College basketball is a new, revolving world where coaches and programs see new faces every single year, with very little commitment from the players the year prior.
In 2025, many programs have seen few returners, with a total of 2,631 players transferring prior to the season, but a team that didn’t access the transfer portal was the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Shaka Smart and his program are known for their stubbornness when it comes to the transfer portal.
Smart follows a coaching philosophy that prioritizes player development and retention through high school recruiting, largely avoiding the use of the portal. Marquette hasn’t brought in a Division I transfer since Smart’s first spring with the team in 2021, one of the very few teams in the country to do so during this period.
“We are who we are,” Smart said at Big East Media Day.
“We love the way that we do things with these guys in Marquette. I love the way that these guys have poured into each other.”
After a successful four seasons led by Smart, reaching the NCAA Tournament in each season, the Golden Eagles are now at a crossroads.
This program that had been strong, successful, and considered one of the toughest teams in the country led by Kam Jones, David Joplin, and Stevie Mitchell, look anything but that right now.
Instead of refilling such crucial roles in the portal, Smart stuck to his ideology and preached player progression, with senior guard Chase Ross serving as its best player.
The start to the season has been a disaster with a 3-3 start and each loss coming either at home or on a neutral court. Marquette's first setback of the season was to Indiana by 23 points, followed by a six-point loss at home to Maryland and a six-point loss in overtime to Dayton Flyers on Wednesday night.
“Listen, we’ve had a lot of success around here the way we’ve gone about things,” Smart said after the most recent defeat.
“It’s not new. What is a little bit different right now is that we’ve had, in the last couple years, six guys exit our program that — before you even talk about them as basketball players — who they were in terms of teammates and leaders and culture builders, we’re responding to that.”
Shaka Smart and the Golden Eagles are seemingly in for a very rude awakening. It’s time for the transfer portal to be used and the old-school ideology of player progression to be put to bed.