examples provided (except for FAU) they actually show how the portal IS consolidating the great talent to either already strong teams (Gonzaga as an example) or the P5 schools. It has to be looked at from the lens of the impact not to the team where they landed necessarily, but the year over year impact on the team they transferred from.

For example, Gonzaga was already a powerhouse for many years so for them to lure away the top player at Chattanooga where Chattanooga then went from 27-8 and a promising 2022-23 season with Smith, to a .500 team without smith is the opposite of creating parity.

I think it’s too early to know the impacts to the parity vs consolidation the portal will have over time. It still seems likely that great players stay on good/P5 teams while great players from smaller schools transfer up to good/P5 teams—that may create more good teams at the upper level, but it would mean it’s hurting the smaller teams at the lower level like Chattanooga which is the opposite of creating parity.

What the transfer portal does that I believe is healthy for the athletes, is that if a kid recognizes the potential benefit of playing for a specific coach at a smaller school and that coach ends up getting a promotion to a P5 or already good team like Gonzaga, why should the system hold the kid hostage at the smaller school rather than find a school/coach who will best enable the athletes development—and be able to transfer without penalty.