Transferring inside the B1G (grad or not)

[FeliSilvestris]

HERE (<---) is an official B1G article discussing transfers within the conference. As I understand it, unless the intra-B1G transferring student gets a "Complete Release" from his original B1G school, he would both seat out a year AND lose a year of eligibility. You can think that the rule simply states that the sit-out year "counts" as a normal year for the purpose of eligibility.

Best I can tell, the eligibility loss applies equally to grad transfers. But since grad transfers typically only have one year of eligibility left, they couldn't possibly afford to lose it in order to transfer to another B1G institution. Hence, a B1G graduate wishing to transfer into another B1G school de facto NEEDS the Complete Release from his/current school.

The articles says nothing about the possibility of a "partial release", where the original school may exclude specific schools (for example, its in-state rival).

 

[IdahoAlum]

From a story about Spike Albrecht's graduate transfer from Michigan to Purdue last year:

"Albrecht was initially not allowed to transfer within the Big Ten, as Beilein placed restrictions on both Albrecht and fellow transfer Ricky Doyle. But a brief controversy arose over that decision, and Beilein reversed course a few days later.

Now, Beilein isn't the final decision-maker when it comes to an intra-conference transfer. The Big Ten itself has to give its OK to Albrecht if he chooses to transfer to Indiana, Purdue or any other school within the league. But the conference has shown willingness to allow such a move in recent seasons, allowing it just last offseason when Max Bielfeldt transferred away from Michigan to play at Indiana, where he earned the conference's Sixth Man of the Year honors this past season."

 

[FeliSilvestris]

From inside the B1G, two interesting possible grad transfers (assuming they get the necessary "Complete Release") are:
Michigan's 6-9 240 PF Mark Donnal (12m, 4p, 2R...shot 9-18 3P!)
Rutger's 6-1 186 PG Nigel Johnson (26m, 11p, 3.3R...38% (35% 3P)).
Both could contribute. An experienced 6-9 240 B1G PF can obviously help (especially in case of injuries, or for specific match-ups).
Nigel would be an experienced backup PG who could also possibly play in tandem with Mac under certain conditions. He obviously isn't transferring b/c of playing time (probably would play at RU more than at any other B1G-caliber team). Perhaps he just wants to play for an NCAA contender. NU may not be his first choice, but might be his best offer, if it indeed comes to that.

EDIT: FWIW, out of HS, Nigel got an Ivy League offer, so he was probably a strong student. Optimistically, he has also done well as a college student, and values education.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Donnal will transfer to Clemson. Unclear whether he got an unrestricted release that would have enabled him to transfer inside the B1G...even if he did, it's also unclear whether there was any mutual interest between he and the NU staff.
Nigel will continue at UVa (it was announced weeks ago).