Report: Belmont transfer guard Will Richard hearing from top programs

The transfer portal is in full swing with the college basketball season winding now, with coaches looking to fill out their rosters for next season quickly. Belmont Bruins freshman guard Will Richard is one of the best available and is reportedly already hearing from some of the top programs in the country.

“Belmont freshman guard Will Richard, who averaged 12.1 points and 6 boards this past season, has heard from Arkansas, Tenn, Wake Forest, Clemson, Florida, Ga Tech, Ohio St., West Va, Penn St, and Virginia, per source,” Stadium’s Jeff Goodman said via Twitter.

Of the teams mentioned, only three of them made the past NCAA Tournament. Arkansas and head coach Eric Musselman made it the furthest, appearing in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season. Tennessee suffered an early exit, falling to the Michigan Wolverines in the Round of 32. Ohio State split the two, dropping a Sweet Sixteen matchup to Villanova.

Richard was named to the OVC All-Newcomer team this season for his performances. He averaged 12.1 points and six rebounds per game from the guard position, capping off his season with 22 points and eight rebounds against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the NIT.

Coming out of high school, Richard was not ranked according to the On3 Consensus. He only held three other offers besides Belmont, with Drexel, Furman, and North Alabama also recruiting the guard. After a solid freshman season, he will be looking to make a jump up in level.

Transfer portal background information for Will Richard

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.