Brown: For Louisville basketball and others transfer portal has forever changed recruiting

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — The COVID-year waiver enters its final season, and the average age on NCAA basketball rosters will take a precipitous dip upon its departure.

The premium on recruiting freshmen, however, won’t return in its absence. Maybe it will for John Calipari, but now that he’s at Arkansas, that’s no longer Kentucky’s problem.

The days of depending on a group of freshmen to power a program to the top are as quaint as when maintaining amateurism was sacred and a scholarship was considered payment enough for players.

The waiver allowed everyone who played the fragmented 2020-21 season — defined by COVID testing, quarantines, canceled games and opponents scheduled through social media — to act like the year never existed.

The NCAA didn’t count that season toward eligibility, allowing players the option of staying in school for an unprecedented fifth full season.

It’s how someone such as Louisville forward Terrence Edwards Jr., who transferred after playing four seasons at James Madison, can still be allowed to suit up for the Cardinals this coming season.

The pandemic and the waiver that came with it changed how coaches dealt with roster management.

The transfer portal reconstructed how they viewed the need for a strong freshman class.

Basketball won’t quite harken the days of freshman ineligibility, because the elite tier in any class will still have its share of difference-makers who have an immediate impact. That includes Kentucky target A.J. Dybantsa, who is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2025 according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

But there will be more rosters constructed like Louisville, especially at the major conference level, that lean heavy on transfers.

Khani Rooths is the lone freshman on the Cards roster despite 10 players with only this season of eligibility remaining. (Both Kobe Rodgers and Aly Khalifa only have one year of eligibility left, but they are intending to redshirt to rehab from injuries.)

With the way U of L coach Pat Kelsey constructed the roster, he’s not only trying to win in Year 1 but he’s also content with making essentially an entire overhaul of his roster again next season because the transfer portal will have plenty of experienced players to choose from.

The signs are already clear this year at Peach Jam, Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League championships.

It’s still the top showcase for recruiting that attracts all the major college coaches and its fair share of the talent — including Tyran Stokes, a Louisville native now living in California who is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2026 according to 247Sports.

But the player matchups and marquee games that used to feature standing room only crowds of coaches stuffed along the wall and behind the baskets aren’t drawing the same galleries as they used to do. The attention span on potential recruits who need some development isn’t nearly the same.

Why look for a diamond in the rough when the real thing will be available in the portal at the end of the season?

The shift in approach could help schools such as Bellarmine in the short term. Players, who in prior years were destined for bigger programs, now find themselves underrecruited and available. The challenge for mid-major programs will come in retaining said players.

After a year or two of seasoning, those players could play their way out like Langdon Hatton did leaving Bellarmine to transfer to Indiana.

It's leading to more coaches asking collectives for added protection through name, image and likeness agreements. Two-year agreements are being pushed and signed. That's about the only way now a freshman can truly feel appreciated.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter atprofile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.