Keyshawn Bryant enters the transfer portal
Keyshawn Bryant‘s time with the South Carolina men’s basketball program may be over, but his time in the college game may not be.
After announcing two weeks ago via social media that he was entering the NBA Draft and hiring an agent — which would have effectively ended his college career — Bryant has now entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.
“This journey has been nothing but life-changing for me. First, I would like to give praise to the Lord because none of this is possible without him. I would like to thank my family and friends for always having my back through times,” Bryant said in the originally post two weeks ago.
“To Frank Martin and the coaching staff, thank you guys for everything you’ve done. To the fans and the university, this was an amazing four years here. thanks for all the love and support. you guys made this an incredible experience for me. …”
As a senior this past season, Bryant averaged 8.7 points and four rebounds per game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 28.3 percent from three.
Bryant was the sixth scholarship player to either enter the transfer portal or go pro, joining Erik Stevenson, Ta’Quan Woodley, Wildens Leveque, Devin Carter and Jermaine Couisnard.
Bryant has one season of eligibility left.
Gamecock Central’s Collyn Taylor contributed to this article.
Transfer portal background information for South Carolina
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.
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.
