Iowa guard Ahron Ulis enters the NCAA Transfer Portal

Iowa junior point guard Ahron Ulis has entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw. Ulis served as a rotational piece for Iowa most of his career before becoming a starter for much of 2022-23.

He played in 32 games in 2022-23, starting in 27 for the Hawkeyes. Averaging just more than 22 minutes per game, Ulis averaged 6.1 points per game, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 rebounds.

“I want to thank the Iowa coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to play college basketball at this level and become a Big Ten champion,” Ulis said in a release from Iowa announcing his transfer. “I also would like to thank my teammates and fans for embracing and supporting me over the past three years. I have built lifelong relationships and brotherhoods during my time as a Hawkeye.

Ulis is also the younger brother of former Kentucky star Tyler Ulis, who played for the Wildcats for two seasons from 2014 to 2016.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery offered his well wishes to Ulis and Josh Ogundele, who is also transferring out.

“We are all appreciative of Ahron and Josh’s contributions to our program the past three years,” McCaffery said. “Both were good teammates on three NCAA Tournament teams and helped us win a Big Ten championship. Both Ahron and Josh have bright futures.

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.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

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.