Louisiana Tech star Kenneth Lofton enters the transfer portal

Louisiana Tech basketball is losing first-team all-conference forward Kenneth Lofton. According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, Lofton leaves the school to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Lofton finished his impressive freshman year, averaging a double-double for the Bulldogs. he recorded 10.5 rebounds per game and 16.5 points on 53.9 percent shooting from the field.

Last month Lofton surprised everyone as he declared for the NBA draft with a letter to Bulldogs faithful from his social media account. However, at the end of the letter, he does say he will maintain his college eligibility and is using the opportunity to gather valued information and feedback from NBA teams.

It is still uncertain whether or not the six-foot-seven freshmen from Port Arthur, TX, will remain in the draft or return to college. But as it stands, if Lofton does decide to return to college, it is looking unlikely that he will remain with the Louisiana Tech men’s basketball program.

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.