The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is in full swing, and coaches battling for a Final Four berth face the unique challenge of balancing a run for a national championship with building their rosters for next season through the college transfer portal.

The University of Illinois’s coach, Brad Underwood, discloses that he spent all morning Wednesday on the portal, researching players who might be good fits for his team next year. This was 24 hours before the Illini defeated Iowa State, 72-69, in the East Region semifinals Thursday night. 

“There’s no rest in that,” Mr. Underwood said at Boston. “When the season’s over, it gets amped up even more. There’s no downtime. Our staff’s working hard at that. We’re paying attention daily to what’s happening in the portal and if you’re not, you’re falling behind.”

Welcome to college basketball in 2024. The portal is forcing coaches to “multi-task” while trying to win a national championship, according to San Diego State’s coach, Brian Dutcher. “I’m talking to players in the portal right now,” Mr. Dutcher said. “I haven’t done a Zoom but we’re trying to set one up. I’m 100 percent focused on this year, but I’m doing San Diego State a disservice if I don’t have an eye on the future, too. That’s part of the job.”

The transfer portal opened on March 18, the day after Selection Sunday. Since then 650 players and counting have submitted their names in hopes of changing schools, chasing more playing time, better competition, and more money for Name Image and Likeness. According to ESPN, more than 1,000 players entered the portal each of the past two years.

The coaches of St. John’s and Indiana, Rick Pitino and Mike Woodson, share that getting a jump on the portal was why they chose not to compete in the NIT this year. “We believe at this time it is best for our team and basketball program to prepare for next season,” Mr. Pitino said in a statement issued after the Red Storm was snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. 

Fifth-seed San Diego State advanced to the Sweet 16 only to lose to top-seeded  University of Connecticut, 82-52, on Thursday in a rematch of last year’s national championship game also won by the Huskies. Before the game, UConn’s Danny Hurley said, “I don’t have interest right now” in the portal. 

Mr. Hurley suggests that the portal should open after the NCAA tournament. “That would be nice,” Mr. Hurley said at Boston. “It almost feels like teams that are really successful and having a great season, it’s like pro sports, we’ll have the last pick in the draft. A lot of players will have made decisions.”

UConn has adopted a more traditional approach, adding five freshmen, following its championship season. The Huskies, though, did add a graduate transfer from Rutgers, Cam Spencer, who is the team’s second-leading scorer at 14.4 points per game.  

San Diego State, Illinois, and others, though, have several transfers on their rosters. “We’ve tried to identify high character guys that fit and guys that have specific needs to what we’re looking for,” Mr. Underwood said. “When you’re honest with guys and tell them how they fit and what the pieces are, there’s no surprises.”

Clemson’s coach, Brad Brownell, whose no. 6 seeded Tigers upset no. 2 seed Arizona, 77-72, on Thursday in the West Region, has just one freshman on his roster. He said it’s important to find players who gel. “It’s a bigger deal than people realize,” he said. “It’s great to want to bring in a bunch of transfers, but the guys in your program have to be up for that, too, or you’re going to have bad chemistry issues.”

Many coaches don’t like the rules that have been handed down. “I don’t think it’s good for any of us to have free agency every single year because then we’re going to lose sight of graduating players,” Mr. Dutcher said. “The greatest goal we have in college is to graduate players. If you go to four colleges in four years, you’re not going to graduate because not all of your credits are going to transfer. Our mission is to graduate student-athletes because they’re all not going to make a living playing pro basketball.”

Mr. Hurley agrees that players shouldn’t attend multiple colleges. “I don’t think that’s healthy for the individual after their playing career is over because there’s no connection with the university or coaching staff and network of alumni who can help create opportunities once basketball is over,” he said. He adds: “I don’t think it’s healthy for somebody to change schools like underwear.”