[WBB fan]

I am beginning to think that the most effective coaches going forward will be those who can put a new team together every single year, almost from scratch.  I think it was Geno who pointed out that 20-25% of all DIV I WBB players are in the portal.  It gives recruiting a radical new meaning.  Stanford may be one of the only teams that still has a chance of "building" a team over 4 years as in the olden days--and that because of the reputation of our degree and the kind of student it attracts.  Nearly every other coach is going to be doing what Graves  and Frese and oh so many others are doing--shopping for talent out of the portal on an annual basis.

It does diminish the game, for me.  I prefer teams to have continuity, reputations, loyalty.  And every transfer to better an athletic career is a reminder that "student-athlete" was always a fiction to most. 

I know I am weird, but the many changes to college sports of late seem custom designed to sap my interest and drive me away.

I'm totally with you on this. It's one of the reasons that I've been more of a WBB fan than men -- all those men's teams that rely on one and done players to succeed are a turn off for me. I like the sense of a real  TEAM, and that's what you don't get when you have players out of, then back into, etc. the portal. Stanford will keep me as a fan only so long as it doesn't get into the transfer portal roulette game -- so far so good on that.  I also think that an earlier comment about the effect of the portal has merit -- that because players don't develop as a team, together, it affects the way the game is played, more helter skelter. And that's not good either.

[WBB fan]

I am beginning to think that the most effective coaches going forward will be those who can put a new team together every single year, almost from scratch.  I think it was Geno who pointed out that 20-25% of all DIV I WBB players are in the portal.  It gives recruiting a radical new meaning.  Stanford may be one of the only teams that still has a chance of "building" a team over 4 years as in the olden days--and that because of the reputation of our degree and the kind of student it attracts.  Nearly every other coach is going to be doing what Graves  and Frese and oh so many others are doing--shopping for talent out of the portal on an annual basis.

It does diminish the game, for me.  I prefer teams to have continuity, reputations, loyalty.  And every transfer to better an athletic career is a reminder that "student-athlete" was always a fiction to most. 

I know I am weird, but the many changes to college sports of late seem custom designed to sap my interest and drive me away.

I'm totally with you on this. It's one of the reasons that I've been more of a WBB fan than men -- all those men's teams that rely on one and done players to succeed are a turn off for me. I like the sense of a real  TEAM, and that's what you don't get when you have players out of, then back into, etc. the portal. Stanford will keep me as a fan only so long as it doesn't get into the transfer portal roulette game -- so far so good on that.  I also think that an earlier comment about the effect of the portal has merit -- that because players don't develop as a team, together, it affects the way the game is played, more helter skelter. And that's not good either.