NCAA approves new 15-day transfer window for college basketball

Notable changes are coming to men’s and women’s college basketball.

The NCAA announced on Wednesday, Jan. 14 that the Division I Cabinet approved the immediate implementation of a 15-day transfer window in women’s and men’s basketball that will begin the day following both sports’ respective NCAA Tournament championship games.

The NCAA Women’s Tournament championship will take place on Sunday, April 5, while the men’s title game will take place on Monday, April 6, this season. Previously, the portal opened in March, during the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. The change in the transfer portal window was recommended in November by the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees.

There is also a change to the transfer window that opens for players following a head coaching change.

For players impacted by a head coaching change, they will be able to enter the transfer portal during a 15-day period that will open five days after the new head coach is hired or publicly announced. Should a hire not happen or be announced within 30 days of the previous head coach’s departure, a 15-day window will open then as well.

This is the second notable change to the transfer portal window for college athletics, as college football is in a new 15-day transfer window after the season. College football’s transfer window has a soft close on Friday, Jan. 16 — as it will remain open five additional days after the CFP Championship game for Indiana and Miami — after opening on Friday, Jan. 2.

The news release also mentioned that midyear transfers won’t be eligible to compete at a different school ‘if they enrolled at an NCAA school during the first academic term, regardless of whether they competed there.’

The other change announced on Wednesday came from the Division I Business Session and impacts the performance units and funds for college basketball with the NCAA Tournament. In other words, these are the financial rewards teams receive for their performances after reaching their respective Final Four.

‘As a conference which does not have the benefit of national football revenue but has had a school playing in either the Men’s or Women’s Final Four seven times in the last nine years that the tournament has been conducted, the Big East is very grateful for this change,’ Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement. ‘We’re very glad that every team that advances to the championship game from here on out will benefit from this logical adjustment to our national revenue distribution policy.’

Added NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt: ‘Today’s vote emphasizes the importance of rewarding schools who invest in the development of their basketball programs and reach not just the Final Four but ultimately achieve the pinnacle of success in this sport by competing for and winning the national championship.’

The units earned during the tournaments are paid out to conferences on a rolling basis, per the NCAA. For men’s basketball, units are distributed over six years, while in women’s basketball, which began implementing units last year, the units are distributed over three years.

‘The expansion of these funds also continues to increase financial support to members during this pivotal time in college sports in which student-athletes are receiving unprecedented benefits from their schools,’ Gavitt continued.

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