When Kansas State and Miami descend on the Final Four this weekend, they'll do so with rosters molded mainly through the transfer portal. That is, not with players who were recruited and developed from within.
It's the latest example of how the portal is tarnishing the 'authenticity' of college sports, says Mike Valenti. He and Rico got into the matter Wednesday.
"Think about Aidan Hutchinson, most popular Lion there is right now," said Valenti. "Aidan was recruited by Michigan, dad played at Michigan, he was incubated, developed, progressed at Michigan and it ended up with this amazing senior season. That's a Michigan Wolverine. That's your guy. Kirk Cousins, nobody wanted him, afterthought, goes to MSU, not supposed to win the quarterback competition, does, proceeds to go 4-0 against Michigan, become a Spartan legend, win the Big Ten. I would argue to you that those two stories, at our respective schools, are dead."
"So here's my question," Valenti said. "Has college sports lost most, if not all, of its authenticity? The people that wear the colors that we care about so much have nothing to do with those colors. They don't know anything about it.
"It's become essentially, everyone's a one-and-done. So if you didn't like the one-and-done, how do you like what you're watching now? I kind of think the portal has just wrecked everything."
