Alabama transfer guard Jaden Bradley commits to Arizona

According to On3’s Joe Tipton, former Alabama guard Jaden Bradley has committed to play for the Arizona Wildcats. Prior to Bradley’s pledge, head coach Tommy Lloyd had not dipped into the NCAA transfer portal this cycle. Now, he has one of the best heading out west.

Bradley played in 37 games for the Crimson Tide during his one season in Tuscaloosa. He averaged 6.4 points per game, shooting 39.2% from the field. Being more than a scorer, Bradley was able to add 2.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists on a nightly basis.

The On3 transfer portal rankings had Bradley as the No. 57 player available in the cycle. Of the players who are currently available though, the New York native came in at No. 12. Coming out of IMG Academy as a high school recruit, Bradley was considered the No. 2 point guard in the 2022 recruiting class.

Bradley will have the opportunity to see his former team during the 2023-2024 season. Arizona and Alabama will meet up in Phoenix for a neutral site game on Dec. 20 at the Footprint Center. A reunion for Bradley will be on the cards with head coach Nate Oats and a few former teammates.

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.