Transfers by level
Do transfers move up or down a level? Where college basketball transfers actually land
Among 8,032 college basketball players who transferred between NCAA programs from 2021–22 to 2025–26 — on a roster we hold in both seasons — 44% landed at the same level, 33% moved down a level and 23% moved up. Leaving a high-major, 56% went down — 44% of all who left landed at a mid-major. Leaving a low-major, 50% went up. From Division II, 31% reached a Division I program; 51% stayed in Division II.
Computed from 8,032 transfers · 2021–22 to 2025–26 · updated Sep 18, 2026
A transfer is a step down more often than a step up: 33% down, 23% up, 44% level.
Of 8,032 moves from 2021–22 to 2025–26, 2,651 went to a lower level and 1,847 to a higher one. The ruler here is the level — high-, mid- and low-major Division I, then D2 and D3 — not the division; counted by division alone (as the portal study does), a high-major to a mid-major reads as a sideways move. The most common single move is mid-major d1 to mid-major d1: 1,300 players.
Leaving a high-major, 56% moved down — 44% to a mid-major.
A high-major roster spot is the top of the ladder, so a player leaving one can only go sideways or down: of 1,554 who left, 687 landed at another high-major, 687 at a mid-major, 121 at a low-major and 59 in Division II or III. Leaving a mid-major, 20% moved up to a high-major, 44% stayed mid-major and 36% went down. 18% of every Division I transfer left Division I altogether.
Division II is the on-ramp: 31% of D2 transfers landed at a Division I program.
Of 1,621 players who left a Division II roster for another NCAA program, 299 went to a mid-major, 174 to a low-major and 30 to a high-major; 831 stayed in Division II and 287 went to Division III. Leaving a low-major, 50% moved up (37% to a mid-major, 12% to a high-major); leaving Division III, 29% moved up and 71% stayed in Division III.
Where a transfer went, by the level he left
Leaving high-major d1
n = 1,554
Leaving mid-major d1
n = 2,988
Leaving low-major d1
n = 1,140
Leaving d2
n = 1,621
Leaving d3
n = 729
High-, mid- and low-major follow the canonical conference tiers Depth Chart uses on every report. A cell under 30 transfers is not shown.
| Leaving a mid-major | Leaving a low-major | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfers | 2,988 | 1,140 | 1,848 more from mid-majors |
| Moved up | 20% | 50% | 30 points |
| Same level | 44% | 17% | 27 points |
| Moved down | 36% | 33% | 3 points |
Destination of a transfer, by the level he left · 2021–22 to 2025–26 · share of each row
Where they went| Left | Transfers | High-major D1 | Mid-major D1 | Low-major D1 | D2 | D3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaving high-major d1 | 1,554 | 44% | 44% | 8% | 3% | 1% |
| Leaving mid-major d1 | 2,988 | 20% | 44% | 16% | 18% | 2% |
| Leaving low-major d1 | 1,140 | 12% | 37% | 17% | 30% | 3% |
| Leaving d2 | 1,621 | 2% | 18% | 11% | 51% | 18% |
| Leaving d3 | 729 | 2% | 8% | 4% | 14% | 71% |
| Every transfer | 8,032 | 18% | 34% | 13% | 23% | 12% |
Direction of every transfer, season by season · 2021–22 to 2025–26
By season| Season arrived | Transfers | Moved up | Same level | Moved down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | 1,110 | 20% | 41% | 39% |
| 2022–23 | 1,260 | 22% | 45% | 33% |
| 2023–24 | 1,452 | 23% | 43% | 33% |
| 2024–25 | 1,956 | 25% | 43% | 32% |
| 2025–26 | 2,254 | 25% | 46% | 29% |
How this differs from the portal study
Depth Chart's portal study (/resources/data/what-the-transfer-portal-did-to-recruiting) measures how much movement there is and counts direction by NCAA division: D3 to D2 to D1. On that ruler a move from a high-major to a mid-major is sideways. This page uses the same moves and a finer ruler — the three Division I levels the reports use, then D2 and D3 — so the same season reads as more "down" here. Both are true; they answer different questions.
A move is a player on an NCAA roster we hold in two consecutive seasons, at a different college the second year. It is derived from the rosters in sequence, never from a roster's own transfer label, and a player listed at two colleges in one season is dropped rather than guessed at.
What a move is and is not
Junior college, NAIA and overseas programs are outside the roster set, so a player moving to or from one is not a move here; he leaves or arrives as somebody new. A Division I program whose conference carries no tier cannot be placed on the ladder, and a move touching one is dropped and counted (0 across 2021–22 to 2025–26). 75 player-seasons listing two colleges at once were dropped.
Every figure is a count or a share of an origin cell. No player is named.
What this means for a recruit
How to read itThe portal is not a ladder for most players.
Only 23% of transfers moved up a level; 33% moved down. A roster spot at a level is not a step toward the next one — for most players it is the level.
The level you start at is the level you most likely stay near.
44% of mid-major transfers landed at another mid-major and 51% of D2 transfers at another D2. Choosing the right level the first time matters more than the portal makes it look.
A D2 offer is not a dead end, but it is not a D1 waiting room either.
31% of D2 transfers reached Division I — real, and a minority. A family weighing a D2 offer against waiting for a D1 one should read that number as the odds of the climb, not the plan.
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Methodology
Source · sample · scope8,032 transfers · 1,060 programs · 2021–22 to 2025–26
Definitions and scope
- Source
- Official rosters published by the athletics sites of NCAA D1, D2 and D3 men's basketball programs, collected by Depth Chart; seasons 2021–22 to 2025–26 are reported, and the season before the first is read to know where players were.
- What counts as a move
- A player on a college roster in two consecutive seasons, at a different college the second year — the live portal study's own rule. Derived from sequence, never from a roster's transfer flag.
- Levels
- Division I programs are grouped by the canonical conference tiers Depth Chart uses on every report — high-major, mid-major and low-major; Division II and Division III are their divisions. Up and down follow that order.
- Seasons
- A season is held when its rosters are complete enough to count; a season still being collected is not read, so the newest rosters do not skew the destinations toward whichever programs were scraped first.
- Floors
- An origin or season cell under 30 transfers is not shown; the page is not published under 500 classified moves.
- Individuals
- No player is named. Every figure is a count or a share of a cell.
- Computed
- Sep 18, 2026 · methodology 2026-08-28.1
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