Former LSU guard Xavier Pinson visits New Mexico State as transfer decision nears

Former LSU basketball guard Xavier Pinson, who transferred from Missouri last season, is currently visiting New Mexico State, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. The SEC coup would prove to be a massive first move by head coach Greg Heiar, who took over after Chris Jans left for Mississippi State.

Xavier Pinson recently cut his shortlist to Georgia Tech, Mississippi State and New Mexico State, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

He also previously trimmed his shortlist down to Xavier and Mississippi State but opted to reopen his recruitment one week ago. With the Bulldogs still in the running, a third SEC stint remains on the table despite a late push from a new coach at a mid-major program.

As a graduate transfer, Pinson ranks No. 10 among the top point guards in the transfer portal, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw. In addition, he ranks in the top 30 overall in On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings.

The 6-foot-2 Chicago native averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds. and 4.8 assists during his lone season at LSU. Prior to landing in Baton Rouge, Pinson played three seasons at Mizzou, where he averaged 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists during his junior year.

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.