Chris Jans reveals how Mississippi State's approach to portal has been different this year

Last offseason was a busy one for Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans in the transfer portal. Taking over for Ben Howland, Jans had to rebuild the roster as players dipped and dashed into the transfer portal.

In total, 14 players ended up entering the transfer portal, committing to the Bulldogs or enrolling in Mississippi State during last year’s cycle. It was a hectic time that included a player entering and then returning to school and one player committing and then decommitting within 48 hours.

This year, it is not as hectic for Jans. Coming off an NCAA Tournament and successful first season under Jans, Mississippi State has lost only two players to the transfer portal.

“We were in scramble mode last year just trying to put a team together around the guys that decided to stay,” Jans said this week. “So we ended up having to sign a lot more guys in the spring than we are this year at least right now. But it definitely was a different approach having a season under our belt, understanding the league better, understanding what we feel is required to be competitive and to win SEC basketball games. Just now having gone through it just makes sense, right. But then again, we were pretty specific on what we thought we needed in the offseason. We’ll see if we make good decisions or not.”

Chris Jans has landed two transfer portal players so far

Chris Jans and Mississippi State have landed two commits out of the NCAA Transfer Portal so far in former West Virginia center Jimmy Bell and former Marshall point guard Andrew Taylor.

The Bulldogs also lost two players to the portal in freshmen Martavious Russell and Kimani Hamilton. Neither player has found a new home.

Taylor, a graduate transfer from the Thundering Herd, had a monster senior season this past year. He was named to the All-Sun Belt first team as he averaged 20.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

Bell spent one year with the Mountaineers after spending his first two years of college at Saint Louis and then one season at Moberly Area Community College in Missouri.

He started 34 games for West Virginia last season, averaging 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game.

Russell and Hamilton were bit players for the Bulldogs as rookies with both averaging around seven minutes per game. Hamilton played in 12 games while Russell earned minutes in 10.