College basketball transfer portal is closing — here's why that doesn't matter as a deadline to be worried about

College basketball transfer portal is closing — here's why that doesn't matter as a deadline to be worried about originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The headlines will all say that the college basketball transfer portal has closed, and that'll be true.

The portal closes Tuesday, April 21 at 11:59 p.m. It stayed open for two weeks after going live on April 7.

But that deadline isn't quite what it seems.

MORE:UNC gets first basketball transfer from NC State since World War II

What happens when the transfer portal closes?

The closing of the transfer portal doesn't mean that there can't be any more transfers.

What it means is that players cannot enter the portal after that deadline.

Any player hoping to commit to a new school eventuallyhas to be in the portal before it closes.

Commitments can still be made at any time after the portal has closed, as long as the player was already in the transfer portal before it closed.

Most players planning to transfer will have entered well before the deadline, but anyone on the fence will have to make that decision by Tuesday night.

And yes, a player could eventually re-enroll at the school they were already at after entering the portal, too.

Entering the transfer portal allows players to be contacted by other teams, which can set up negotiations to lead to transferring to a new program.

The closing of the portal only prevents players not already in it from becoming a part of that roster movement.

More college basketball news:

• Mikey Williams creates polarizing transfer prospect
• Duke's Cameron Boozer is taking his time
• The transfer portal has both 7-foot-9 and 7-foot-5 available
• Andrej Stojakovic makes his transfer portal decision
• How D.J. Wagner went from Kentucky to Arkansas to Maryland