Former Alabama basketball assistant weighs in on NCAA transfer portal
By WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Juliet Brown
It’s been a little over two years since the NCAA changed its transfer rules and loosened restrictions to give players a better chance to be immediately eligible to play at their new school. Prior to April 2021, players who transferred had to sit out a season before being eligible to play.
Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly experienced this first hand when he transfered from Villanova after the 2019 season and was forced to sit out the 2019-2020 season.
Fast forward a few years, and Quinerly is taking advantage of the new transfer portal rule.
The New Jersey native stunned Alabama fans on Sunday night when he announced he was entering the NCAA Transfer Portal. He earned his undergraduate degree from Alabama which makes him immediately eligible at his new school as a “grad-transfer”.
Barry Sanderson is the current head basketball coach at Northridge High School but has 20 years of collegiate basketball coaching experience, including stints at two SEC schools. He believes there needs to be some restrictions on the transfer portal.
“There’s so much tampering going on,” Sanderson said. “I don’t know how you maintain your roster if these guys can come and go… You gotta set a deadline on these things. It’s not fair to (Alabama head coach) Nate Oats. It’s not fair to his teammates for these guys to be up and leaving at this late of date.”
Sanderson acknowledges certain instances where a player may need to transfer and be immediately eligible to play but doesn’t agree with the whole “coaches leave all the time” sentiment that’s become the main argument for the current portal standards.
“I know they say coaches leave all the time, but they’re also under contracts. If these guys can freely go, there needs to be a deadline on when they can go. I think it’s a huge loss for Alabama losing Quinerly this late in June.”
Its been a whirlwind month for Alabama basketball fans and fans of Quinerly. After testing the NBA ‘draft-waters’, the player announced his decision to return to Alabama for his final year of eligibility. The social media graphic announcing his decision at the beginning of June has been deleted and replaced with a new graphic announcing plans to leave the Alabama program.
