Iowas transfer portal options? Van Lith to LSU?: Womens college basketball mailbag

May 08, 2024

Two weeks removed from the most exciting women’s NCAA Tournament in recent memory, LSU continues to make waves. The Tigers proved a team could win a title with a roster of mostly newcomers, and their model of team-building is here to stay thanks to the transfer portal.

As we settle into the offseason, transfers have kept the college basketball discussion alive during a historically slow news period. Player movement was the no. 1 topic of interest – and it wasn’t particularly close – when we solicited mailbag questions this week. Let’s get into those questions, along with some thoughts on how the NCAA can continue to capitalize on this year’s March Madness momentum.

If you’re a highly skilled and accomplished upper class post player, don’t you take the portal to Iowa so that you can play in the post with Caitlin Clark feeding you from the perimeter for one (or possibly two!) years? I would think Iowa and Lisa Bluder will have to turn away post applicants with Czinano graduating! — Kent P.

Any word on who Iowa might add in the portal with the recent opening now that Shateah Wetering is leaving? — Emily S.

Any chance Iowa gets Lauren Ware? — Jonathan P.

What top talent will consider Iowa at the portal? What need would they be most interested to fill? — Michael B.

There were several variations of this specific question, all dealing with who will fill the hole left by Monika Czinano in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes have been blessed with superb talent at the center position over the past eight years, with former player of the year Megan Gustafson ceding her role to Czinano. Caitlin Clark makes every big’s job easier, but assistant Jan Jensen’s tutelage has played a pivotal role for far longer in developing frontcourt players. Gustafson and Czinano were talented players in their own right; they were also placed in the perfect position to excel.

When looking at Iowa’s 2023-24 roster, the backcourt positions are set. Clark returns, along with Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin, and a trio of underclassmen guards (Sydney Affolter, Jana Gyamfi and Taylor McCabe) should be able to handle the backup perimeter minutes. However, rising sophomore Hannah Stuelke and rising junior Addison O’Grady are the frontcourt options to replace Czinano and McKenna Warnock, but neither has shown the capability to be as efficient as their predecessors. One would think that any big in the transfer portal would be dying to play with Clark, but Lauren Betts (Stanford) went to UCLA, Maria Gakdeng (Boston College) to UNC, Alanna Micheaux (Minnesota) to Virginia Tech and Camille Hobby (NC State) to Illinois, among others.

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If I were Iowa, I’d be less set on finding a center and more focused on finding a power forward to replicate Warnock’s skill set. There’s a better chance of O’Grady or Stuelke growing into an efficient paint scorer than providing Warnock’s spacing or defense. Lexi Donarski, an Iowa State transfer, is the player who would make the most sense to slide into Iowa’s starting lineup next year and make an immediate impact.

A little surprised at the number of transfers going out of Stanford, especially Lauren Betts. What do you make of it? — Jen A.

The new transfer rules make it so that any top program is at risk of losing young talent. In 2022, Saniya Rivers left South Carolina, and Mir McLean and Saylor Poffenbarger left UConn — and those two teams played for the national title. Seeing one player leave Stanford isn’t all that surprising.

Of course, the issue here is that three players are transferring from Stanford, including the No. 2 and No. 20 recruits in last year’s freshman class. What that suggests is the fissures that surfaced at the end of this Cardinal season were felt throughout the year. The rotation was simply too deep, and by favoring Talana Lepolo, Fran Belibi and Kiki Iriafen, Tara VanDerveer was bound to alienate some other players deeper on her bench. Betts and Indya Nivar ended up being left out, as did Agnes Emma-Ngopu.

Given the exodus from Oregon over the last two years and several transfers from Arizona, it’s also worth wondering if players no longer find the Pac-12 as appealing. The conference is near-impossible to see on television unless you subscribe to the Pac-12 Network, and the rumblings around a new TV contract aren’t exactly promising.

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The Big 12 has tried to poach teams in recent years, and the Big Ten just did, which clouds the future of the conference. Betts did stay in the Pac-12 for now, but she and UCLA will be in the Big Ten in a year and will have a much larger national footprint.

This was a season to celebrate with the aforementioned record viewership, attendance, etc. However, what are the next steps for the sport as a whole? If we set benchmarks a year from now, five years from now, and beyond that; what would those be? — Ben L.

Two major shifts should take place for women’s basketball in the coming years. The first is a new television deal for the NCAA Tournament, one that separates the women’s championship from the other college sports tournaments and allows it to be sold and valued on its own. Another is for programs in the women’s tournament to be compensated in “units” based on the games each conference plays, similar to the set-up in the men’s tournament. That would allow each conference to re-invest into its women’s basketball programs.

As far as benchmarks, it’s hard to know what the TV landscape will look like in five years, let alone beyond then. I’d love to predict a bigger figure than 9.9 million viewers watching the next title game, and I think it’ll get there, but what happens if Amazon or some other streaming service buys out the next tournament TV contract? A useful goal would be moving closer to equalizing basketball budgets at universities, so that female and male athletes have the same resources and opportunities.

UCLA now returns Charisma Osborne and is adding a former No. 1 and desperately needed size in Lauren Betts. How do you feel about its title chances going into next season and what holes does it still need to fill? — Jose H.

I ranked UCLA 12th in my too-early top 25 before the news dropped that Osborne was returning. That would have bumped the Bruins into the top 10. Adding Betts, which takes her away from conference rival Stanford, probably vaults UCLA to No. 7 on my preseason board. This team is deeeeep. The Bruins return every rotation player other than Gina Conti (who had the worst net rating on the team) and should expect significant improvement from six freshmen, plus a healthy season from Angela Dugalić, a five-star recruit for Oregon in the 2020 class.

Former Stanford center Lauren Betts — the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022 — will transfer to UCLA, she announced Tuesday.

Immediately, UCLA has perhaps the most intriguing collection of sophomores in the entire country, writes @benpickman.https://t.co/NgqTotbERc

— The Athletic WBB (@TheAthleticWBB) April 18, 2023

Finding minutes for everyone, along with a style of play that maximizes Betts, Emily Bessoir and fellow center Christeen Iwuala is going to be challenging. But this was a squad that struggled to get points in the paint, and Betts should address that from day one. The Bruins need to be more disciplined — only one team committed more fouls than UCLA last year — and improve their shooting from 3-point range, but the outlines of a title team are absolutely there if players can figure out their roles.

So how concerned should I be about the transfer situation at Duke? — William H.

I’m concerned. This is a team built on transfers, so Kara Lawson shouldn’t be surprised at players exercising their individual agency, but the departure of Celeste Taylor raises a major red flag after she specifically mentioned playing her final year at Duke when she elected not to declare for the WNBA Draft. Taylor was Duke’s heart and identity in 2022-23, so if she doesn’t want to finish her college career in Durham, why would anyone else?

Ohio State is coming off a highly successful season, including a 19-0 start, reaching #2 in the country, and knocking off UCONN in a run to the Elite Eight. With a strong core returning of Sheldon, McMahon, and Thierry, what does Ohio State need to round out the team and make a push for a conference title/Final Four appearance? — Alex P.

Cotie McMahon is my early pick for sophomore of the year after a phenomenal run through the postseason. She averaged 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game during the conference and NCAA Tournaments while canning 36 percent of her 3-pointers. It’s unclear how you stop an offensive force like McMahon, who can get to the basket at will and is already getting more comfortable with her jumper.

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McMahon’s superstar potential makes Ohio State a team to be reckoned with as is. The Buckeyes need a bigger presence at center because their paint defense was lacking — Lauren Ware could be a nice fit here — and they’ll need to replace Taylor Mikesell’s shooting. A full season from Jacy Sheldon should help, but Rikki Harris and incoming freshman Diana Collins will have to make progress on that front.

What should next season look like to build on the momentum of this season? A dominant team? A dominant player? Or would a wide-open top 10-15 teams be better? — Glenn B.

The 2022-23 season had all of the ingredients Glenn B. mentioned: one dominant team that everyone was chasing in South Carolina, a captivating star in Clark, and a crowded second tier of 10 teams that didn’t seem to have a lot of separation. That’s the ideal recipe for 2023-24. Clark will be back, LSU appears to be reloading (more on that in a second) to potentially take over the Gamecocks’ mantle, and there is a growing list of teams who would be disappointed to miss the Final Four. Goliaths are great for business, so long as there are several Davids standing in their way.

HVLSU – Thoughts? — Catherine B.

Translation for those not fluent in transfer portal code words: Hailey Van Lith to LSU?

LSU needs a point guard, and that has never really been Hailey Van Lith’s role, but perhaps this is her chance to showcase her playmaking chops before she goes pro. She’ll also get to square off against the best athletes in the country in the SEC to test her physicality. From a talent perspective, this is a no-brainer for LSU, and Van Lith can replicate Alexis Morris’ shot-making if not all of her creation.

The personality fit is also incredible. This would be one of the greatest trash-talking teams of all time.

(Photo of Lisa Bluder: Keith Gillett / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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