More about transfers

Nobody ever defines it (if such can be delineated) but plenty of people chime in that we have a transfer problem in college basketball. They often cite Jeff Goodman's collection of 450+ players moving on from last year's home as an explosion of address-switchers. The sense is that the issue is growing larger.

The determination of whether there is or isn't a problem is not the concern here. Our intent is to take a small sampling of northern California talents from the recent past and see how they turned out so far -- to transfer or not to transfer, that is the question (Willie Shakes) -- vis-a-vis remaining at their original college choice or heading to the proverbial pastures of green.

Below is the first ten picks of the 2010 Nor Cal Preps Top 40 player rankings and the current status of each:

1 Desmond Simmons - still at Washington
       
2 Josh Ritchart - still at UC Davis

3 Chris McNealy - still at UC Irvine
   
4 Dominique Lee - transferred from Utah after his freshman year due to a coaching change and is now a sophomore at Casper College in Wyoming

5 John McArthur - still at Santa Clara

6 Tyler Johnson - still at Fresno State

7 Jeremiah Kreisberg - still at Yale

8 John Green - still at UC Santa Barbara
   
9 James Moore - still at Harvard but not playing basketball due to illness

10 Travon Abraham - transferred from Rice after his freshman year and is now at Adams State in Colorado

Note two transfers here, one a coach's decision (Lee) so not a lot of movement in this group.

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Below is the top 10 selections in the 2009 Nor Cal Preps Top 40 player rankings and the current status of each:

1 Reeves Nelson - dropped by UCLA after his junior year and is now playing professionally

2 Brendan Lane - earned his degree at UCLA and is now playing a graduate season at Pepperdine

3 Chase Tapley - still at San Diego State
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4 Xavier Thames - transferred from Washington State after his freshman year and is now at San Diego State

5 Jared Cunningham - played three years at Oregon State and is now a Dallas Maverick

6 Jerry Brown - still at Fresno State

7 Lucas Devenny - was at UC Santa Barbara for two years and is now at UC Riverside

8 Niyi Harrison - still at Santa Clara

9 Brandon Smith - still at California

10 Shawn Grant -was at University Maryland Baltimore County and then played at Arkansas Fort Smith last season but is missing from the roster for 2012-13 (which is his senior year)

Not sure how to count Nelson's situation as he wished to remain a Bruin and Lane's case is like a one of a kind so it looks like three full-fledged transfers plus those two unique cases.

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Below is the first ten picks of the 2009 Nor Cal Preps Top 40 player rankings and the current status of each:

1 Drew Gordon - transferred from UCLA after his sophomore season and completed at New Mexico

2  D.J. Seeley - started out at Cal but transferred and is now in his senior season at Cal State Fullerton

3 Collin Chiverton - he started out at St. Mary's, went to Salt Lake City College after that and will now be completing his senior year at Eastern Washington

4 Chris Jones - originally signed with Fresno State but never played there; is now in his senior season at San Jose State University

5 Greg Somogyi - started out at and completed at UC Santa Barbara

6 Damian Lillard - now the face of the Portland Trailblazers after four years at Weber State

7 Tyree McCrary - started out at Pasadena City College then transferred to San Jose City College and moved on to Adams State in Colorado but apparently was sidelined by injuries

8 Frank Otis - started out at Southern Methodist and played for two years and is now completing his senior season at Weber State

9 James Nunnally - started out at and completed his senior season at UC Santa Barbara

10 Tim Williams - still at St. Mary's and completing his senior season in Moraga

Note six transfers from this group.

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None of this will prove or disprove anyone's thesis regarding a problem or not but these specific numbers indicate a trend downward. However, the members of the 2010 class still have time to make moves.