Kelvin Sampson Shines a Revealing Spotlight On the State of the Transfer Portal
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The Houston Cougars will be looking to retool their roster after losing several different players off of the 2025-26 roster, whether it be through the transfer portal, the NBA Draft, or players just running out of college eligibility.
With the massive roster overhaul, head coach Kelvin Sampson has his work cut out for him this offseason, and that will obviously start in the transfer portal that is now wide open, as the Cougars look to be major players in reshaping their squad.
However, the transfer portal has rapidly become a wild west in college basketball, with player movement and change being at an all-time high, and Sampson made note of the new landscape of college basketball with the transfer portal.
Kelvin Sampson Talks Difficulties with the Transfer Portal
On Friday, Sampson talked about all things surrounding his program at the moment, whether it be the pending decision from freshman star Kingston Flemings or the conditions of his current roster. However, one thing that stood out was Sampson talking about the conditions of the transfer portal and the challenges it brings to other coaches.
"I talked to a lot of coaches on a daily basis," Sampson said. "I was talking to a coach, and he has some kids that transferred, and the reason they transferred is through their agent, they're were asking for a certain number, and he had to decide if he could play that number, and if he couldn't, they were going to transfer."
Sampson also added how the transfer portal affects him and his program, and the steps and hoops he now has to jump through to restructure his roster year after year.
"Kellen and I do a really good job at tag teaming this," Sampson said. "Sometimes I'll talk to the agent if I want to, sometimes I don't, but I do with some of them, and I get a general idea of what they're talking about, and then I have to make a decision about how we're going to put our roster together."
The Cougars' head coach broke it down even further on how the transfer portal, while bringing in several talented players for a team, can also leave the same teams hamstrung in critical moments of the season, which doesn't start with players but with money in the portal.
"I know there were some good teams last year that got caught short-handed on depth because they spent all their money on their top five players," Sampson said. "And so when those kids got in foul trouble or injury, they didn't have enough firepower off the bench to sustain their level of play, and a lot of that is through how much you're playing your starters and if you have enough money to have a bench."
