The transfer portal this off-season has changed the landscape in Division 1 college wrestling. Numerous national qualifiers, All-Americans, and even a past NCAA champ entered the portal to find new homes for the 2023-24 season. With so much movement, we decided to break down all aspects surrounding the amount of NCAA team points that have hit the transfer portal. 

Team Points from the 2023 NCAA Tournament

The below table shows the 14 different 2023 NCAA qualifiers that entered the transfer portal this off-season. In total, 8 of the 10 weights saw an NCAA qualifier enter the portal with only 141 and 157 without an NCAA qualifying wrestler represented. Of those 14 wrestlers, 6 were All-Americans in 2023 - Aaron Nagao, Izzak Olejnik, Shane Griffith, Will Feldkamp, Bernie Truax, and Lucas Davison.

Penn State secured the two biggest point scorers from the 2023 NCAA season in the transfer portal with Aaron Nagao (14 points) and Bernie Truax (13.5 points). After that, Michigan picked up 4 big transfers and got the majority of their points from Shane Griffith (11 points) and Lucas Davison (10 points). After that, no other team has secured more than 1 point-scoring individual from the 2023 NCAA Tournament. However, it’s worth noting that there are 3 wrestlers currently in the portal who have yet to commit to where they will transfer for the 2023-24 season. Check out the full point scoring breakdown below:

Points gained by teams in the transfer portal:

1. Penn State (2) - 27.5 
2. Michigan (4) - 23 
3. Uncommitted (4) - 8.5
4. Oklahoma State (1) - 7.5
5. Cal Poly (1) - 4
6. Rutgers (1) - 2
7. Iowa (1) - 1
8. ND State (1) - 0.5

On the other side of the transfer portal - teams “hurt” by these transfers. The below teams all had wrestlers transfer out of their programs after earning points at the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Check out how those numbers are sorted out below

Points lost by teams from the transfer portal:

1. Minnesota (1) - 14
2. Cal Poly (1) - 13.5
3. Northwestern (3) - 12
4. Stanford (2) - 11.5
5. Northern Illinois (1) - 7.5
6. Clarion (1) - 6.5
7. Michigan (1) - 4
8. Harvard (1) - 2
9. Oklahoma (1) - 0.5
10. Oklahoma State (1) - 1
11. Buffalo (1)  - 0.5

*Number of transfers in parenthesis

Total Points (14) - 73

It's also worth noting that the wrestlers who are returning next season scored a total of 972.5 points at the 2023 NCAA Tournament. That means the above wrestlers who are in the transfer portal scored about 7.5% of the total points at the 2023 NCAA Tournament. 

Potential Points

Another aspect to consider in the transfer portal is the potential each brings to his respective team. There are numerous wrestlers transferring or still in the transfer portal who scored more points at the 2021 or 2022 NCAA Tournament than they did in 2023. With that in mind, the below table shows the most team points wrestlers in the transfer portal have EVER scored at an NCAA Tournament.

The above numbers show a large degree of variance for three of Michigan’s transfers. Michael DeAugustino, Chris Cannon, and Shane Griffith have all had performances at past NCAA Tournaments that exceeded what they did in 2023. This could either be considered great news or an area of caution for Wolverine fans. Those wrestlers have shown the potential to put up big points however they “underperformed” by 26 points at last year’s tournament. 

Beyond the Wolverines, Bernie Truax, Tyler Eischens, Jacob Butler, and Caleb Smith have all had performances at past NCAA Tournaments that exceeded the points they scored in 2023. However, those degrees of variance were far less than Michigan's wrestlers.

Check out how the above numbers sort out by teams:

1. Michigan (4) - 49
2. Penn State (2) - 28
3. Uncommitted (4) - 9
4. Oklahoma State (1) - 7.5 
5. Cal Poly (1) - 4
6. Rutgers (2) - 3.5
7. Nebraska (1) - 1
8. ND State (1) - 0.5

Total Points (16) - 102.5

*Number of transfers in parenthesis

The All-Portal Team 

How would a team of ALL transfer portal wrestlers fare at the NCAA Tournament? Obviously, that is highly unlikely ever to happen (Michigan’s 4 might be the closest we get), but it’s still an interesting question to consider. With that in mind, the below chart shows the best team we could come up with from the transfer portal taking the top wrestler at every weight. We had to take a few liberties at 141 and 174 bumping up Chris Cannon and Shane Griffith, but this team is incredibly tough, check it out:

The 68.5 points scored by the “All-Portal” team would have been enough to finish in 5th place at the 2023 NCAA Tournament, 4th in 2022, and 6th in 2021 - not bad! This team's combined best-ever NCAA points scored, 96.5, would finish 2nd in 2023 and 2022 and 4th in 2021. Simply put, there is some incredible talent that has entered and is still in the transfer portal that will dramatically influence college wrestling next year.