[81alum]

What if the transfer portal is an experiment in testing the free market value of NIL deals for these players...and that there's an implicit potential that Stanford boosters would match?

Grasping at straws here.  Couldn't imagine that three players would jump if you asked me at the start of the season :(

If you want to grasp at straws, try looking at the transfer portal from a player thinking "What have I got to lose if I go up on the auction block?  If no one that I want to play for meets the minimum bid, I can stay with my current team as they can't/won't replace me."

When you think of that approach for the players, if I were the coach I might consider implementing a policy of "Unless you have some particular hardship, if you enter the transfer portal, you will have no scholarship the next year even if you don't leave."

It might take a coach telling a #1 pick to pack her bags to cause players to realize there is a downside to entering the transfer portal.  (Granted, it seems likely that some team's supporters will pony up big bucks for a #1 pick.)

Since 2014 the Pac 12 has guaranteed athletic scholarships for 4 years.  I think it was the right decision at the time.  But now that transfer rules have dissolved, it creates an imbalance, in which universities must keep promises to players, but players need not keep promises to universities.

[81alum]

What if the transfer portal is an experiment in testing the free market value of NIL deals for these players...and that there's an implicit potential that Stanford boosters would match?

Grasping at straws here.  Couldn't imagine that three players would jump if you asked me at the start of the season :(

If you want to grasp at straws, try looking at the transfer portal from a player thinking "What have I got to lose if I go up on the auction block?  If no one that I want to play for meets the minimum bid, I can stay with my current team as they can't/won't replace me."

When you think of that approach for the players, if I were the coach I might consider implementing a policy of "Unless you have some particular hardship, if you enter the transfer portal, you will have no scholarship the next year even if you don't leave."

It might take a coach telling a #1 pick to pack her bags to cause players to realize there is a downside to entering the transfer portal.  (Granted, it seems likely that some team's supporters will pony up big bucks for a #1 pick.)

Since 2014 the Pac 12 has guaranteed athletic scholarships for 4 years.  I think it was the right decision at the time.  But now that transfer rules have dissolved, it creates an imbalance, in which universities must keep promises to players, but players need not keep promises to universities.