‘Preposterous’ – J.J. Watt rips into NCAA for ‘cannibalizing’ $1bn March Madness tournament with timing issue
March Madness is in full swing, but J.J. Watt has identified a problem that is ‘cannibalizing’ college sports. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who played much of his college football with the Wisconsin Badgers before a stellar pro career, has hit out at the timing of the transfer portal. Watt has shared his frustration over the timing of the college transfer portalGetty On March 24, with just two rounds of the 2025 NCAA Tournament complete, the portal will open and provide teams a 30-day window to transform their rosters. The major issue with that timing, of course, is that any team that has made it to the Sweet 16 won’t be able to focus on building for the future, as they are still involved in the postseason. However, it is not a problem that is exclusive to college basketball — the football winter transfer portal ran from December 9 to December 28 this past campaign — which directly overlapped with bowl season. Taking to social media, Watt expressed his frustration with the ‘preposterous’ timings, and compared them to free agency in the NFL. He wrote on X: “The NCAA transfer portal opening before March Madness ends (same as football portal opening before bowl season ends) is preposterous. “Literally cannibalizing your own sport. “Imagine NFL free agency starting the Monday after Wild Card Weekend…” Watt’s annoyance appeared to resonate with other fans, who shared similar feelings. “It’s ruined college sports, unfortunately,” one person wrote, responding to his statement. “Agreed. This makes no sense,” another said. Watt believes the NCAA are ‘cannibalizing’ college sports with the transfer portal timingGetty Only two rounds of March Madness have been played ahead of the portal openingGetty “It’s ridiculous! The portal timing undermines the season and teaches athletes to jump ship instead of facing challenges head-on. Adversity builds character,” a third wrote. Watt, of course, raises a good point. Not only would moving the transfer portal to after the postseason in both college basketball and football likely increase the popularity around it, the decision would also mean teams that make deep runs in the postseason are not at a disadvantage. As well as ripping into the NCAA for ‘cannibalising’ their billion-dollar March Madness tournament, Watt has also joked he will be boycotting Tater Tots after his old school was defeated by BYU over the weekend. The former Badgers football star watched on as Wisconsin’s Big Ten basketball program suffered a painful 91-89 loss in the second round of the 2025 tournament at the hands of the No. 6 seed Cougars. Before the game, Watt showed his support for Greg Gard’s team, and also brought up some fun trivia. Watt played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers before beginning a stellar NFL careerGetty March Madness Top Stories Ranking the greatest players in NCAA men’s March Madness history – from Michael Jordan to Magic Johnson ‘This sister is special’ – Stephen A. Smith identifies rising star who can challenge Caitlin Clark’s WNBA dominance NCAA March Madness is bigger and better than the College Football Playoff – the springtime phenomenon is bigger than ever Biggest March Madness upsets in history of NCAA Tournament – top seeds humiliated as small schools enjoy their moment “Have to honor and pay respect to the kid on BYU who’s great grandfather invented Tater Tots,” he wrote on X. “Greatness is greatness. Man is a legend. Now that we’ve addressed that, On Wisconsin!” Unfortunately, though, his Badgers fell to the Cougars and shortly after, Watt announced that he was going on a temporary self-imposed Tater Tots ban. “Boycotting Tater Tots for the next 48 hours,” he posted. Between losing his Tater Tots and pointing out a major flaw in college sports, it’s been a pretty rough weekend for poor Watt. How to watch March Madness in the UK *If you click a link in this box we will earn affiliate revenue March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions. This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years. talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service. Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
March Madness is in full swing, but J.J. Watt has identified a problem that is ‘cannibalizing’ college sports.
The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who played much of his college football with the Wisconsin Badgers before a stellar pro career, has hit out at the timing of the transfer portal.
On March 24, with just two rounds of the 2025 NCAA Tournament complete, the portal will open and provide teams a 30-day window to transform their rosters.
The major issue with that timing, of course, is that any team that has made it to the Sweet 16 won’t be able to focus on building for the future, as they are still involved in the postseason.
However, it is not a problem that is exclusive to college basketball — the football winter transfer portal ran from December 9 to December 28 this past campaign — which directly overlapped with bowl season.
Taking to social media, Watt expressed his frustration with the ‘preposterous’ timings, and compared them to free agency in the NFL.
He wrote on X: “The NCAA transfer portal opening before March Madness ends (same as football portal opening before bowl season ends) is preposterous.
“Literally cannibalizing your own sport.
“Imagine NFL free agency starting the Monday after Wild Card Weekend…”
Watt’s annoyance appeared to resonate with other fans, who shared similar feelings.
“It’s ruined college sports, unfortunately,” one person wrote, responding to his statement.
“Agreed. This makes no sense,” another said.
“It’s ridiculous! The portal timing undermines the season and teaches athletes to jump ship instead of facing challenges head-on. Adversity builds character,” a third wrote.
Watt, of course, raises a good point.
Not only would moving the transfer portal to after the postseason in both college basketball and football likely increase the popularity around it, the decision would also mean teams that make deep runs in the postseason are not at a disadvantage.
As well as ripping into the NCAA for ‘cannibalising’ their billion-dollar March Madness tournament, Watt has also joked he will be boycotting Tater Tots after his old school was defeated by BYU over the weekend.
The former Badgers football star watched on as Wisconsin’s Big Ten basketball program suffered a painful 91-89 loss in the second round of the 2025 tournament at the hands of the No. 6 seed Cougars.
Before the game, Watt showed his support for Greg Gard’s team, and also brought up some fun trivia.
March Madness Top Stories
Ranking the greatest players in NCAA men’s March Madness history – from Michael Jordan to Magic Johnson
‘This sister is special’ – Stephen A. Smith identifies rising star who can challenge Caitlin Clark’s WNBA dominance
NCAA March Madness is bigger and better than the College Football Playoff – the springtime phenomenon is bigger than ever
Biggest March Madness upsets in history of NCAA Tournament – top seeds humiliated as small schools enjoy their moment
“Have to honor and pay respect to the kid on BYU who’s great grandfather invented Tater Tots,” he wrote on X. “Greatness is greatness. Man is a legend. Now that we’ve addressed that, On Wisconsin!”
Unfortunately, though, his Badgers fell to the Cougars and shortly after, Watt announced that he was going on a temporary self-imposed Tater Tots ban.
“Boycotting Tater Tots for the next 48 hours,” he posted.
Between losing his Tater Tots and pointing out a major flaw in college sports, it’s been a pretty rough weekend for poor Watt.
How to watch March Madness in the UK
*If you click a link in this box we will earn affiliate revenue
March Madness is one of the most exciting times of the year for basketball fans, with a total of 68 teams battling it out to become the Division 1 college champions.
This year UConn have the chance to become only the second team ever to complete a March Madness three-peat, having emerged victorious for the last two years.
talkSPORT will have the latest news on the tournament, but for UK basketball fans the way to watch is through Sky Sports. The broadcaster will be showing EVERY March Madness game through their Sky Sports + streaming service.
Click here to sign up to a Sky Sports subscription, or read our article on the best Sky Sports deals available now.
