Toledo transfer guard Dante Maddox Jr. commits to Xavier out of NCAA Transfer Portal

Former Toledo guard Dante Maddox Jr. has committed to Xavier, he announced on Thursday afternoon. He has at least one season of eligibility remaining.

Maddox landed on the Musketeers after winnowing down his options to five schools. Xavier won out for his commitment over the likes of Creighton, Illinois, Louisville and Michigan.

Maddox began his college career with two seasons at Cal State-Fullerton before transferring to Toledo ahead of the 2022-23 season. In two seasons with the Rockets, Maddox has been a key cog and an adept scorer.

He played in 35 games, starting 29, in 2022-23, averaging nearly 30 minutes a night and 11.3 points per game. Maddox increased those figures this past season, starting 32 games and playing more than 33 minutes a night while increasing his scoring to 15.6 points per game. He’s also shot over 40% from beyond the 3-point arc since coming to Toledo, taking 4.8 3s a game for the Rockets over his two seasons there.

Maddox played high school basketball at Bloom (Ill.) High School, where he was unrated prospect in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Background on the transfer portal

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 asynchronous 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.