaders. Losing these two players is huge for the Aggies and it essentially puts us right back into a rebuilding season next year.

Now, feels like we’ll be right back in the middle of the pack. — Oldbanduhalum

That's my feeling as well. Les mostly recruits high school players that he feels have a high ceiling and that they can then be developed with time and effort. Many of the other BW teams are bringing in experienced players from the transfer portal some of whom have played at several different schools. That's often a crap shoot, in my opinion, since you never know what the chemistry may be like from one year to the next.

Les is committed to the "Aggie way" of putting character, education and the team as a family first and foremost. That's a slower process of building the team over time and, when you have a player like Manjon transfer out, it leaves a void that isn't easy to replace quickly.

Wow...this is a real shocker that I did not expect. Les essentially found Manjon and gave him a chance to play D1 ball. He had no other offers out of high school.

I thought he was more devoted to being an Aggie playing under Les and more connected to his teammates than he apparently was but this seems to be the nature of the way things are now with the transfer portal. It kinda makes you wonder who's next to go.

It may just be an education decision for Caleb. He is very, very close with Coach Les and his family. Since he's from England, he spent the Christmas Holidays with the Les family each year and they consider him "family."

Caleb retweeted this on his twitter page so it appears to be accurate. I'm curious to know why he apparently is not seeking to play as a grad at Davis if he has a year of eligibility left.

#11 Princeton had a good chance to beat #3 Indiana but they threw the ball away and lost 57-56 in the final seconds. Princeton reminded a lot of how the Aggies play.

In one of the biggest upsets in the tournament, #10 South Dakota soundly beat #2 Baylor in 61-47. So there are now two #10 seeds in the Sweet 16: SD and Creighton.

There's such a wide gap in the talent between the few top women's team and most of the other teams that these unfortunate, lopsided games happen too often. You rarely see the kind of upsets that you see in the men's tournament. You have to feel for the teams that get absolutely trounced in games like that.

#2 Baylor crushed #15 Hawaii 89-49 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

A lot of the best mid-major teams are heavily recruiting Europe, Australia, Africa and New Zealand. We're going to see more of that in the BW also as well as a lot of transfers. I think the Ags will need to do the same soon to keep pace. The best players in the USA get identified early and almost invariably go to the Power Conference schools. Mid-major programs need to recruit internationally to find players of that caliber.

Fullerton is battling Duke hard but Duke's size has been simply too much so far. Duke is up 37-27 at the half. Dedrique Taylor has built his team around high level transfers.

St Mary's has been successful mining Australia and New Zealand for years and they have also been getting players from Eastern Europe. They destroyed Indiana in their first round game 82-59 and it wasn't even that close!

Sorry to see him go. He looked like a promising player. He had offers from Sac and Riverside also when he committed to the Ags.

I don't like scheduling a D2 team at all. Nothing to gain and a lot to lose. You can bet that any D2 Texas team will be no walkover also. Football is right up there with God in popularity in Texas.

Hawaii gets a #15 seed and will play #2 Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Very tough draw for the Rainbow Wahine.

OOOF....Duke will be playing with a lot of emotion...

Hawaii beats Irvine 59-48 to win the BW Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Fullerton 58 Hawaii 46 Final

The two best teams in the Big West will meet in the final. Fullerton's defense is impressive.