There has been much made of the college basketball transfers over the last few years. This year is setting a torrid pace at the Division I level. Many people are placing the blame solely on the players. Social media set the blame on a perceived notion of entitlement that the players of this generation have. Transfers happen for a much deeper reason. Here's my opinion on the situation.

First of all, I don't think players transferring colleges is a huge deal. It is common for a regular student to transfer at some point in their college career. When a player leaves your favorite team, it doesn't automatically make him a traitor. There are many underlying issues to most transfers.

There are dozens of reasons why a player will transfer from a college. Most fans – and some writers – don't understand that many transfers are initiated by the coaching staff. I estimate that well over half of transfers are started by the coaching staff explaining that the player will see limited or no playing time going forward. The staff sells the idea of the transfer to free up a scholarship for future recruits. This has become a common occurrence at the Division I level.

That brings up the question of 'Why are college coaches recruiting players that they want to transfer after one year?' I have many theories on this.

College basketball is a business more than ever. In big business, the pressure to win is great. Coaches do not have long leashes especially at the high-major and mid-major levels. If coaches have a few mediocre years, they are on the hot seat or fired. The pressure makes coaches take risks in recruiting that they normally wouldn't. Those risks are often asked to leave after a year.

In my eyes, most of the transfers start before the player ever reaches campus. They happen during the recruitment. Other than taking risks on potential that don't pan out, there are a number of reasons why a college recruits a player that they end up asking to transfer. Most of them relate back to the pressure of being a college coach.

A common theme for college coaches is to look for undervalued players. It is rare for a player to escape high school as a truly undervalued player. When a college coach finds a “sleeper” and extends an offer, that offer is known nationwide within hours. That means every college coach at that level will be doing research on the prospect. No assistant wants the blame from the head coach because they missed out on a prospect especially one in their own backyard. There is a real Twitter effect on recruiting. Players go from zero offers to 10 in a week because of coaches getting anxious that they are missing out on a prospect. Programs evaluate a prospect as unworthy of a scholarship then end up offering him because other schools offered the player later. It is crazy to watch when you know it is happening.

At this point, the transfer cycle feeds itself as well. It looks like each Division I program is going to average more than two transfers per season now. That means that, if the team didn't over-sign during the year, they will be looking for transfers from other schools to fill the roster for next year. Many high-major programs are relying heavily on graduate transfers to fill major roles. In most cases, that is a one year fix and they are looking for that roster repair again the next year.

Those are just a few examples of why players are transferring. Once you add the normal situations of players not fitting into the school's system, academic problems and off the court problems, it is easy to see why there will be so many transfers each season. Please understand these other issues before placing the blame of each transfer on the player.