Dried tears clung to their cheeks, voices cracked mid-sentence and hands trembled as Valparaiso rested at the podium.
The Beacons tried their best to answer questions following a heartbreaking 70-65 loss to Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament semifinals.
The room was filled with agony and disbelief. Moments earlier, the team’s improbable March run ended five points shy of a chance to make it to the NCAA tournament.
Valparaiso shocked the Valley as an 11-seed and looked to reignite its program heading into the future. Young talent, such as freshman guard All Wright and sophomore forward Cooper Schweiger, were considered building blocks.
The future seemed bright. Beacons coach Roger Powell Jr. spoke about how the group had put Valparaiso back on the map. Schweiger said the team was on the right track for next season, and Wright said he would be back to cut some nets down.
That was until the transfer portal came calling.
A month later, Schweiger has committed to Wake Forest, Wright is heading to Xavier and Powell Jr. is left with the task of rebuilding the program once more.
If Wright cuts down any nets, it won’t be as a Beacon.
Valparaiso could be on the right track for next season, but Schweiger won’t be a part of its journey.
Powell may have given his all to put the program back on the map, yet he’ll have to look across the country to find his team for next season.
The situation that Valparaiso has found itself in shortly after making its first quarterfinal since 2020 is symbolic of a prominent issue in college basketball.
Mid-majors don’t have a chance anymore.
Outside the Power Five conferences, mid-majors have become feeder schools to high-major programs. It’s made life more difficult for administrators, coaches and fans alike.
Head coaches find players overlooked in high school and neglected by high-major programs. They then develop these players, building relationships with them and giving them opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have had. The players become fan favorites and pillars of the community.
But then what? Is it all for nothing?
Look no further than Drake. The program has been forced to rebuild in back-to-back seasons due to former coaches and players leaving for schools with more resources and NIL money platforming their players onto a larger stage.
Because players no longer have to wait a year to transfer and colleges can offer players however much they want, college basketball has turned into a professional sport.
The transfer portal is NBA free agency, and every player thinks they’re LeBron James in 2010.
The portal opened before the season concluded on March 24, and nearly 2,000 Division I players have since entered it, according to CBS Sports.
Since the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal, the focus has shifted to who can make the most money at the most schools. Some players have transferred four times over their careers and are making more money than coaches in doing so.
So, what’s the solution?
How does college basketball regain its sanctity? Will the NCAA level the playing field for mid-majors?
For starters, college basketball and football need much more regulation regarding NIL and the transfer portal. Players should be allowed one free transfer, unless a coach leaves for a new team or gets fired. Otherwise, players should have to redshirt one season before playing for a new team.
NIL, in its essence, is a game changer for players. They are not the problem.
Athletes have generated billions of dollars for collegiate programs for decades while receiving nothing to show for it. That is unfair to them, and they should receive funding for their name, image and likeness, but there needs to be restrictions.
If we’re going to treat amateur basketball like the pros, there should be a salary cap. The NCAA should limit what schools can spend in the transfer portal because it gives bigger schools and their donors an unfair advantage.
One of the portal’s most significant issues is its timing. Players should not be able to enter the portal before the season ends. This takes the focus off post-season basketball while preventing teams and fans from properly reflecting on what the team accomplished.
Bradley won its most games in 40 years this season and even reached the semifinal of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
But despite a historic season, head coach Brian Wardle hasn’t had much time to reflect on what he’s built in his tenure.
“You can’t relax,” Wardle said after the loss to Chattanooga in the NIT semifinal. “You can’t really even reflect on the season much anymore. You gotta dive right into it. We’ve obviously lost a lot and we gotta get some vets and some older guys to mix in with our good young talent. We’ll get to it as a staff probably tonight actually.”
Wardle’s words speak to the current state of college basketball, and it doesn’t look like it will improve anytime soon.
NIL and the transfer portal are good ideas on the surface level, but the execution has been terrible.
Until there is balance — until the NCAA puts real guardrails in place — stories like Valparaiso’s will continue to end not with banners or breakthroughs but with broken hearts and empty rosters.
And in the end, it won’t be just the mid-majors who suffer.
It’ll be college basketball itself, and its fans, who will lose the essence of what made March magical in the first place.
