After her freshman season, Harmoni Turner was flooded with presents. The Harvard guard – and former five-star recruit – averaged 15.9 factors, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a couple of.5 steals per sport in her first Ivy League marketing campaign, and main packages took discover. The SEC was significantly eager on getting Turner out of Cambridge and into the nation’s premier convention.
That was through the 2021-22 season, simply as the brand new NIL guidelines have been put into place. That, mixed with switch guidelines permitting gamers to see the courtroom immediately with no redshirt season, modified the panorama of school basketball. Since then, switching packages season after season has develop into the norm, with an estimated 1,400 ladies’s basketball gamers coming into the switch portal after the 2024 season. However regardless of the benefit of transferring, and the perks that always include it, there are nonetheless gamers like Turner who’ve made a everlasting dwelling at their faculties.
“The numbers these SEC faculties have been throwing at me have been loopy,” Turner mentioned of her NIL presents. “However having a Harvard diploma is essential to me. Plus, I really like my group. Like, I actually love my group. So, I don’t remorse turning down the cash in any respect.”
Turner is one among many mid-major stars who’ve chosen to stay at their respective packages as an alternative of creating the bounce to high-major basketball. Constructing and sustaining a program on this period of school basketball is a problem, however doing it on the mid-major stage is much more tough. Recruits like Turner, who choose to stay it out as an alternative of on the lookout for greener pastures, make a distinction.
“School athletics proper now are form of leaning within the course of cash, glitz and glamour, limelight and all of that,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore mentioned. “I feel there’s something so significant in a participant like Harmoni staying put when she might have gone actually wherever.”
With an extra of alternatives accessible for gamers always, small packages have to offer one thing completely different to be able to draw consideration. For Moore and Harvard, the possibility to earn an Ivy League training can function a draw for gamers. Different faculties should construct manufacturers which are fascinating in different methods.
“A few of these faculties have big assets and all types of cash to spend on gamers,” South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnson mentioned. “We’re not going to win that bidding battle. We’re not going to win that greenback quantity battle. So we now have to have some various things that differentiate our program.”
Johnson has constructed a mid-major powerhouse at South Dakota State. When he took over this system in 2000, it was nonetheless a Division II college. Because the Jackrabbits moved to Division I in 2004 and have become eligible for the postseason in 2009, they’ve gained the Summit League 12 occasions to earn automated NCAA Match bids. This season, South Dakota State went undefeated in convention play and gained its convention match for the third consecutive 12 months. These are the form of numbers Johnson shares with potential recruits. Profitable, he says, is among the issues that makes South Dakota State stand out.
“I feel our gamers are selecting South Dakota State for quite a lot of causes,” he mentioned. “Possibly they need extra stability of their lives, perhaps they need a special match, a special group dynamic. Or perhaps they need an opportunity to win. There’s numerous energy 5 faculties that win, however there are rather a lot that don’t win. We’ve had success over time.”
For Larchwood, Iowa-native Brooklyn Meyer, the choice to come back to South Dakota State was a straightforward one. The choice to remain was even simpler. The 2023-24 Summit League Participant of the Yr and Defensive Participant of the Yr grew up simply an hour away from campus, on the Iowa and South Dakota border. She was already conscious of this system’s success, and South Dakota State was the primary college to achieve out to her, and later, the primary to supply her a scholarship.
Johnson says establishing relationships when gamers are freshman or sophomores is essential. Huge-name faculties can bounce in late and nonetheless have a shot, however to be able to compete, South Dakota State has to see the potential earlier than anybody else does. Typically which means it takes gamers till their junior or senior years in faculty to essentially develop. However Meyer was able to compete from the bounce. She turned down Energy 5 presents to go to South Dakota State.
She has already performed in two NCAA Tournaments with the Jackrabbits, with one other on the horizon, and Meyer has gained the highest particular person awards for her convention, however she’s not even entertaining the thought of shifting on to a different program.
“Each case is completely different, and everybody must do what’s finest for them,” Meyer mentioned. “However for me, I really like my teammates, I really like the neighborhood right here and that’s one thing I don’t need to hand over. I haven’t explored the thought of leaving in any respect.”
Drake’s Katie Dinnebier feels the identical manner. The senior guard made a reputation for herself on a nationwide stage early in her profession, when she scored 24 factors in an additional time loss to Caitlin Clark and Iowa to begin her sophomore season. Dinnebier has had loads of different spectacular performances in opposition to high-major groups, together with 40 factors this season in opposition to Iowa and 39 in opposition to Iowa State. She’s additionally eighth within the nation in scoring, with 22.7 factors per sport.
Dinnebier is matter of reality about why she likes enjoying at Drake: “I like successful championships,” she mentioned with fun. The Bulldogs gained the Missouri Valley convention match in 2023 and 2024, and Dinnebier will play for one more, beginning on Friday.
She’s additionally from West Des Moines, which is a mere 9.8 miles away from Des Moines, the place Drake is situated. Enjoying in entrance of her family and friends is simply one of many methods Dinnebier continues to search out pleasure in basketball, one thing that was a precedence for her when selecting a college.
“School basketball these days is a enterprise,” she mentioned. “However I don’t really feel that manner at Drake. Clearly we nonetheless work arduous, however we’re extra like a household. That’s what has stored me right here, and that’s what makes Drake particular.”
Turner, Meyer and Dinnebier all profit from NIL at their respective faculties. They every have offers with native corporations, however none of them need that to be the one factor that influences the selections of younger recruits, or extra skilled gamers who’re contemplating coming into the portal.
“Individuals are likely to assume larger is healthier, however I’m getting my college paid for, I’m in my hometown and I really like the tradition of my program,” Dinnebier mentioned. “Don’t get me improper, NIL is nice as a result of we don’t have time for jobs or internships, we don’t have time to make our personal cash. And for some folks, transferring is the appropriate transfer. However there’s additionally a specialness of committing to a college and staying there.”
