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There were no plans for a large basketball dropping at midnight at Times Square in New York City.

There was no Ryan Seacrest-hosted television special showing the clock strike midnight, time zone-by-time zone with basketball coaches popping champagne and kissing their significant others in celebration.

But the new world of college basketball seems to have created a new holiday, one in which anxious coaches and fans count down the seconds to watch the clock flip from 11:59 p.m. (local time for each school) on May 1 to midnight on May 2, signifying the closing of the chaotic and program-defining transfer portal window.

Players who wish to be eligible to play at another school in the 2024-25 season have to 鈥渋nitiate the process鈥� of entering the transfer portal by the last minute of May 1, UNM Director of Compliance Amy Beggin explained.

That can be through an email or text message to Beggin, and upon receipt of player communication, the school鈥檚 compliance office will deliver the paperwork necessary for that player to 鈥渆nter鈥� the transfer portal.

Beggin, a former Lobo basketball star herself, told the Journal on Wednesday she had no plans to stay up to commemorate the occasion.

College basketball coaches can continue their recruitment of players in the transfer portal until the fall semester starts.

UNM head coach Richard Pitino is in the same wait and see mode as every other coach, and has chosen to keep public commentary on the process to himself until the portal window is closed. He did, however, predict the chaos of the month ahead for his and every team鈥檚 roster with his 鈥漷hey鈥檙e all free agents鈥� comment on March 22 in Memphis, moments after his team鈥檚 loss to Clemson in the NCAA Tournament.

The biggest shoe to drop for the UNM Lobos happened over the weekend informally, and more publicly and officially with paperwork completed on Tuesday morning when Mountain West Freshman of the Year JT Toppin entered the transfer portal, bringing an end to a brief, but prolific career with the program.

Entering the offseason, he and rising junior point guard Donovan Dent, an all-conference performer this past season and far more polished of the two young players, were seen as the cornerstone pieces of the Lobos鈥� coming season.

Dent on Tuesday night posted an image of himself in a Lobos uniform and the words 鈥淚鈥檓 Back!鈥�

While reassuring to Lobo fans, and certainly the Lobo coaching staff, Dent鈥檚 never said anything but that he was staying. However, a social media post isn鈥檛 binding.

Until that portal closes, it鈥檚 still anyone鈥檚 guess.

After all, there were more than a few cases in the past month social media accounts prematurely posting seemingly reassuring messages about the future.

And, frankly, it鈥檚 all become the theater of the absurd, no matter what side of the fence you鈥檙e on in the era of immediately eligible transfers and players being able to accept money for use of their name, image and likeness.

UNM had it happen to them with former Colorado State and Missouri Tiger wing John Tonje announcing his commitment to be a Lobo on social media only to delete those posts days later after sources say he decided to instead take an offer from Wisconsin.

John Tonje recants recent commitment to Lobos, UNM then lands University of Arizona transfer

• By Geoff Grammer/Journal Staff Writer

Relatedly, Lobo Braden Appelhans announced he鈥檇 enter the portal only to announce four days later that his true desire was to stay at UNM.

The University of Charlotte last Friday posted on its official team account an image of the program鈥檚 starting backcourt 鈥� guards Nikolas Graves and Lucye Patterson 鈥� with the words 鈥淩un it back鈥� indicating they planned to return. Patterson entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.

Coaches aren鈥檛 free from the fiasco, either.

Amid rumors head coach Eric Musselman was leaving Arkansas for another job, the Razorbacks Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek on March 28 posted a video showing him getting on an empty bus only to see that the bus driver was Musselman, who then yelled back to him, 鈥淏uckle up!鈥� Yurachek responded with, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e still here?!?鈥�

Musselman was named the new head coach at USC on April 4.

So, while March may still have the title of being Mad, in the long overdue era of player empowerment, albeit one seemingly happening without much foresight or order, April has quickly become the most important, and influential month on the calendar for what the following season of college basketball will actually look like.

To coaches and fans trying to keep up, cheers. The end of a new hell month of the college basketball calendar is here.

Here鈥檚 hoping your favorite program will replenish whatever was lost with better fits and brighter stars, or at least that you don鈥檛 have any embarrassing tweets left out there indicating you jumped the gun.

And, to be clear, let鈥檚 hope my writing this on May 1 won鈥檛 need a May 2 correction due to some overnight portal jump we never saw coming.