Irvine's outstanding 7'0 center, Bent Leuchten, has entered the portal. That's a huge loss for the Anteaters.

There are now 1692 players in the portal including 43 from Big West schools:

CSUN - 8
Poly - 7
San Diego - 5
Long Beach - 5
Bakersfield - 4
Irvine - 3
Riverside - 3
Fullerton - 2
Hawai'i - 2
Santa Barbara - 2
Aggies - 2

Yeah, unfortunately, my wife and I were there to witness that meltdown. We honestly thought that this Aggie team was going be the one to finally win the D2 National Championship...

Seattle Sports article about EWU hiring Monson as their head coach:

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1774726/dan-monson-ewu-coach-who-started-gonzaga-rise/

I'm not sure that we have ever seen this much recruiting activity this early by the Aggies. It feels like Plough and his crew are really stepping hard on the accelerator. I love the energy!

Comments from Jim Les about TY Johnson entering the portal:

"It's our new reality that players who have developed as TY has will attract attention and other schools will try to poach them," Les noted.

"It's become a wild, wild West scenario, with NIL (name, image and likeness payments) becoming a recruiting tool. That's actually been going on for a long time, but now it's legal."

"He's an awesome young man, an awesome player and he put in a lot of hard work to get where he is today," Les added.

"We're hoping that if he stays, we can springboard him into playing at the next level. He certainly has the skills, the work ethic and the mentality to succeed."

"We need to keep doing what we do, which is developing young players and offering them a great education and a great basketball experience," said the Aggie coach.

"But we have to respond to our needs, too, and sometimes that is in the portal."

"I think this is a really hard decision for him," Les said of Johnson.

"We're in regular communication, and in his heart, I think he doesn't want to leave Davis. He loves it here and is thriving, but for a variety of reasons, he feels like he needs to test the market.

"I still believe this is the best place for him, but we just have to see how it plays out. He knows how much we appreciate him as a player and as a person. He's on an upward trajectory and we'd love to have him finish that ride here."

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ucd-hoops-star-johnson-enters-transfer-portal/article_5fa692a6-f602-11ee-aed5-73d89460067e.html

I always thought that Jen Gross might be in the running for the Stanford job when VanDerveer retired. I've heard that she and her husband have a good relationship with VanDerveer and they have helped VanDerveer with the Princeton style offense.

There are 1537 players in the portal as of today.

https://verbalcommits.com/transfers

I believe that the players should have freedom of choice and have the right to transfer but, along with the lure of NIL money, the "rich are getting richer" in D1 basketball. More and more, programs like the Big West schools are seeing many of their best players leave for "greener pastures" each year and,
consequently, the smaller, mid-major schools are forced to rebuild year after year. I think it's ruining the ability of smaller conferences like the Big West to grow and become more competitive at the national level.

College football has FBS, FCS, D2 and D3 levels of competitiveness and national championship tournaments at each of these levels. I'm ready for college basketball to have the same kind of structure. Players want to compete in the post-season and have a chance to play in a national championship tournament. This kind of competitive structure helps the smaller programs retain their players and build fan support. Just look at what schools like North and South Dakota State and the the Montanas have built at the FCS football level.

Football has the longest history of success and has the most fan support at Davis and is still growing. Each season, Aggie football has a goal of getting into the post-season playoffs and chance of playing competitively for a national championship. I think it's time for D1 basketball to have a similar structure as D1 football has with an additional level equivalent to what the FCS is in football. Then we would have a national championship tournament for mid-major programs and something for those schools and their fans to really look forward to each year.

The hits keep coming for the Big West teams. Derin Saran, Irvine's outstanding Fr PG, has entered the portal along with their promising 6'10 Fr forward, Carter Welling and his brother, 6'9 So forward, Hayden Welling.

Does TY have 1 or 2 years of eligibility left?

It would be great if Rocak was able to play one more year but we're looking a total rebuild at this point. It's possible that TY won't find another school that he wants to transfer to but I think he's probably going to get quite a few offers from some elite basketball programs...99% chance that he's gone which means we have now lost our entire starting lineup from last season.

Here's a current list of players who are leaving:

Eli Pepper - graduated
TY Johnson - transfer portal
Ade Adebayo - graduated
Kane Milling - graduated
Niko Rocak - graduated
Sam Manu - graduated

Verbalcommits.com is confirming that TY is in the portal.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/ty-johnson2

Check the final four (or sweet sixteen) - it’s full of mid major transfers. If he wants to go to the tournament, this is his only hope. — DrMike

I know, I know, Davis degree….but those days are long gone with the portal and NIL. — DrMike

This sucks big time but, honestly, I expected it. It's simply a sign of the times in college basketball and football especially for mid-major basketball programs and FCS football programs. It's rare that a mid-major player as talented as Eli Pepper, for example, will stay with the mid-major program once they realize that they can play on a bigger state and those big programs come calling. Most players nowadays head out for the brighter lights and the opportunity to earn some money.

I expect that Les will continue to find "diamonds in the rough" and develop them into elite players only to see them hit the portal and leave at some point. Mid-major basketball programs and FCS football programs have now become the "minor league, development programs" for the bigger schools.

Chris Acker, who spent the last 5 seasons as an assistant coach at San Diego State, has been named the the new Head Coach at Long Beach State.

https://longbeachstate.com/news/2024/4/2/mens-basketball-chris-acker-selected-as-the-new-head-mens-basketball-coach-at-long-beach-state

There are now 1323 players in the portal as of today.

The exodus from Long Beach State continues as their second leading scorer, Jadon Jones, enters the portal. Their leading scorer, Marcos Tsohonis, was a senior and now Jones is leaving along with both Traorés and George. The whole starting lineup is leaving.

Yes it is. That's essentially the heart of the team.