College basketball’s calendar no longer ends with the tournament. For coaches like Marquette’s Shaka Smart, the transfer portal has created a second recruiting season that runs in parallel with roster retention, NIL conversations, and the same staff doing the same work twice in one year. The hidden cost is not just money; it is instability for athletes and fans who never know which names will still be on the roster in the fall.
The portal has turned the offseason into a continuous recruitment and retention cycle that coaches must run every year
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Shaka Smart announced in February 2026 that Marquette would actively use the transfer portal after avoiding it since 2022, framing the shift as the program evolving to do what is best to get back to winning. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on March 13, 2026, that Smart faces a crucial offseason with two clear needs: a big man to address rebounding (the team ranked 332nd nationally in allowing offensive rebounds) and additional veteran guard depth. Ben Gold is out of eligibility and Caedin Hamilton’s development has stalled; the transfer portal window runs April 6-20, 2026, and Marquette currently has one open scholarship with more likely to open from departures. That means Smart and his staff are simultaneously trying to retain core players like Big East Freshman of the Year Nigel James Jr., Royce Parham, and Adrien Stevens while recruiting replacements in a compressed window.
NCAA rules have compounded the pressure. CBS Sports reported in January 2026 that the college basketball transfer portal now opens for a 15-day window the day after the NCAA Tournament ends (April 7 in 2026), and that when a head coach departs, a separate 15-day entry period opens five days after the new coach is hired or announced. Programs that lose a coach therefore face two distinct portal windows in a single year, and even stable programs must treat the single annual window as a second full recruiting cycle. Coaches are not only recruiting high-school players; they are recruiting their own roster to stay and competing for portal players in a market where prices have risen sharply. The Athletic reported in July 2024 that college basketball transfer portal and NIL costs are driving rising expenses across the sport.
Marquette finished 12-20 in 2025-26 and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in Smart’s five seasons, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Marquette Wire. The program is building around James Jr., Parham, and Stevens while needing at least one frontcourt addition and more backcourt depth. Smart has said he will not hire a separate general manager and will continue to rely on his staff and director of program development Tyler McDevitt to manage the roster, which puts the same people in charge of both retention and portal recruitment. The workload is effectively double: one cycle to lock in current players and another to fill gaps in a 15-day window.
Across the sport, the financial and operational cost of the portal is rising. ESPN reported in 2026 that college football transfer portal trends show prices increasing, with top players commanding premiums in compressed windows; basketball has followed a similar path. Programs that once focused on high-school recruiting and occasional transfers now budget for NIL, retention offers, and portal recruitment every year. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story underscores that Smart is not alone: his decision to enter the portal after years of avoiding it reflects a sport-wide shift. Coaches who skip the portal risk falling behind; those who use it accept a second recruiting season and the instability that comes with it.
What This Actually Means
Ordinary fans and athletes bear the cost of the new calendar. Roster churn means less continuity, more uncertainty about who will still be on the team in November, and more pressure on programs to spend on NIL and staff time to compete in the portal. Coaches like Smart are not choosing to recruit twice; the structure of the portal and the market for talent force them to. The result is a sport where the offseason is as important as the season and where stability is the exception.
How does the transfer portal window work for college basketball?
The NCAA runs one primary transfer window each year. In 2026 it opens April 7, the day after the Final Four, and runs for 15 days. Players who enter in that window can be contacted and recruited by other schools. A separate 15-day window opens when a head coach leaves; players at that school can enter the portal five days after the new coach is announced. So in any given year a program may be dealing with the main portal window and, if there is a coaching change elsewhere, a wave of players from other schools entering at a different time. Coaches must be ready to recruit in both periods and to defend their own roster from poaching in each. For a program like Marquette with one open scholarship and possible additional departures, the single April window is already a high-stakes second recruiting season.