Transfer portal provided boost for most March Madness teams

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State coachTom Izzo is not a big fan of the transfer portal, lamenting that itgives young athletes an easy out instead of an opportunity toovercome challenges.

“I’ll say until the day I die, I do not see anything good forthe players in it,” Izzo said Tuesday.

The seventh-seeded Spartans, however, would not be in the Sweet16 for the 15th time under their Hall of Fame coach without formerNortheastern guard Tyson Walker and ex-Marquette forward JoeyHauser.

The Spartans, of course, are not alone in relying on transfers.Not anymore. They are all over March Madness.

Third-seeded Kansas State, which will face the Spartans onThursday night in New York, has relied heavily on transfers with 12on its roster under first-year coach Jerome Tang. Former Floridaforward Keyontae Johnson and ex-Arkansas-Little Rock guard MarkquisNowell, both of whom earned third-team All-America recognition, arestarring for the Wildcats.

UCLA and Princeton are bucking the trend because they’re stillin the Tournament without a transfer player.

Izzo could have dipped back into the portal to bolster thisseason’s team after losing his top three scorers and a solid postplayer from last year’s team. Instead, he chose to stick with theplayers he had after they chose to stay.

“There’s something they believed in here,” Izzo said. “That’sthe beauty of sticking together. And if it carries us through theweekend, it’ll be one of the great life lessons learned.”

EAST REGION

No. 4 seed Tennessee vs. No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic

Like many transfers, Tyreke Key left a smaller program (IndianaState) for a bigger one and the Volunteers are glad he did. Aftersophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler tore a knee ligament in thefinal week of the regular season, Key became even more valuable forthe postseason.

Vladislav Goldin, meanwhile, went against the grain by leaving alarger school for a mid-major program. The 7-foot-1, shot-blockingRussian bolted from Texas A&M to play for the Owls in search ofmore playing time. He found what he was looking at FAU, starting in33 games.

SOUTH REGION

No. 1 seed Alabama vs. No. 5 seed San Diego State

All-America freshman forward Brandon Miller leads the CrimsonTide on the court, but key roles have been filled by a fewtransfers, including Mark Sears. The former Ohio University guardtrails only Miller in scoring and has provided much-needed, 3-pointshooting.

Four of San Diego State’s top five scorers are transfers,including former California standout Matt Bradley, who is averaginga team-high 13 points per game.

No. 6 seed Creighton vs. No. 15 seed Princeton

The Bluejays have two transfers, two more than the Tigers.Baylor Scheierman starts and Francisco Farabello comes off thebench for Creighton. Scheierman was the Summit League player of theyear last year at South Dakota State and Farabello played at TCUfor three seasons.

MIDWEST REGION

No. 1 seed Houston vs. No. 5 seed Miami

The Courgars have recruited and developed most of their bestplayers, but former Arkansas forward Reggie Chaney is in therotation. The Hurricanes second-, third- and fourth-leading scorersare transfers: Jordan Miller (George Mason), Norchad Omier(Arkansas State) and Nijel Pack (Kansas State).

No. 2 seed Texas vs. No. 3 seed Xavier

The Longhorns often have four transfers in their starting lineupand leading scorer, Marcus Carr, has left two schools. The formerPittsburgh and Minnesota guard along with ex-New Mexico State guardSir’Jabari Rice, the team’s second-leading scorer, are in theirsixth season of college. Carr and Rice took advantage of an extrayear of eligibility that the NCAA gave athletes if they were inschool when the pandemic started.

Souley Boum, who started his career at San Francisco and went onto become a star at New Mexico State, leads the Musketeers with16.5 points a game and is also in his sixth year of college. FormerIowa forward Jack Nunge, ex-Belmont guard Adam Kunkel and formerIndiana forward Adam Kunkel are also among Xavier’s topplayers.

WEST REGION

No. 2 seed UCLA vs. No. 3 seed Gonzaga

While the Bruins have no transfers, the Zags have Rasir Bolton,who ranks fourth on the team in scoring, played at Penn State andfor Iowa State before landing at Gonzaga. Malachi Smith went fromWright State to Chattanooga before choosing a lesser role atGonzaga.

No. 4 seed UConn vs. No. 8 seed Arkansas

The Huskies’ backcourt is full of transfers. Former EastCarolina star Tristen Newton runs the point, averaging 10-pluspoints and nearly five assists per game. Grad student JoeyCalcaterra spent four years at San Diego and Nahiem Alleyne was athree-year starter at Virginia Tech.

The Razorbacks are in the Sweet 16 for a third straight year inpart because coach Eric Musselman has made good use of the portal.Former Wichita State guard Ricky Council leads Arkansas in scoringand Makhi Mitchell, who played at Maryland and Rhode Island, is oneof team’s top rebounders and scores seven points a game.

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AP Sports Writer John Zenor, Bernie Wilson, Eric Olson, TomCanavan, Teresa M. Walker, Dave Skretta, Tim Reynolds, Jim Vertunoand Beth Harris contributed.