The transfer portal contact period is open for basketball as of this morning, and WildcatReport is here to break down Northwestern's outlook as they begin to build for the 2025-26 season.
Northwestern's 2025 transfer portal outlook
- Thread starter mshelton33
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The transfer portal contact period is open for basketball as of this morning, and WildcatReport is here to break down Northwestern's outlook as they begin to build for the 2025-26 season.
"Hunger is graduating with a degree in June, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he decides to leave the program and go somewhere he could get more playing time."
I'm surprised he's getting his degree in 3 years. Are you sure?
If so, gotta give the guy credit.
I'm surprised he's getting his degree in 3 years. Are you sure?
If so, gotta give the guy credit.
He comes from a New England prep school where he likely picked up some AP credits, and athletes often stay on campus and pick up credits over the summer. Impressive, yes, but surprising? Not really.
Long stretches of Clayton and Windham would leave us undersized on defense, but maybe Lowry could come up with something to make that work.
Damn, I'm going on a bit of a Headhunter-esque posting spree.
Keeping Hurlburt (and Smith, but especially Hurlburt) in a now-limited roster spot instead of bringing in another player who can actually help, like a playable big, would be boneheaded.
B) Not out of place, but would expect him to start at the 1.
Before seeing who NU brings in next year, here’s an expected look for the team:
- KJ, a transfer, Mullins?/Freshman?/Gelo?, Martinelli, and another transfer.
Knowing or at least hearing that in the past some programs have basically run players off to create spots...what would you think NU should do if Luke Hunger decides to stay? So if they have THE TALK and CC tells him there will not be playing time for him but he still wants to stay and compete?
Then you keep him. Just be honest on where he stands now. I think the vast majority of players would leave if they saw limited opportunities.
If I read that right, NU is going to maintain the 13 scholarship limit, so Smith and Gus as walk-ons makes sense unless Collins finds an unknown stud among the other gym rats.
Might as well just give them scholarships if they're going to stay on the team, no?
I'm in favor of giving them scholarships because I'm also in favor of expanding the scholarship limit to 15.
Just for context, Chris Collins has recruited several players out of the New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC).
This organization has 6 tiers. AAA, AA, A, B, C, D.
2015 Aaron Falzon - AAA NEPSAC Player of the Year for Northfield Mount Hermon. NU grad (4 years). Transfer to Quinnipiac.
2016 Rapolas Ivanauskas - Brewster Academy (AAA NEPSAC - no postseason honors). Transfer to Colgate after 2 years.
2017 Anthony Gaines - 2nd team AAA NEPSAC for New Hampton. NU grad (4 years). Transfer to Siena.
2018 Ryan Greer - 2nd team AAA NEPSAC for Northfield Mount Hermon. Skipped last year of high school. NU grad (4 years).
2019 Boo Buie - Class AA NEPSAC all-conference for Gould Academy. NU grad (4 years).
2021 Casey Simmons - Class A NEPSAC all-conference at Milton Academy as a junior. Transferred to Yale after 1 year.
2022 Luke Hunger - AAA NEPSAC Player of the Year for Northfield Mount Hermon.
2023 Jordan Clayton - Class AA NEPSAC all-conference for Bradford Christian Academy.
2023 Blake Barkley - AAA Putnam Science Academy (after committing to NU). Will transfer after 2 years at NU.
Keenan Fitzmorris was a 2018 grad of New Hampton (AAA NEPSAC - no postseason honors) after committing to Stanford.
Rowan Brumbaugh was a 2022 All-conference player for Northfield Mount Hermon - same team as Luke Hunger.
The only (other) NU basketball player who graduated in 3 years that I can recall immediately is Barret Benson.
This organization has 6 tiers. AAA, AA, A, B, C, D.
2015 Aaron Falzon - AAA NEPSAC Player of the Year for Northfield Mount Hermon. NU grad (4 years). Transfer to Quinnipiac.
2016 Rapolas Ivanauskas - Brewster Academy (AAA NEPSAC - no postseason honors). Transfer to Colgate after 2 years.
2017 Anthony Gaines - 2nd team AAA NEPSAC for New Hampton. NU grad (4 years). Transfer to Siena.
2018 Ryan Greer - 2nd team AAA NEPSAC for Northfield Mount Hermon. Skipped last year of high school. NU grad (4 years).
2019 Boo Buie - Class AA NEPSAC all-conference for Gould Academy. NU grad (4 years).
2021 Casey Simmons - Class A NEPSAC all-conference at Milton Academy as a junior. Transferred to Yale after 1 year.
2022 Luke Hunger - AAA NEPSAC Player of the Year for Northfield Mount Hermon.
2023 Jordan Clayton - Class AA NEPSAC all-conference for Bradford Christian Academy.
2023 Blake Barkley - AAA Putnam Science Academy (after committing to NU). Will transfer after 2 years at NU.
Keenan Fitzmorris was a 2018 grad of New Hampton (AAA NEPSAC - no postseason honors) after committing to Stanford.
Rowan Brumbaugh was a 2022 All-conference player for Northfield Mount Hermon - same team as Luke Hunger.
The only (other) NU basketball player who graduated in 3 years that I can recall immediately is Barret Benson.
This opens our possibilities by 25%.
I understand what he's saying, but I don't think the math is right on this percentage.
That just means their next year of school. It's a modern (newfangled?) way of saying "coming into his/her junior year".
My understanding has been that Northwestern only admitted transfers who would be able to earn 50% of their credits from Northwestern. (+/- a credit here or there, depending on the program). Obviously to maintain academic standards/integrity.
So rising juniors (aka students with 2 years of credits) have generally qualified as transfers before now. I think David Braun picked up a couple of rising juniors via the football portal.
If there is any news about admissions tweaking that requirement, that would be notable. Perhaps they moved the application date?
I have pointed out this NU-specific transfer issue regularly over the last several years.
There has been a shitton of news about NU changing its transfer rules, windows, speed, and other considerations over the last many months
Are you sure?
Seems like between AP credits, summer classes and the like, many rising juniors would have well over 50% of the credits needed to graduate.
Wouldn’t it increase by 50%
We could formally recruit rising sophomores and grad students. Now we can add one more class. Entering frosh and rising seniors are not available to us.
The fact that none of us can figure this out means we all clearly need a lot more credits and should be transfer eligible
It looked to me that NU would simply not accept some of the credits in order to maintain the 50% rule.
When somebody transfers in, it isn't guaranteed that all his/her credits are accepted, so that gives admissions some wiggle room.
This is directly from the NU website and it is essentially what I remember...
"A student entering as a transfer student in a four-year degree program must be registered at the University for at least 6 quarters and earn credit for courses worth at least 21 units at the University."
"Between 42 and 50 units are required for graduation, depending on the Northwestern undergraduate school."
side note - (It is possible the requirement of 21 units was lowered)
"The official evaluation of your credits will be made by Northwestern's Registrar's Office. Once a transfer applicant has been accepted, the Office of Undergraduate Admission will initiate the process of credit evaluation."
"A student entering as a transfer student in a four-year degree program must be registered at the University for at least 6 quarters and earn credit for courses worth at least 21 units at the University."
"Between 42 and 50 units are required for graduation, depending on the Northwestern undergraduate school."
side note - (It is possible the requirement of 21 units was lowered)
"The official evaluation of your credits will be made by Northwestern's Registrar's Office. Once a transfer applicant has been accepted, the Office of Undergraduate Admission will initiate the process of credit evaluation."
As you've pointed out in prior post, it's entirely possible that a student transferring into NU with "too many" units on his/her record might not find all credit earned elsewhere is transferable. (Often found when the student is changing majors midstream, as is not uncommon.) What you found on the website just essentially says is that the so-called junior & senior year's courses would have to be taken at NU, as I read it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any appreciable change in policy for Northwestern to recruit a "rising junior." That's always been possible. What I think still can't be done is to recruit a "rising senior, " which most schools' programs can do. That's where Cats coaches are limited compared to the competition. Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I see it.
Appreciate your finding this. A couple of observations: 1) if someone comes in with the equivalent of 21 NU credits, isn't that person a rising junior? Based on what you found here, those transfers are ok. 2) if a coach found a kid who had, say 23 NU credits, why wouldn't NU simply require the student to take at least 44 credits to graduate? Or couldn't NU simply not count several credits to ensure the student had the majority of their credits at the hallowed halls of NU?
Thinking back to the Stone Age, in perhaps 1987-88, Northwestern accepted 2 JUNIOR COLLEGE players as rising juniors. Rob Ross and Phil Styles. Both were rising juniors.
Only at Northwestern can such madness persist.
I'd have to go look up the number of credits required to graduate from each program. The website said 42-50 depending on the degree. But yes, there is a very detailed breakdown of what credits might be accepted or rejected. I'd like to think they could work with the athletic department to reject additional credits if necessary - as opposed to being hardliners about it ("This candidate as 3 credits too many, so we cannot accept him as a transfer")
Personally I support the requirement that at least half of the credits are actually earned at NU. It protects the academic prestige.
What isn't spelled out however, is that it seems possible for people to transfer in with no intention of graduating - they're only required to take 2 courses a quarter to be in good standing, if I am remembering correctly. For some athletes, if the NIL is right, that could be a good loophole.
This is the same thing the school does when transferring colleges internally, by the way. When I switched into Weinberg my Junior year I lost quite a lot of credits I'd taken WITHIN Northwestern. Pretty common. They simply capped the number they allowed to transfer.
A lot of players on FB team do (presumably because many of them are in summer school cause they already need to be on campus), I would guess BB is similar. But a question, If we lose Hunger would we need to get two Bigs rather than just one?
I'm curious about Gus. With very little to go on, I suspect he isn't quite fast enough for the switching defense. I've seen him scrimmage with Luke and Matt, and he bangs pretty well - at least well enough to pretty much shut Luke down - has a decent +/- 8 foot shot range, and a baby hook that works well enough.
Gus's family is all in. They were at both the final home game and at the Maryland road game. That's a lot of travel from North Dakota.
Gus' brother was suppose to be the star. Went to Colorado. Don't know what's happening on that front. At one point I believe I read he was on the outs with a new coach. Not sure.
PS Transferred to Davidson. Didn't put up numbers this year. Going into his senior year? 6-11 center. Now that's interesting.
PS Transferred to Davidson. Didn't put up numbers this year. Going into his senior year? 6-11 center. Now that's interesting.