Former Oklahoma PF Jacob Groves commits to Virginia out of NCAA Transfer Portal

Former Oklahoma power forward Jacob Groves committed to Virginia out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, he announced on Twitter on Tuesday evening. Groves began his college career at Eastern Washington before going to Oklahoma.

Groves averaged 9.3 points per game as a sophomore for Eastern Washington in 2020-21, spurring him to jump in the portal and make an up transfer. He settled in at Oklahoma and played in 66 games the past two seasons, making 34 starts.

Groves was never a big-time scorer for the Sooners, averaging 4.6 and then 6.8 points per game in his two years there, respectively. He has, however, shown some ability to make outside shots. And at 6-foot-9, he can be a defensive contributor in the Virginia scheme.

Committed 🔶⚔️🔷 #Godspeed pic.twitter.com/cwVT0fvrI8

— Jacob Groves (@jake34groves) April 26, 2023

Groves was not rated as a recruit in the Class of 2019, when he signed with Eastern Washington out of Shandle Park (Wa.) High School.

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.