"Up-Transferring" in College Basketball
Agree with you, nothing wrong with it. Plenty of students go to JC or a smaller school for a year or two because they didnt have the best grades in HS, then transfer to a more prestigious college to finish out the degree.
Coaches do it all the time. Why not players too.
It is an interesting trend. Michigan has not really gotten a "up-transfer" in a while, but many of the other big ten teams have including Penn State, Illinois, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Very few of the 5th year transfers or up-transfers have wild success, but players like Brandon Wood and Sam Maniscalco can provide stability and maturity minus growing pains of freshmen.
I don't see the phenomenon as a huge problem, but it definitely helps the 'rich get richer' and can impede small schools' program growth. And plus, for every Brandon Wood, there's 10 Nate Wolters and Isaiah Canaan who give their loyalty to their program.
Coach K is funny in this one. He laments "recruiting" of up-transfers, but has had two himself, including Seth Curry in 2010 and Rodney Hood for next year. I think what he meant to say was, "When I do it, it's fine. When I get competition, something is inherently wrong with the process."
essentially free agents, not players that transfer after one year. But hey, I guess it's always trendy to pile on Duke any chance you can get.
He said "transfers or fifth-year players" which sure doesn't sound like he's limiting his comments to fifth-year players only.