Following comments by Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Kansas’ Bill Self on G-League players in college basketball, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson became the latest coach to call out leaders of the sport, with the transfer portal at the center of his rant.
‘At some point, someone has to step up and say this is wrong,’ Sampson told reporters on Wednesday, Oct. 22. ‘This is not what we signed up for. This is not what they signed up for. It’s not fair to them. It’s not fair to their parents. We’re still an educational institution, but there is nothing educational about college basketball right now. It’s all transactional. And we all put our heads in the sand, thinking that it will change eventually.
‘This is going to outlast all of us. That toothpaste is out of the tube, and you ain’t putting it back in.’
Sampson continued, even offering up a solution to the transfer portal:
‘You can control that transfer portal, and I am adamant that we are positively impacting lives if we tell a kid he has to sit out for a year,’ Sampson said. ‘You get one transfer, anywhere you want, with no penalties. Transfer and play right away. But you cannot do that every year. We’ve made a mockery of college basketball, to some degree.’
Izzo and Self called out the NCAA’s recent changes to player eligibility guidelines, which allow two G-League players to commit to college programs. This includes Louisville landing a commitment from guard London Johnson.