Hofstra transfer Aaron Estrada announces commitment date ahead of Final Four visits

Hofstra basketball transfer Aaron Estrada set a commitment date after he announced his final four schools, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

Estrada won’t wait too much longer to make a decision on his next school. He said his final four schools were Alabama, Florida State, Kansas State and Cincinnati.

But he’ll have a decision by the end of the month.

“April 29 (ninja emoji),” Estrada wrote on Twitter in response to another Twitter user who asked when his commitment date would be.

Estrada began his career at Saint Peters during the 2019-20 season before he transferred to Oregon one year. He spent the last two seasons at Hofstra.

He averaged 20.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game last season.

As a member of the Class of 2019, Estrada was not ranked according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He played his high school basketball in Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict Prep.

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.