COLUMN: Don't hate the player for transferring, embrace the game and get more transfers

Southeast Missouri State's rare run in the NCAA Tournament ended before it began in the First Four.

The aftermath was met with Phillip Russell's announcement on social media to enter the transfer portal, compounding the natural departure of Chris Harris, who will likely go down as one of the greatest players in Redhawk history.

It will be Russell's second transfer. He originally arrived at SEMO from St. Louis University and became the focal point of head coach Brad Korn's offense. Russell averaged 18.1 points per game and led the Ohio Valley Conference in points scored (615) and free throws (173). If his situation is anything like Eric Reed's last year, Russell will parlay his success at SEMO to starring for a much bigger brand school.

No sense in being sour over Russell's decision. Moving up to the next big thing is not just a reality in college sports but a facet of life as American as apple pie.

His transfer signifies SEMO's place in the college basketball landscape. With the proliferation of the transfer portal and the players' total freedom of mobility, SEMO is a play where they play but not where they stay.

Korn wasn't kidding when he called Harris a “unicorn.”

“He’s an outlier," Korn said last month. "You don’t see many kids being at school for four years."

The new era of college basketball also serves SEMO. The Redhawks built a team of transfers to capture their second-ever OVC Tournament title. Recruiting through the transfer portal has taken precedence over recruiting out of high school. While Cape Girardeau is a nice place to live and has a few fun bars, should you stay away from Main St., the main selling point to playing basketball at SEMO is the opportunity for playing time.

Before Russel became a star, he played only eight games as a freshman at SLU, and only three games saw him play for over 10 minutes.

Josh Early averaged less than six minutes in three seasons at Tulsa before coming to SEMO, where he averaged 17 minutes and 7.5 PPG in 32 games.

Kobe Clark was the Redhawks' leading rebounder (8.7 RPG) before a season-ending injury on January 19. He played a total of 21 games and averaged four minutes per game over two seasons with Georgetown before transferring to SEMO.

Aquan Smart transferred from school to school in search of more time on the court. He was originally recruited to Maryland but averaged 7.3 minutes off the bench in 22 games as a freshman. He bumped his minutes to 13.1 per game over 26 games at Florida International the next year. It wasn't until he came to SEMO that he started his first game, became a frequent starter, and was basically the Redhawks' sixth man.

“I tell him all the time if he doesn't show up, we have no shot at winning,” Russell said on Smart on February 16. “He's really like the glue guy. He's gonna do all the little things. He's gonna defend you on the floor, and do a lot of grimy things. He's a big part of this team.”

Even the Redhawks' departing seniors, Harris, Nate Johnson, and Israel Barnes, arrived as transfers. Johnson and Harris first played in junior college. Barnes started his college career at Weber State, then transferred to Divison II Newman University and concluded at SEMO.

Even the women's basketball team has been impacted by the transfer portal. Four players arrived at SEMO from the transfer portal, including Rahmena Henderson and Kiyley Flowers, who played a major part in pushing the Redhawks to a winning record a year after going 6-23.

“We recruit our kids to play,” Redhawks coach Rekha Patterson said. “Everybody may not play, but all of them are recruited to play. We’ll use that, that they came in and they were able to help us.”

Kennedi Watkins announced her entry to the transfer portal on March 22, after averaging nine points and 21.1 minutes per game for the Redhawks. Like Russell, she will likely land on a bigger conference after her success in SEMO.

This is how Patterson and Korn need to recruit in order to build OVC-winning teams. The traditional form of recruiting out of high school isn't going to cut it anymore.

The Southeast Missouri area is in a position to produce a trio of Division I caliber players, and it's quite possible that none of them are going to SEMO, either due to receiving better offers or a lack of interest in staying home. Jadis Jones led New Madrid County Central to the Class 3 state championship, and he is receiving offers from FBS football programs like Coastal Carolina and Northern Illinois, even Iowa State expressed interest.

SEMO's recruiting strategy of finding players who have earned being brought in by big-time colleges but didn't get the playing time they were probably promised is the way to go. As great as Russell was in SEMO, point guards like him, who can run the offense and make shots are a dime a dozen. Finding the next version of him sitting on the back of the bench of a mid-major team is quite possible. It will be interesting to see who is next to come to SEMO and capitalize on the opportunity for playing time.

I hope Watkins and Russell find success in their next stop. I left Cape Girardeau at one point for a job in a bigger city so who am I to scoff at someone doing the same thing?