There is perhaps no juxtaposition which better sums up the current state of college basketball in 2026 than the fact that the NCAA’s transfer portal opened up as One Shining Moment was playing to officially close the books on the 2025-26 season.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 1,500 players have entered the portal. Of course, many of those names were known in the weeks leading up to the stroke of midnight on April 7.
The season has barely ended, but these next few weeks will be critical as Penn looks to protect its current stable of talent and reload with some new faces ahead of its Ivy League title defense. Below are just a few of the questions Quakers fans should be asking ahead of a pivotal offseason.
1. How can Penn take advantage of the Palestra?
In a sense, this question has already been answered. The Ivy League gave the Quakers a massive lift on Tuesday when it revealed that Dartmouth has agreed to surrender its right to put on Ivy Madness in 2027 and let Penn host in honor of the Palestra’s 100th birthday.
In a season where the margins between Penn, Harvard, Yale (and perhaps Princeton and Columbia) could be razor-thin, having home court advantage will be absolutely critical when next March rolls around.
A packed Palestra can help carry good Penn teams to victory before; we’ve seen that exact dynamic play out in 2018 when the building came alive during the Quakers’ first-half rally against Harvard in the Ivy League title game.
The 100th birthday angle will also be a good hook as Penn looks to build out its nonconference schedule. It’s my understanding that coach Fran McCaffery wants to get at least one high major opponent into the building next season. Getting a Quad 1 or Quad 2 opportunity at home has become more and more elusive for programs in one-bid leagues in recent years.
2. Who else is going to get squeezed out by the roster crunch?
Two Penn players with Ivy eligibility — reserve forwards Michelangelo Oberti and Bradyn Foster — have entered the portal already and I expect to see at least one other name who might not have a path to playing time follow in the coming days.
This sort of roster attrition is healthy. Oberti had a limited role in Penn’s rotation and Foster didn’t play at all after the season opener. With six freshmen inbound next season and a few names sure to come in through the portal, it was only going to get harder for either young man to see the floor.
I don’t envy the choice Oberti and Foster had to make, though. Do you sacrifice your playing career to get a Penn degree, or do you walk away and move down to a lower-level conference to play the sport you love?
That’s a hefty burden for a 19-or-20-year-old to bear.
3. Will there be a McCaffery family reunion?
There has been significant smoke — but no fire yet — about the prospect of Fran McCaffery’s son, Jack McCaffery, transferring in from Butler. Jack officially entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.
Jack is already familiar with Penn’s players, and his basketball profile would be a perfect fit on the team. The rising sophomore forward can stretch the floor, finish at the rim and was a four-star, top-100 recruit coming out of high school.
Putting Jack at the “four” would allow Penn to move star forward TJ Power down to the “three” if Fran so desired, which would give the Quakers two athletic 6-foot-9 bigs on the floor at once. Ivy teams would be hard-pressed to guard that duo.
Teams aren’t allowed to hold official visits for transfer portal recruits until Friday, so this one might take a little while to work itself out.
4. When can fans exhale about TJ Power?
Speaking of Power, Quakers fans will know for certain in roughly two weeks whether the presumptive Ivy Player of the Year favorite will be sticking around for his senior season.
From everything I have gathered, it would be a massive surprise if Power left. You also don’t need to be trained in modal logic to understand it would be absolutely wild for a player like Power — who struggled mightily at Duke and Virginia before blossoming under Fran McCaffery’s tutelage — to immediately up and leave after finding a system and level of basketball that works for him.
But things can change quickly in college basketball. There have been mid-major players who have posted graphics declaring on the record they’ll be staying with their current school before hitting the portal a few days later.
One point, though, which should put Penn fans at ease. For mid-major players, the portal has for all intents and purposes been open for about three weeks. Yale’s Samson Aletan and Isaac Celiscar booked their tickets out of New Haven, Conn. days ago.
Power-conference programs are scrambling to lock up commitments before the talent pool dries up in this year’s compressed window. If Power really was dead set on leaving, he would have tipped his intentions weeks ago to maximize the number of offers he could field.