How much does it cost to build a top-25 college basketball roster? Coaches share insights on NIL and the Transfer Portal
The D-I men’s college basketball transfer portal will open on March 24 and remain open until April 22. In 2024, over 2,100 players entered the D-I portal, while another 1,400 joined the D-II portal, and over 700 in the D-III portal. Across all three divisions, the total number of players who entered the men’s college basketball transfer portal eclipsed 4,200.
With these transfer portal numbers reaching such extremes, the transfer portal has undoubtedly become a hot-button item across the college basketball landscape.
As we approach the 2025 Transfer Portal window, I wanted to gain insight into where college coaches stand. To do so, I spoke with the coaches of top teams across multiple power conferences. My goal was to understand what the coaches expected a competitive roster to cost in this upcoming portal cycle, how the NIL would be allocated throughout their roster, and which positions are expected to attract the most NIL attention.
As we approach the 2025 Transfer Portal window, I wanted to gain insight into where college coaches stand. To do so, I spoke with the coaches of top teams across multiple power conferences. My goal was to understand what the coaches expected a competitive roster to cost in this upcoming portal cycle, how the NIL would be allocated throughout their roster, and which positions are expected to attract the most NIL attention.
How much NIL would you say it costs to build a roster able to compete as a top-25-type team?
There are a lot of numbers that are floating around when it comes to NIL spending around the college basketball landscape. And a quick look at the current men’s basketball
A.P. Top 25 Poll and you can see there are different ways to build a roster that will win a lot of games.
Duke, the current No. 1 team, brought back two rotation players from last year’s 27-9 team. The Blue Devils added six freshmen along with three transfers. Houston, the No. 2 team currently, had a different approach. They brought in one transfer,
Milos Uzan, and the other eight players who average ten or more minutes this season all return from last year’s roster.
A quick look down the list, the leading scorer for No. 3 ranked Auburn (
Johni Broome), No. 4 ranked Florida (
Walter Clayton), No. 5 ranked Alabama (
Mark Sears), and so on, all came to their current schools as transfers.
There is no one way to build a winning roster, however, one thing that was universally brought up in my discussions is that you are going to have to utilize NIL funding.
“In this portal, I think you’ll need a minimum of 4.5 million,” a coach in the ACC told me. “And that’s if you do a hell of a job evaluating.”
After talking for a little bit, that same coach added, “To be safe, it’ll be about 6 million to be a top-25 team.”
That range seemed to be pretty consistent with what coaches around the college basketball landscape suggested.
“To be a top-25 caliber team, you’re going to have to be around 4 to 5 million,” an SEC coach said. A former coach in the Big 12 shared the same though, “It’ll be no less than 5 million to be in the top 25.”
As part of a proposed settlement, athletic departments will be allowed to share their revenue (media rights, sponsorships, ticket sales, etc.) with their athletes beginning in 2025. The proposed rev share plan is that schools can pay their athletes directly, up to a cap of 20.5 million for all sports.
Even with the proposed rev share model expected this upcoming season, college coaches expect it will take more to compete.
A coach in the Big 12 said, “It will take nothing less than 5 million after rev share.”
Landing on the higher end of things, a coach in the ACC said they expect it to be more this cycle, “Will probably be between 6 and 7 million for a team to compete.”
How do you divvy up your funds throughout your roster?
We have established that building a top-25-type roster is expected to cost between 4 and 8 million in NIL. So, with that budget in mind, how do teams allocate this money throughout their roster?
A coach in the Big 12 explained it like this, “Your top eight players need to get between 85 and 90 percent of your total. The rest of the roster takes up the remaining about. It’s more than setting aside a certain amount for retention or for the Transfer Portal, if you see a high school kid coming in and being a starter, give him what you feel the market value is for that position.”
