Has the transfer portal changed automated wins in so-called ‘purchase

9:00 AM ET John GasawayESPN Expert Close ESPN Expert college basketball factor Very first began covering college hoops in 2004 Has actually

against challengers such as Florida State, some might have theorized a new age had dawned.Maybe the rise of a really busy transfer portal indicates”purchase games”– a major-conference program pays a concurred upon sum to a mid-major challenger to play a game on the big school’s home floor and, typically, the mid-major loses– are no longer automated wins for home teams. Perhaps the higher freedom of motion for players throughout programs in guys’s college basketball has actually translated into a new balance of power.Possibly mid-majors are now stocked with gifted transfers these programs never ever could have recruited right out of high school. And perhaps a minimum of a couple of major-conference programs, though skilled, are really young and therefore particularly ripe for an upset early in the season.Anyway, that was the theory.It ends up, however, that the theory is at finest unverified and at worst inaccurate. This season, major-conference teams are 327-24 in what might be called “presumed “buy games.Final: Santa Clara 71, Cal 62– Cal Basketball(@CalMBBall )December 18

, 2022