Graduate hoop transfers offer teams immediate help

There's a free agent trend quietly developing around college basketball and coaches are trying to figure out how to get a handle on it.

Graduate transfers can transfer and play immediately at a new school by enrolling in a graduate program unavailable at their former school.

Fifteen players have played right away as graduate transfers this year, according to STATS LLC. The programs range from BCS schools like Illinois and North Carolina State to smaller programs like Houston Baptist and Texas Southern.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has one in starting guard Brandon Wood from Valparaiso, but he's also worried that the rule could lead to "a national problem" with attempts to recruit players already on campuses.

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