West Virginia transfer Joe Toussaint announces decision not to return, pens goodbye post
Joe Toussaint has become a highly coveted addition in the transfer portal. Now, the former West Virginia guard officially is all in on a departure from Morgantown based on his latest announcement on social media.
Toussaint shared a farewell message to the Mountaineers in a post on his Instagram. He thanked everyone involved for making his single season as part of the program what it was, including interim head coach Josh Eilert and former head coach Bob Huggins.
Toussaint averaged a career-high 9.4 points per game to go with 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in his lone campaign with West Virginia where he played in 34 games. In nearly 22 minutes per game off the bench, he shot a career-low 37.4% from the field but a career-best 32.7% from distance.
As of today, Alabama came off Toussaint’s list of potential schools for a transfer. However, other programs like Kansas State, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Gonzaga, and Miami have all been a part of or connected to his process in some form or another.
Alabama ‘no longer in consideration’ for WVU transfer Joe Toussaint
Joe Toussaint is one of the West Virginia players who decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal once Bob Huggins resigned from the program. A few schools are in the running to land his signature, including Alabama with head coach Nate Oats. However, that is not the case anymore.
According to On3’s Joe Tipton, Alabama is “no longer in consideration” for Toussaint. The Crimson Tide could be looking to add another guard to its roster but Toussaint will not be the one.
“Alabama is no longer in consideration for West Virginia transfer Joe Toussaint, per source,” Tipton said via Twitter.
Toussaint played high school basketball at Bronx (NY) Cardinal Hayes, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 200 overall recruit in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
Transfer portal background information
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.