By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Jyare Davis seems like as much a ‘Delaware guy’ as the Delaware men’s basketball team has had in recent years.

He grew up in Newark, going to Blue Hen football and basketball games as a kid.

And when Davis helped Delaware win the CAA Tournament title in 2022, he seemed genuinely thrilled to have helped one of his home state schools go to the NCAAs.

“This was for the whole state of Delaware,” the power forward posted on social media at the time.

But apparently the lure of the NCAA Transfer Portal — and perhaps the potential big salary that comes with it — is too strong even for someone like Davis to pass up.

On Tuesday, Davis announced that he won’t be spending his last collegiate season as a Blue Hen. Expecting to graduate this summer, Davis said he’s entering the portal to see what’s out there.

“Given the changing landscape of college athletics, I’ve decided to enter the transfer portal looking for an opportunity to challenge myself at the highest level possible,” is the way he put it on social media.

UD coach Martin Ingelsby has lost players and brought some in through the transfer portal. University of Delaware Athletics photo

Really, the only surprise might have been if Davis hadn’t entered the portal. It’s what a lot of players are doing after proving themselves as mid-major standouts.

There’s bigger crowds, better competition, more NBA scouts and hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIL money the higher they go.

The CAA Tournament MVP in ‘22, Davis is a two-time All-CAA pick. He was named to the second team this past winter after averaging 17.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Officially, Name-Image-Likeness payouts sound like it is money that student-athletes make for endorsements. Often, though, the reality is that NIL money is essentially a salary paid by collectives that now raise money for their schools.

Two of the CAA’s top players — Hofstra’s Darlingstone Dubar and Drexel’s Amari Williams — are now rated among the top 20 prospects currently in the portal.

By now, Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby has been through these situations before.

In recent years, the Hens have lost Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Jameer Nelson, Jr. (TCU) and Justyn Mutts (Virginia Tech) to bigger programs. Like Davis, Carr had other ties to Delaware — both his father and uncle played for UD.

On the other hand, the Hens have also benefited greatly from incoming transfers. Nelson and Davis both started their careers at other schools.

When Davis announced his decision, all Ingelsby could do was thank him and wish him well.

“Jyáre has been a tremendous ambassador for our program for the past three years,” Ingelsby said in a press release. “He’s given everything he has to the University of Delaware, and we are grateful to have been a part of his journey.

“Jyáre played an instrumental role in our 2022 CAA Championship run and will continue to represent the University of Delaware as an alumnus. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

At Delaware State, too, the Hornets are wondering if their success this season might come with a price.

The DSU’s men’s basketball team reached the MEAC Tournament finals last week for the first time since 2015. A pair of young players helped the Hornets get there.

Sophomore Devin Muniz was a second-team All-MEAC pick while freshman Deywilk Tavarez was named the league’s Rookie of the Year.

Since the Hornets are playing in the College Basketball Insider Tournament on Saturday, they’ve put off the chance of portal losses for the moment. But coach Stan Waterman knows it’s a possibility that every coach thinks about.

“One of the benefits of continuing to play, today may have been a day where a couple guys would have been coming in the office and said, ‘Hey Coach, I’m entering the portal,’” Waterman said on Monday. “But with us having the opportunity to play another week, it’s probably going to hold them off at least a week.”

On the other hand, Waterman and his coaching staff have already started scouting the portal, looking for players that they might be able to bring in.

“I’m sitting here trying to watch film of (CBI opponent) Seattle,” said Waterman, “and also looking at a couple kids to see if there’s some way we can improve.”

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at awalter@iniusa.org. Follow on Twitter @DSNSports.