West Virginia transfer Mohamed Wague visiting Alabama this weekend

One of the many players from the West Virginia men’s basketball team who jumped in the transfer portal after Bob Huggins’ resignation is taking a visit to Alabama this weekend. Center Mohamed Wague will be checking out Nate Oats‘ program, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

Wague played one year at West Virginia in 2022-23 after transferring to the Mountaineers from the JUCO level. Playing in 28 games, he averaged 4.1 points per game to go with 3.1 rebounds.

A right foot injury that he suffered in late February cost him a number of games down the stretch run.

Wague is one of several West Virginia players who entered the portal after Huggins resigned following a DUI. Along with Wague, at least three other Mountaineers have jumped in the portal.

Wague isn’t the only West Virginia transfer checking out Alabama, either

The suitors are already lining up for West Virginia transfer Joe Toussaint. After visiting Texas Tech and Kansas State to begin the week, Toussaint is expected to visit Alabama in the near future, with Zoom calls scheduled with Gonzaga and Miami later this week, On3’s Joe Tipton has confirmed.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported Toussaint’s plans to take a “day trip” to Tuscaloosa in addition to the Zoom calls.

Toussaint officially entered the transfer portal late last week and heard from an impressive list of schools. DePaul, Western Kentucky, Seton Hall, Nebraska, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Georgetown, Pitt, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all reached out to Toussaint shortly after he hit the portal, Tipton reported. He averaged 9.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for the Mountaineers this past season after transferring from Iowa.

Alabama now has another roster spot to fill after Jahvon Quinerly announced his plans to enter the portal on Monday. The Crimson Tide previously secured a commitment from former Hofstra guard Aaron Estrada — the No. 5-ranked transfer to hit the portal, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.

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.