The transfer portal has fundamentally changed the way rosters are constructed throughout college sports, but basketball seems to have been hit the hardest. Team outlooks can be altered significantly by who stays, goes and joins with so few roster spots available and the impact a single player can have.

Michigan Wolverines head coach Juwan Howard dealt with a pair of transfers during his first offseason on the job but was able to keep everyone with eligibility on board aside from Franz Wanger entering the 2021 NBA Draft. In fact, they added a transfer in former Coastal Carolina guard DeVante' Jones.

Howard feels his program's key to success in that area is pretty simple.

"It's Michigan. Not saying it in an arrogant way, but it's a place that keeps reeling you back in," Howard said during his podium session at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. "The Michigan block M never gets old to all of us. The energy that you go into the building, the building I'm speaking of is the Michigan Stadium, watching a football game with 115,000 plus there cheering on Coach (Jim) Harbaugh's team.

"Then you have the Michigan education. That speaks volumes in a lot of ways. Top 10 in law school, top 10 in business school. You can go on and on and on."

Fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks also opted back into the team, using the extra year afforded by the COVID-19 pandemic to finish out his Michigan career. He will not count against Michigan's 13-player scholarship limit this season.

"Eli and many others have trusted (the Michigan) vision," Howard said. "We just hope that we can continue to get more Eli Brooks of the world a part of the Univesity of Michigan family."

Howard and the Wolverines have had a positive experience in the portal, adding talented guards in Mike Smith and DeVante' Jones over the last few cycles. However, the new era does have its detractors.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has been critical of the new transfer climate but says it is more about the players than roster construction.

"I'm more than worried about what happens," Izzo said on Friday. "It's going to work to your advantage sometimes. A fourth-year guy with experience is going to be better sometimes than a first-year guy that's even a star. But I just worry about all the movement and what are they moving for. When the going gets tough, are we bolting or hanging in there? There is a place and a time.

"Where everybody thinks the coaches are worried about roster management, hey, we get paid to make roster management decisions. I'm more worried about what does it do to the student-athlete." he continued. "I think of how many guys we've had as we've had reunions, even two weeks ago, how many guys would have transferred if it was the modern-day. Not more than -- just a few of them ended up in the NBA. I think that's what scares me the most. Recruiting, we're still going to try to recruit the four-year guys, sprinkle it in if we have to get somebody from the portal or not. The jury is still out on that, I think. I have some concerns. I think there will be some unintended consequences as we learned at the end of the summer where there are still a couple hundred guys that didn't have a place to go. I'm concerned about it.

Other Big Ten coaches weighed in on the portal during the Thursday media day podium sessions, as well.

"Roster management is the most difficult thing we do as coaches year in and year out. You have to do a really good job of recruiting the players you have, make sure they stay. That's important. You didn't have to do that 20 years ago. Guys just stayed. But you have to do that now. We know it's a part of the game. So we work hard on that, a big part of our strategy. You don't keep them all.

"Then you just try to blend it. You try to get the best high school players you can. You look at your needs. But I do think the portal gives you a second chance if an early signing doesn't go well to try to fix your team. I think that's why our league is so strong this year at the top, really throughout the whole league. Some guys did a really nice job in the portal. It's given them a chance to be an elite."

"I understand kind of the perspective on both sides of this thing, but it's certainly here to stay. I do think what it's going to contribute to are teams that are a little bit older, a little bit more experienced. I think you'll see less programs recruit freshmen every year. I think you'll see more teams that will wait until the spring. It does probably allow you to potentially rebuild quicker than maybe what the traditional way used to be for certain programs. So I think all those things are beneficial. We've had a lot of success both at Butler and Ohio State with important transfers, a kid like Keyshawn Woods who came from Wake Forest really helped us to get to the tournament and win a game in year two. We wouldn't have done it without him. I think those guys are important. But they also have to be the right fit for your program."

"Yeah, I think it absolutely will continue. I think you may see it even increase just based on the rule that was passed last year where transfers don't have to sit anymore as a one-time transfer. It's really how we built our program. When I first got into coaching at Iowa State, we brought four high-level transfers at that year. At that time they had to sit. With the talent we added to our lineup, it got up to four consecutive NCAA tournaments, two Big 12 tournament championships. It's just a way we were able to increase the talent on our roster and get it turned over very quickly. You're going to see that a lot."

"I spent all my life in the NBA. A lot of the players that you recruit are trying to get to the next level. Now with the NIL and the portal, things changed now I think in the college game of basketball. I think we as a university got to be on top of that in terms of how we navigate our players through this. But there's a lot of work that's got to be done. Again, I don't know if I have an advantage or not. I know I'm competing with a lot of great college coaches and a lot of great players that play the game of basketball in college."

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