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NCAA women’s basketball transfer portal: How did LSU, South Carolina and Louisville fare? – The Athletic
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Welcome to the new era of NCAA women’s college basketball, where the transfer portal has become the most valuable way — usurping even high school recruiting classes — to build and sustain a program. In the last month, we’ve seen the rich get richer, contenders plug in key (and formerly missing) components while other teams lost half of their main rotations.
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Here’s a look at the clear winners and losers in the 2023 transfer portal.
Added: Hailey Van Lith (Louisville), Aneesah Morrow (DePaul)
The Tigers brought in an absolute haul from the transfer portal. They already entered 2023-24 as a top-three team with Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson returning as well as securing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. To then add players of the caliber of Van Lith and Morrow? Just ridiculous. Van Lith punches way over her weight on the court. The Tigers needed to add perimeter talent, and in Van Lith, they got a ballhandler, distributor, playmaker and scorer. She also brings a dose of experience and swagger that will fit in perfectly. Seeing how Morrow slots in beside Reese and what it means for the distribution of shot attempts for each will be interesting, but the flip side is that the Tigers have absolute backbreakers at every position who will be able to attack defenses in their own ways (while wreaking havoc on defense, too). Take away Reese, and Morrow will destroy you. Pack it in the paint, and Van Lith will cook. Try to sell out on offense, and Johnson will destroy in transition. It’s hard to say what exactly LSU will look like, but talent wins, and there isn’t another starting five in the country with the experienced talent of the Tigers.
oh it’s UP.🤪 https://t.co/zw0Sp4SIx5
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) April 27, 2023
Added: Lauren Betts (Stanford)
Even before Betts committed, the Bruins were in great shape heading into the 2023-24 season with Charisma Osborne and Cam Brown opting to use their COVID-19 years to return to Westwood. But then UCLA snagged 6-foot-7 Betts out of the portal, boosting an already tough interior presence, and the Bruins became a squad we’ve got to pencil in for the Final Four. Betts gives coach Cori Close lineup options as the Bruins will be able to run really big with her, Lina Sontag (6-3) and Emily Bessoir (6-4) as well as 6-4 freshman Amanda Muse, or they can go smaller with Betts’ length occupying the middle solo.
Added: Celeste Taylor (Duke)
What a perfect fit in Columbus for both Taylor and the Buckeyes. The reigning ACC defensive player of the year gives the Buckeyes another weapon to bolster a defense that had its ups and downs last season but was often a force with which to be reckoned. With Taylor joining the likes of Jacy Sheldon (who opted to use her COVID-19 year), reigning Big Ten freshman of the year Cotie McMahon and Taylor Thierry, the Buckeyes might just be the early conference front-runners.
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Added: Te-Hina Paopao (Oregon), Sakima Walker (Northwest Florida State College)
These first four teams show that adding even a single great player to an already strong roster is all a team really needs to be a winner in the transfer portal wars. In Columbia, there’s going to be a ton of turnover, and though the players who have been waiting in the wings are more than ready for the spotlight, coach Dawn Staley was smart to add a veteran perimeter presence like Paopao to help ease this transition. She’s a strong guard with an ability to create and distribute, and she’ll stretch the floor with her 42 percent 3-point shooting. A Paopao-Raven Johnson-Bree Hall backcourt will be a fun one that can make a lot of noise in the SEC as incoming freshmen Milaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson — both top-25 recruits — will compete for backcourt minutes, too. Walker was a bit of surprise addition for many. The 6-5 senior, who played for Rutgers before juco Northwest Florida State, averaged 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. She’ll give the Gamecocks an ability to play big, and the potential two-player game between Walker and Kamilla Cardoso could be so dangerous in the SEC. But she also boosts the defense, where it looks like the Gamecocks will be building an absolute wall around the bucket yet again.
blessed & excited for the journey ahead ‼️
go gamecocks ! ❤️
“Do not remember the former things I am gonna do a NEW and GREAT THING .” Isaiah 43:18 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/Fcg8p5xafN
— 👑🇦🇸🇹🇰 (@tehinapaopao12) April 25, 2023
Added: Rose Micheaux (Minnesota), Matilda Ekh (Michigan State), Olivia Summiel (Wake Forest)
Kenny Brooks might not have added the kind of big names as other portal winners, but he did an excellent job filling areas of need with solid players who should keep the Hokies in Elite Eight contention, especially with Elizabeth Kitley opting to return. Micheaux and Summiel bring size to the Virginia Tech frontcourt, and their arrivals will help the Hokies replace Taylor Soule’s production on the inside. With Kayana Traylor gone, Ekh’s 39 percent 3-point shooting should help them stretch the floor while also providing a bit more length on the perimeter (Ekh is 6 foot).
Added: Lexi Donarski (Iowa State), Indya Nivar (Stanford), Maria Gakdeng (Boston College)
Kennedy Todd-Williams, who departed the Tar Heels for Ole Miss, was one of the more surprising transfer entrants, but coach Courtney Banghart reloaded with three impressive additions for UNC. Donarski, a former Big 12 defensive player of the year, and Nivar, a North Carolina native whose skill set went underutilized at Stanford last season, will bring depth to the perimeter on both ends of the floor following Todd-Williams’ departure and Eva Hodgson’s graduation. At 6-3, Gakdeng should help on the glass, especially offensively. Banghart already had a more than solid base with Deja Kelly, Alyssa Ustby and Kayla McPherson, but to add these three transfers as well as three top-100 recruits — including No. 4 Ciera Toomey (6-3) — gets UNC into the top-10 conversation.
Added: Endyia Rogers (Oregon), Lauren Ware (Arizona)
Joni Taylor’s first year in College Station wasn’t great. The Aggies went 9-20 and won only two SEC games. Taylor already signed three top-100 recruits in the 2023 class, so the 2023-24 season was looking up, but then she absolutely crushed it in portal recruiting by landing these two players. Rogers, the Texas native who’s returning home after first making stops in Los Angeles and Eugene, Ore., will give Texas A&M a huge boost on the perimeter where the Aggies desperately needed some experience in terms of scoring and ball handling — Rogers is that. And Ware is a perfect fit for a team that finished in the bottom third nationally on the glass, and she’ll be the anchor in the paint on both ends of the floor.
Key Losses: Morrow (LSU), Darrione Rogers (TBD), Kendall Holmes (South Dakota)
The reality is that the transfer portal is going to change the way mid-majors, especially high mid-majors, function (and for the sake of this discussion, that includes basically every program outside UConn in the Big East). So for a team like DePaul, departures always will be a possibility. With Morrow and Rogers gone, DePaul lost more than half of its scoring, more than a third of its rebounding and nearly half of its assists. Holmes is another big hit to the Blue Demons considering she was the third-leading scorer behind Morrow and Rogers, and the team’s best deep threat.
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Key Losses: Betts (UCLA), Nivar (UNC), Agnes Emma-Nnopu (TCU)
With Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel and Fran Belibi having either joined the WNBA or exhausted their eligibility, there were going to be available minutes during the 2023-24 season. However, Betts, Nivar and Emma-Nnopu aren’t going to be at Stanford to take them. The Cardinal can’t use the portal in the same way as other programs because of their academic standards, so Stanford will operate with a short roster next season, and you’ve got to think there will be plenty of times (at least once in conference when the Cardinal and Bruins play) when Stanford might wish a couple of these players were still in Palo Alto.
Key losses: Paopao (South Carolina), Endyia Rogers (TBD)
UCLA appears primed to be the Pac-12 favorite next season, but after the Bruins, there is quite a bit of room at the top of the league. At this point, teams other than Stanford and Oregon — given these departures — seem to have better personnel to get there. Last season, Rogers and Paopao played the most minutes per game and led the Ducks in assists while finishing first and third in scoring. Expect Grace VanSlooten and Chance Gray, who were both named to the All-Pac-12 freshman team, to make big jumps as sophomores, but Oregon will be hurting without its veteran backcourt.
Key losses: Taylor (Ohio State), Shayeann Day-Wilson (Miami), Jordyn Oliver (Vanderbilt)
Taylor led the Blue Devils in scoring and steals, had the second-most assists and rebounds and was their best high-percentage 3-point shooter, while Day-Wilson led Duke in assists and was its third-leading scorer. And for a defensive team that averaged only 64 points a game, losing those kinds of contributors is not a great recipe for success.
With Elizabeth Balogun having exhausted her eligibility, the Blue Devils will return just two starters next season (Reigan Richardson and Kennedy Brown). Kara Lawson brought in two players — 6-5 grad transfer Camilla Emsbo (from Yale) and freshman guard Taina Mair (from Boston College) — but she’ll likely find herself relying on some young talent considering the Blue Devils signed three top-30 recruits, including the No. 3 player in the class, Jadyn Donovan.
Key losses: Diamond Johnson (TBD), Camille Hobby (Illinois), Jakia Brown-Turner (Maryland)
The Wolfpack will look completely different next season. With Johnson, Hobby and Brown-Turner departing through the portal and Jada Boyd graduating this spring, this team loses four starters and its four top scorers. Wes Moore brings in four top-75 players, including the No. 9 Zoe Brooks, but there’s a lot of turnover in a season where — like the Pac-12 — there might be an obvious favorite but also a lot of room for teams to find success.
Key losses: Lauren Ware (Texas A&M), Lauren Fields (West Virginia), Madi Conner (TCU), Lemyah Hylton (Miami), Paris Clark (Virginia)
Ware and Fields were almost certain to be starters next season, and Conner would’ve been a top rotational player while freshmen Hylton and Clark are both former top-100 recruits. That’s a lot of talent, both in terms of instant-impact and growing-within-the-program players, to lose in a single offseason. Adia Barnes didn’t hit the transfer portal as hard as last season, even to replace this talent, so it seems as though she’s going to look to invest heavily in her returning players and especially her freshman class, which has three top-25 players. That might be a winning long-term strategy, but it might mean a rough 2023-24 season.
Key additions: Kiki Jefferson (JMU), Jayda Curry (Cal), Nina Rickards (Florida)
Key losses: Van Lith (LSU), Payton Verhulst (Oklahoma), Zyanna Walker (Kansas State), Jalyn Brown (Arizona State)
It’s hard to know where to place Louisville just yet. Verhulst was a midseason transfer, and Van Lith’s departure shocked many as it seemed she basically had the keys to the car at Louisville. In addition to those two, the Cardinals lost freshmen Walker and Brown, two former top-100 recruits who would’ve been able to grow within the program. But coach Jeff Walz has shown he can be an uber-effective portal recruiter, and he did it again. Jefferson was the Sun Belt player of the year after averaging 18.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Curry is a former Pac-12 freshman of the year (2022) who averaged 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Rickards comes to Louisville with four years of starting experience at Florida. Without Van Lith, the Cardinals will look and operate differently than the last three seasons. Whether that’s a plus or minus for the Cardinals remains to be seen.
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(Photo of Hailey Van Lith: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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Chantel Jennings is The Athletic’s senior writer for the WNBA and women’s college basketball. She covered college sports for the past decade at ESPN.com and The Athletic and spent the 2019-20 academic year in residence at the University of Michigan’s Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalists. Follow Chantel on Twitter @chanteljennings
