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Women's college basketball: Ranking the best transfer portal players – For The Win

Published

12 months ago

December 6, 2023

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When the NCAA released its brackets for its men’s and women’s basketball tournament fields, the transfer portal opened, marking the start of the sport’s unofficial free agency.
Last season, more than 1,100 women’s basketball players passed through the transfer portal. And if you look at the NCAA tournament field, you can see how some players benefited from a change of scenery and helped take their new teams to the next level.
Angel Reese went from Maryland to LSU, became an AP All-American First Team selection and powered the Tigers to the national championship. The Cavinder twins landed at Miami, boosting their profiles for NIL while also helping the Canes reach their first-ever Elite Eight. And Taylor Soule transferred in-conference – going from Boston College to Virginia Tech – and helped the Hokies win their first-ever ACC tournament title.
The transfer portal has seen more traffic in recent years because of the NCAA’s COVID-era ruling that made it so the 2020-21 season didn’t count toward players’ eligibility. So, anyone who played that season gets a fifth season of college ball if they want it.
Here are the best players in the transfer portal so far. We’ll update this list when noteworthy players enter it.
The following players have already found new teams after entering the transfer portal: Kennedy Todd-Williams (UNC to Ole Miss), Maria Gakdeng (Boston College to UNC), Destinee Wells (Belmont to Tennessee), Jayda Curry (Cal to Louisville), Jessica Timmons (N.C. State to Alabama), Maliyah Johnson (Pitt to Houston), Jakia Brown-Turner (N.C. State to Maryland), Paris Clark (Arizona to Virginia), KK Deans (Florida to Ole Miss), Jada Walker (Kentucky to Baylor), Sedona Prince (Oregon to TCU), Hennie van Schaik (Cal State Bakersfield to Louisville), Kyndall Hunter (Texas to Texas A&M), Taylor Lauterbach (Kansas State to Virginia), Camille Hobby (N.C. State to Illinois), Kionna Gaines (Clemson to Auburn), Kiki Jefferson (James Madison to Louisville), Frannie Hottinger (Lehigh to Marquette), Maren Durant (Boston U. to George Washington), Anna DeWolfe (Fordham to Notre Dame), Jaida Patrick (Columbia to Miami), Kayla Padilla (Penn to USC), Lauren Park-Lane (Seton Hall to Mississippi State), Shayeann Day-Wilson (Duke to Miami), Lexi Donarski (Iowa State to UNC), Lauren Betts (Stanford to UCLA), Celeste Taylor (Duke to Ohio State), McKenzie Forbes (Harvard to USC), Sydney Taylor (UMass to Louisville), Taylor Valladay (Virginia to Penn State), Katie Peneueta (Sacramento State to N.C. State), Matilda Ekh (Michigan State to Virginia Tech), Olivia Summiel (Wake Forest to Virginia Tech), Isnelle Natabou (Sacramento State to Iowa State), Elissa Brett (Bowling Green to Michigan), Gia Cooke (Maryland to Houston), Nina Rickards (Florida to Louisville), Lee Volker (Duke to Marquette), Alexis Tucker (UC Santa Barbara to Florida State), Mila Reynolds (Maryland to Purdue), Teisha Hyman (Syracuse to Rhode Island), Lauren Fields (Arizona to West Virginia), Lauren Hansen (Missouri to Michigan), Ally Stedman (Pepperdine to Miami), Maty Wilke (Wisconsin to Utah), Hailey Van Lith (Louisville to LSU), Te-Hina Paopao (Oregon to South Carolina)

Owusu did not look like the same player this past season, her lone year at Virginia Tech. She came into the year with a lot of hype — and even received votes for preseason ACC Player of the Year — but never quite fit in with the Hokies. Owusu started the first seven games of the season, then hurt her hand and missed nearly all of December and January, and never really found a role on the team when she came back. Owusu never came off the bench in the postseason as the Hokies won their first ACC title and made their first Final Four in program history (and Owusu was mysteriously not on the bench during the second half of Virginia Tech’s loss to LSU in Dallas). She has one year of eligibility left, and the coach that takes a chance on her next will hope that they get the Owusu who was a walking-bucket in the 2020-21 season at Maryland, when she won the Drysdale Award for the nation’s top two-guard.
Can confirm this.
It’s only surprising because Owusu told me a month ago that she *wasn’t* going to use her fifth year and was going to turn pro instead. #ncaaW
via @TheNextHoops: https://t.co/bq9rK8QhFA https://t.co/38zBqGlIxv pic.twitter.com/CTIiTgiv1N
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) April 4, 2023

Kaitlyn Davis on the left. (Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune)
A 6-foot-1 forward and a unanimous All-Ivy League First Team selection, Davis averaged 13.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game for a Columbia team that just narrowly missed the NCAA tournament field as one of the “first four out” teams. In January, she notched the first triple-double in Columbia women’s basketball history.
Tabbed as one of the top-75 recruits in last year’s class, Fauntleroy was a bright spot on a Hoyas’ team that struggled this season, going just 6-14 in Big East play and firing head coach James Howard. Fauntleroy was named Big East Freshman of the Year and was one of just two freshmen in the country to average at least 10.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The 5-foot-7 guard also shot 37.4 percent from 3-point land.
KENNEDY FAUNTLEROY!
The #BIGEASTwbb Freshman of the Year coming up clutch in the #BEtourney for @GeorgetownWBB pic.twitter.com/qdF3gm0rHt
— BIG EAST WBB (@BIGEASTWBB) March 3, 2023

Diamond Johnson won the ACC Sixth Player of the Year award last season. Now, she’s due for a starting role at N.C. State. (Mitchell Northam / For The Win)
Diamond Johnson is in the portal for the second time in her career. The big question is, will she be able to play at her new school right away. Johnson has two years of eligibility left and has already burned her one free transfer, when she went from Rutgers to N.C. State in 2021, and since Johnson is not a graduate transfer, she would — by the rules — have to sit out a season before being eligible. The NCAA will have to sort that out.
What’s not in question is Johnson’s talent. As a freshman at Rutgers, she was a 50-40-90 player, the only freshman to post those numbers since 2009. As a sophomore at N.C. State, she won the ACC’s Sixth Player of the Year award while helping the Wolfpack win the ACC tournament and make the Elite Eight. This past season, she led N.C. State in scoring and had 22 points in a December win at Iowa.
Taina Mair on the left. (Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports)
Mair made the ACC All-Freshmen Team and was also one of the best passers in the country this season, racking up 6.6 assists per game, which ranked ninth nationally. The 5-foot-9 Boston native also averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game, and her assist rate was 17th-best in the country. Mair had six games with double-digit assists this season.
Spear led the ACC in scoring as a sophomore in the 2021-22 season. She followed that up by averaging 16.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists this past season as a junior. With a career 37 percent shooting mark from 3-point land, she’s one of the best shooters and overall scorers in the portal. And, because she was a freshman in the 2020-21 COVID season, she still has two years of eligibility left. The two-time All-ACC selection is a dynamic guard and will bring an offensive spark to whatever team she lands with.
who is Jewel Spear? only one of the most electric shot-makers in the country! if she lands somewhere with a true point guard to pass her open, and a quality big to draw away attention, she could be the X-factor in an elite offense https://t.co/2AooNDDCyM pic.twitter.com/y4fhqfc45Q
— Em🌹🏳️‍🌈 (@em_adler) April 26, 2023

Morrow is the first player with All-American status to enter the portal this off-season. She made the Associated Press Third Team this season after making the Second Team last year. Morrow, a 6-foo1-1 Chicago native, is one of the nation’s top rebounders, averaging 13.8 boards per game last season and 12.2 this season. Morrow has also been among the top six in the nation in scoring in each of the past two seasons. Morrow has two years of eligibility remaining and should immediately make whatever team she transfers to better. After playing in just one NCAA tournament game over the past two years, she may be eyeing a contender in need of a post player.
Aneesah Morrow is dangerously close to being in the Caitlin Clark tier of "best offensive player in the country" pic.twitter.com/VjZ3r9PG1f
— Em🌹🏳️‍🌈 (@em_adler) February 22, 2023

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