Five women's transfer portal winners and five prog…
Michael VoepelMay 6, 2026, 08:30 AM ET Close Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. Multiple Authors Oklahoma State lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to eventual champion…
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Michael Voepel
Multiple Authors
Oklahoma State lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to eventual champion UCLA on March 23. Then coach Jacie Hoyt had to count down to April 6, when the transfer portal opened.
“I’m not going to lie; there were a couple of dark days there,” Hoyt told ESPN. “Mostly because I’m very relationship-driven, and I knew players were leaving. At the same time, you can’t talk to the kids in the portal yet, but you know you’ve got a whole roster to fill.
“Then the first day of the portal [opening], I was pumped up. And for two weeks, it’s a grind: You can’t see or think straight. You’re just talking, talking, talking, hosting visits. And I think we batted close to 1.000 with the players that visited.”
That included center Audi Crooks, who chose Oklahoma State after three seasons at Iowa State. Crooks was No. 1 in ESPN’s transfer rankings, and she is staying in the same Big 12 Conference in which she’s been dominant. Liv McGill, one of the most dynamic guards in the country, is headed to Stillwater, Oklahoma, after two years at Florida. The duo combined to average 43.8 PPG this past season.
Mass departures from a program after a season are now the way of the world in college sports. If a program has NIL money and playing time available, it is in the portal game. And in a short time, some programs can go from the pain of losing several players to the portal prosperity of new talent coming in to immediately brighten the future.
That’s what Oklahoma State is experiencing now, and Hoyt has been through it all before, needing to restock nearly bare cupboards when she took the job in 2022. She has done it well enough to make the NCAA tournament three of her four seasons with the Cowgirls. Other programs, like coach Kim Caldwell’s Tennessee Lady Vols, also had a mass exodus after this past season, and hope the additions they have made will be enough.
“One thing about portal players is that they usually have a different maturity when they’re going through ‘recruiting’ the second time around,” Hoyt said. “They seem to have a much better understanding of what they’re looking for this time.”
We look at five programs that we think already can be declared winners in the transfer portal, and five for which the jury is still out about their portal pickups.
Transfer portal winners
Portal losses/gains: 9/8
Key additions: C Audi Crooks (Iowa State), G Liv McGill (Florida), G Nene Ndiaye (Rutgers), G Talexa Weeter (D-II Fort Hays State)
Sometimes players really do need to transfer to get playing time. For stars such as Crooks and McGill, that wasn’t an issue. Both left programs that had huge exoduses to join a program experiencing the same scenario.
The Cowgirls finished tied for fourth in the Big 12 last season, but Hoyt knew a lot of players would move on. She had recruited players like Crooks, so the coach had a prior relationship with them, which Hoyt said is “a huge head start” in the portal process. She also credited McGill, the SEC’s second-leading scorer, with making Oklahoma State a desirable destination for Big 12 scoring leader Crooks, who committed three days after McGill.
“She could have gone pretty much anywhere she wanted,” Hoyt said of McGill. “When Audi sees Liv going here, who wouldn’t want to play with her?”
Portal losses/gains: 4/3
Key additions: G Zamareya Jones (NC State), F Carys Baker (Virginia Tech), G Deniya Prawl (Tennessee)
The Cardinals didn’t need to add a huge portal class, but they got the transfers they wanted. NC State’s Jones and Virginia Tech’s Baker were double-digit scorers this past season and know the ACC very well. Prawl is a big guard who should fit Louisville’s system well and have a chance to play more. Louisville, which lost to Michigan in the Sweet 16 this past season, could be in the 2027 Final Four mix.
Portal losses/gains: 3/9
Key additions: G Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee), G Jaida Civil (Tennessee), G Jada Richard (LSU)
The Rebels have used the portal effectively before, including this past season with leading scorer Cotie McMahon, the No. 11 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft. Ole Miss and Tennessee were part of a four-way tie for sixth in the SEC at 8-8. The Rebels then lost in the NCAA tournament’s second round to Minnesota.
Now Ole Miss is looking to the portal again. Four of its transfers are from SEC schools, which always adds a little spice to those rivalries. Cooper — who led the Lady Vols in scoring, assists, steals and 3-pointers this past season — could be to the Rebels what McMahon was.
Portal losses/gains: 4/5
Key additions: F Lara Somfai (Stanford), G Jadyn Wooten (Oklahoma State), G Lanie Grant (North Carolina)
The Frogs might not have grabbed as big a headliner in the portal as they did in 2024 with Hailey Van Lith or in 2025 with Olivia Miles. But coming off back-to-back NCAA Elite Eight appearances and Big 12 regular-season titles led by transfers, TCU once again has bolstered its roster via the portal. That includes snagging point guard Wooten from Big 12 rival Oklahoma State.
5. UCLA Bruins
Portal losses/gains: 0/5
Key additions: F Addy Brown (Iowa State), G Elina Aarnisalo (North Carolina), G KK Bransford (Notre Dame), G Donovyn Hunter (TCU), G Bonnie Deas (Arkansas)
The national champions lost six players to the WNBA draft. Of those, four were transfers who didn’t start their college careers at UCLA but helped the Bruins win this year’s title. They leave huge shoes to fill, but the portal will help again. Brown, Aarnisalo, Hunter and Deas were double-digit scores this past season, and Brown also is a strong interior defender.
Other notable portal winners: Arizona State, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma
Jury is still out
Portal losses/gains: 8/13
Key additions: G Rylie Theuerkauf (Georgia), F Fatmata Janneh (Texas A&M), G Kaylene Smikle (Maryland), G Harissoum Coulibaly (Auburn)
The buzz in Knoxville is “clean slate.” Coach Kim Caldwell, who in 2025 made the Sweet 16 in her first season at the Tennessee helm, found herself in a program meltdown in 2026.
Tennessee limped into the NCAA tournament on a seven-game losing streak, then dropped an eighth straight with a 15-point first-round loss to NC State. Those 2025-26 Lady Vol players have transferred or exhausted their eligibility. A completely new Tennessee team will take the floor this fall. We’ve never seen anything like it before with this program, which has won eight NCAA titles.
How much can this new group of players be motivated by Tennessee’s glorious past, and how much might they be trapped by it? Caldwell has stressed that she wants players who will play hard knowing they represent Tennessee’s tradition. Her high-tempo system works best with that kind of motivated competitor. But in the talent-rich SEC, the hard truth comes down to this: Will they be good enough?
Caldwell has brought in a mix of players from big and smaller conferences. Theuerkauf, Smikle, Janneh and Coulibaly are the most proven scorers from the Power Four leagues. Attitude and discipline will be paramount for this team.
Portal losses/gains: 10/9
Key additions: G Kiyomi McMiller (Penn State), G Moriah Murray (Penn State), F Vivian Iwuchukwu (USC), F Mallory Miller (Butler)
New coach Tammi Reiss will try to revitalize a program that has made the NCAA tournament just once in the past decade and hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 1998. One player — forward Jade Weathersby — returns from this past season’s team that finished 18-15 overall and 5-12 in the SEC. So like Caldwell, Reiss virtually has a clean slate. But there isn’t the same external pressure; any success Reiss has will be breakthrough for the Gators.
McMiller is a talented player still trying to find the right fit after averaging 18.7 PPG as a freshman at Rutgers and 21.6 as a sophomore at Penn State. Reiss said she envisions Iwuchukwu blossoming with more playing time than she got at USC.
Reiss’ enthusiasm is second to none — it’s a big part of her coaching personality — but she and her staff will have to do a lot of teaching and team-building while competing in the always tough SEC.
Portal losses/gains: 9/9
Key additions: G Jailyn Banks (Belmont), G Jordana Codio (Seton Hall), G Milan Brown (Wake Forest)
After Georgia went 22-10 and lost in the NCAA tournament’s first round, the program parted with coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson after four seasons. The Lady Bulldogs now are rebuilding under Ayla Guzzardo, who came from McNeese State. Only two Georgia players have returned. Two transferred from McNeese State to follow Guzzardo, and Georgia has signed transfers from seven other programs to get to its current roster.
Georgia was once a perennial power but hasn’t advanced past the early rounds of the NCAA tournament since 2013 when Andy Landers was still coach. For Guzzardo to start to try to recapture Georgia’s status, this group of transfers needs to have some success.
Portal losses/gains: 9/6
Key additions: G Alex-Anne Bessette (Loyola), G Ashleigh Connor (LaSalle), G Mya Babbitt (Kent State), G Sienna Harvey (Washington)
This season, the Cyclones have felt the negative effects of the portal more than any typically successful program. Starters Audi Crooks, Addy Brown, Jada Williams and Kenzie Hare have transferred elsewhere. Just three players return from 2025-26, including only one starter: guard Arianna Jackson (6.8 PPG).
Iowa State has been a perennial NCAA tournament team; it has missed the field just twice since 2007. Bill Fennelly is one of the longest-tenured coaches in women’s basketball, taking over at Iowa State in 1995-96. He has been able to put together good teams without superstars over the years, and Iowa State can still add to the transfers it has. But the Cyclones are in a difficult place as part of an overall athletic department that is facing financial challenges.
Portal losses/gains: 7/1
Key additions: F Inés Sotelo (Michigan State)
For decades, players rarely transferred out of or into Stanford. The three-time national champion Cardinal were the standard-bearers for West Coast women’s basketball and recruited at the highest level. But the move to the ACC, coach Tara VanDerveer’s retirement and the transfer portal have taken a big toll on Stanford, which has missed the NCAA tournament the last two years.
The Cardinal currently have nine players on their roster. Five are returners, only one of whom — guard Hailee Swain –averaged double-figure scoring this past season. There are three incoming freshmen and one transfer. It’s challenging academically to get into Stanford, which limits the Cardinal’s transfer options. Still, in late April, coach Kate Paye referred to Sotelo as the “first of several transfer additions” that Stanford expects. It’s going to need them.
