Texas Tech basketball’s Grant McCasland wants sustainability but also likes NIL and transfer portal

Whenever a program like the Texas Tech basketball team gets onto the national stage like the Elite Eight, eventually the questions from the media deviate away from the court.

Before the Red Raiders take on Florida on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, head coach Grant McCasland was asked a litany of questions Friday from local and national media about a bevy of topics. None of them involved his thoughts on the matchup with the Gators, the top seed in the West Region and one of the favorites to win the national championship.

Instead, McCasland was asked what he thought of the state of college basketball, the transfer portal and NIL.

Grant McCasland’s thoughts on the transfer portal, NIL

Like most teams in the country, especially those still alive in the Sweet 16, Texas Tech is made up primarily of players who started college at other schools. This is not new, and it hasn’t been new for a while, but guardrails that were once in place — such as players having to sit out a year for transferring to multiple schools — have been challenged in court and shot down.

This ruling in late 2023 opened up the proverbial floodgates a bit, making it even harder for teams to have any kind of sustainability in their programs year to year.

“Everybody’s trying to figure out how to position themselves,” McCasland said, “and with the ability to transfer every year and there being no way to hold people to a team that gives you a chance to build it, it’s just so many people trying to figure out what’s next. No one’s trying to figure out how to be great where they are. They’re trying to figure out what’s next for them.