Oklahoma State center Moussa Cisse officially enters NCAA Transfer Portal

Oklahoma State center Moussa Cisse has officially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, per On3’s Jamie Shaw. He spent the past two seasons with the Cowboys, starting in 46 of 61 games. 

Cisse was a big presence on defense during his two years in Stillwater, averaging 1.9 blocks per game and he led the Big 12 in blocked shots both seasons. He was named the 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year this past season in addition to putting up 6.8 points and eight rebounds per game.

Cisse played high school basketball at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, where he was a five-star recruit. He ranked as the No. 17 overall player and No. 2 center in the 2020 class according to the On3 Industry Rating, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He committed to Memphis out of high school before transferring to the Cowboys ahead of 2021-22. 

Moussa Cisse is the second member of the Oklahoma State front court to transfer, following Kalib Boone. Guard Avery Anderson also transferred, leaving the Cowboys without three starters from 2022-23.

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.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.