LSU transfer Alex Fudge plans SEC visit, receives big interest

Former LSU forward Alex Fudge is visiting Florida today after receiving big interest in the transfer portal, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. In addition to the visit, he reports that the list of schools to reach out includes Georgia, LSU, Marquette, Texas A&M and USC.

After the firing of head coach Will Wade, amid an NCAA investigation into the program, LSU basketball lost all 13 scholarship players to either the NBA Draft or transfer portal last month. New head coach Matt McMahon appears to have interest in bringing back at least part of that group as the Tigers make the list for Fudge.

Alex Fudge appeared in 29 games with one start in his freshman season at LSU before opting to enter the transfer portal to receive interest from other schools. He averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in just 13.9 minutes per game on the way to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Coming out of high school, Fudge was a four-star recruit who ranked No. 81 overall player in his class. He initially chose LSU over Alabama, Arizona State and others.

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.

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.