March Madness: Final Four has nothing on 'Portal Combat'

You think a potential clash of powerhouses UConn and Purdue in the championship round of the men’s NCAA Tournament in Glendale, Arizona, would be fierce? That the Huskies’ 7-2 Donovan Clingan and the Boilermakers’ 7-4 Zach Edey going at it would be such a spectacle, it would be along the lines of a 40-year title-game throwback to Patrick Ewing vs. Akeem Olajuwon in Seattle in 1984?

Well, you’re not wrong. Sign me up for it, too.

But there’s a whole other battle scene unfolding everywhere else major college basketball is played and everywhere else players are looking to raise their individual profiles and pocket some real bread, and that’s the one being waged between team-building and program survival; between bits of continuity and all-out chaos. More places than not, it sure looks like chaos is going to win.

Call it “Portal Combat.”

The transfer portal opened on March 18, a day after Selection Sunday. That meant racing and scrambling to build rosters for all those coaches whose teams weren’t headed for postseason tournaments. It also meant racing and scrambling — just as much, if not more so — for all those coaches whose teams were.

“The timing stinks,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood, who had multiple staff members dedicated to portal duty even as the Illini were one of the last eight teams standing in the Big Dance.

“If anybody has any sense, they will [change it],” he said. “This is the greatest event we have and we’re doing something to take away from that? It’s absurd.”

And yet Underwood didn’t leave Boston, where the Illini’s season ended at the hands of mighty UConn, without treating reporters to his portal elevator pitch. He had zero time to waste.

“I hope everybody wants to be a part of what winning is and what our offense is and what we’ve done, the success we’ve had over the last five years,” he said. “We’ve been as good as anybody in the country.”

Perhaps that will be music to the ears of several of the 200-plus Division I players who were in the portal as of Tuesday. Illinois is sorely in need of a few of the better ones after losing all the talent it did. Terrence Shannon Jr. should be an NBA draft pick. Marcus Domask — a portal home run hit by Underwood in 2023 — has reached the end of the line. Coleman Hawkins will turn pro or transfer. Dain Dainja has entered the portal. The list of returnees in 2024-25 will be some combination of Ty Rodgers, Luke Goode, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Amani Hansberry, Nico Moretti and Sencire Harris; in other words, a who’s-who of “who?”

Still, Underwood took offense when a writer from Champaign asked him in Boston about trying to keep the winning momentum going.

“I guess you’re asking should we slip?” he said. “Shame on you. You’ve been around me five years. Hell, we’re not going anywhere.”

That’s easy to say but harder all the time to back up. Illinois already has gotten one commitment via the portal, a Jake Davis from Mercer. Davis’ commitment led Illini fans on social media to celebrate (“Great news!”; “Winning!”; “Let’s [blank-ing] go!”) as though they’d ever heard of a Jake Davis from Mercer, let alone knew a single thing of substance about him.

Illinois is widely expected to be the next landing place for Wisconsin transfer AJ Storr, who led the Badgers in scoring and averaged 22.5 points in four Big Ten tournament games this past season. According to 247 Sports’ state-of-the-industry portal prospect rankings, Storr is the No. 1 player available. Score!

On the other hand, Storr, who hails from Rockford, has a tiny bit of a history of looking for the next good thing. He attended five high schools in four states. After originally committing to Illinois out of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, he decommitted and went to St. John’s instead. That lasted a year before he took his talents to Wisconsin. Only 20, he’s looking for college No. 3. Nothing against Storr, but if he isn’t the poster player for the ridiculous crap shoot that is big-time college sports in 2024, who is? Good luck with all that.

And lots of luck to all the coaches and teams out there, because most of them will need it.

Fresh off losing to Illinois in the Sweet 16, Iowa State lost four players to the portal, among them former McDonald’s All-American Omaha Biliew. Iowa watched three key players — one of them coach Fran McCaffery’s son Patrick — disappear into the portal. Michigan’s roster is in upheaval with coach Juwan Howard out and Dusty May in. Minnesota’s is one of the many in upheaval without a coaching change. Did Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell do something wrong to have seven players enter the portal? Or has he done something right? It’s hard to tell these things anymore.

Three of the top eight players in 247’s portal ratings are leaving Stanford. Who leaves Stanford? Isn’t it supposed to be one of those places nobody can get into, not one nobody can wait to get away from? Goodness, times have changed.

The Nos. 2 and 3 players in 247’s rankings, right behind Storr, are Stanford center Maxime Reynaud, a 7-1 force who was the team’s best player, and Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi, a 6-11 rim protector who has been one of the Big Ten’s leading intimidators the last couple of seasons.

Wait, is the big man making a comeback in the college game? There’s a fun thought.

Maybe your favorite school will land a great one. And then all too soon — inevitably — watch him wriggle away.