Wright State basketball: Nagy confident new stars will emerge after losing top two players

The ability for players to change schools once without sitting out, and Name, Image and Likeness money being dangled by high-profile programs — both new developments in the last year — have become game-changers.

Two-time first-team All-Horizon League pick Tanner Holden announced Tuesday he was leaving the Raiders, while fellow junior Grant Basile, a two-time second-team selection, also is looking elsewhere.

The 6-foot-6 Holden averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 rebounds, and the 6-9 Basile 18.4 and 8.5.

The Raiders, who have won either the league regular-season or tourney title the last five years, have gone from returning almost 99% of their scoring and rebounding next season to closer to 50% of each.

But they’re not the only team experiencing upheaval. According to VerbalCommits.com, there were 1,728 Division-I players who transferred after last season, almost five per school.

This year, even though the NCAA champion has yet to be crowned, that number is already up to about 1,000.

“There’s a possibility we may be having this conversation again because kids start looking around at this school and that school,’” Nagy said. “But I’ve coached a long time, and I’ve had some really good players. Everyone wonders how you’re going to fill the hole for this guy and that guy, and we always do.

“The main thing is having a good focus on the young men who want to be here — and trust us and trust our coaching.”

Both Holden and Basile went to Twitter to thank their former coaches and teammates along with the fans for their time at Wright State. And while they didn’t state their reasons for leaving, the chance to compete at a higher level — and the perks that come with it — likely was the driving force.

“We have some good young players, and they’ll get an opportunity next year,” Nagy said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are excited. Our weight room (Tuesday) was in a great mood. They know it’s their turn.”

While Nagy said some of his players are earning NIL money, the Raiders can’t compete with what’s available at major colleges.

The problem with the NIL, in his mind, isn’t players earning income, but that the whole enterprise looks as if it isn’t being policed. The NCAA doesn’t want the responsibility, and conferences and schools, which are being trusted to follow guidelines, would seem to have a conflict of interest.

“I think it’s designed for it NOT to be policed,” Nagy said.

“It just opens up the door for such nefarious actors. But I don’t get to make those decisions.”

Nagy also has seen plenty of examples where transfers didn’t result in happy endings.

“Whether it’ll be beneficial for them or not, we’ll see,” he said. “Any young man who does that, they lose the roots they’ve established. I’ve watched young men transfer, and when it’s all over, they have no place to land. If they transfer like these two late in their careers, they don’t establish enough roots wherever they’re going.”

Teams that made the Elite Eight this season haven’t all taken the same approach to building their rosters.

Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Saint Peters don’t have any transfers. But Miami has three, and the core players for Arkansas and Houston came from different schools.

Six of the top eight scorers for the Razorbacks are transfers. JD Notae, who leads the way with an 18.3 average, was an All-Atlantic Sun player at Jacksonville, and second-leading scorer Stanley Umude was an All-Summit League pick at South Dakota.

Three of the top five scorers for the Cougars, along with their leading rebounder, are transfers.

“Everybody just does it differently,” Nagy said. “We’re trying to do it more like Villanova. It’s worked for us.”

Nagy, who has three available scholarships, has taken a handful of transfers over his six years, and three have become HL honorees: Cole Gentry, Bill Wampler and Tim Finke.

“Every situation is not the same,” he said. “When you look at Cole and Bill and Tim, they’re all kids we had relationships with previously. That makes it easier for us when you know them and know their heart.

“But we certainly aren’t going to run around and do the transfer thing every year to restack the team.”