The NCAA’s determination to open the switch portal the day after Choice Sunday has grow to be certainly one of faculty basketball’s hottest subjects. It decimated some males’s rosters to the purpose that these faculties determined to not compete within the NIT. Not less than a few girls’s packages have been in the identical predicament.
Whether or not it continues to open this early or the date is pushed again, one factor is evident: The gamers are prepared to maneuver on.
Greater than 1,000 gamers used the switch portal every of the previous two years, and earlier than play even begins within the Candy 16 on Friday, greater than 650 gamers are in it this spring. The influence is huge all through the game, however the switch portal’s influence on this NCAA event is blended. Whereas the rotations at LSU and Baylor are full of transfers, groups comparable to UConn, Stanford, Iowa, Gonzaga, Oregon State and Notre Dame are principally homegrown.
The SEC has been hit hardest by influence defections thus far. Six of the highest 10 transfers have left Arkansas and Kentucky. Fortuitously for the Razorbacks, coach Mike Neighbors can also be bringing in a participant from this record.
The portal will proceed to swell as extra groups are eradicated from the NCAA event. This record will change and broaden together with it — and we’ll observe the most important transfers all offseason. For now, listed here are the highest 10 gamers within the switch portal.
1. Kaitlyn Chen, 5-9, G, Sr., Princeton Tigers
The precedent has been set. Abby Meyers at Maryland and McKenzie Forbes (Harvard), Kayla Padilla (Penn) and Kaitlyn Davis (Columbia) at USC are all Ivy League grad transfers who’ve made an influence in a significant convention. With the Ivy not permitting gamers who’ve graduated to proceed enjoying, Chen made it clear she plans to play after Princeton, and he or she has been within the portal for the reason that fall. The 2023 Ivy League Participant of the Yr and help chief this season, Chen might step into any contender’s backcourt and improve its playmaking.
2. Ajae Petty, 6-3, F, Sr., Kentucky Wildcats
Veteran departures from the Wildcats’ roster got here rapidly after coach Kyra Elzy was fired. Petty, who made vital enchancment from final 12 months (5.7 PPG to 14.7 PPG) and was enjoying her greatest basketball on the finish of the season, ranked third within the SEC in rebounding (10.6 RPG) and fourth in subject purpose share (50.7%). With extra expertise round her, Petty, who started her profession at LSU, might be even higher.
3. Taliah Scott, 5-9, G, Fr., Arkansas Razorbacks
With 29 and 25 factors in her first two faculty video games, Scott was in the identical dialog as JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Madison Booker. The scoring remained (22.1 PPG), however the effectivity dipped and the turnovers rose. Accidents value Scott some video games in January, after which she ended her season in mid-February, citing household causes earlier than leaving this system altogether.
4. Saylor Poffenbarger, 6-2, G, Soph., Arkansas Razorbacks
Like Scott, Poffenbarger entered the portal final Monday, the day it opened. The SEC’s second-leading rounder (behind Angel Reese) at 11.2 RPG and the nation’s second-leading defensive rebounder (9.4), she will probably be transferring to her third college (she performed 12 video games at UConn in 2021). Her offensive manufacturing light on the finish of the season (7.0 PPG within the final eight video games), however Poffenbarger can also be a strong defender who has two extra years of eligibility.
5. Maddie Scherr, 5-10, G, Sr., Kentucky Wildcats
An damage value Scherr the SEC event, and the teaching transfer prompted her to maneuver on from Lexington. Her 12.5 factors per recreation have been a profession excessive, however turnovers have been on the rise as Scherr’s capturing share dropped. Her versatility might make her a high-end third or fourth guard for a top-25 staff. The Kentucky native started her profession with two years at Oregon earlier than her two with the Wildcats.
6. Eniya Russell, 6-0, G, Sr., Kentucky Wildcats
Russell’s departure completes the huge turnover at Kentucky. Her profession by no means received off the bottom at South Carolina, however she broke out in her second 12 months with Kentucky, averaging 10.1 factors and three.6 rebounds per recreation.
7. Mama Dembele, 5-6, G, Sr., Missouri Tigers
Dedicated to South Florida
Dembele’s first three years at Missouri produced little, however scoring (10.2 PPG) and assists (6.5 APG) greater than doubled this season. Her assists and steals (3.3 SPG) have been every good for sixth within the nation, and Dembele made the SEC all-defensive staff. Her outdoors capturing has improved however continues to be a gap in Dembele’s recreation. She might want to take higher care of the ball at her subsequent cease (3.4 turnovers per recreation).
8. Kailyn Gilbert, 5-8, G, Soph., Arizona Wildcats
The place Gilbert finally ends up will probably be one of many fascinating tales of the switch season. As she was main the Wildcats in scoring (15.1 PPG), Gilbert was additionally overtly expressing her disdain for protection. Ultimately, that and her ball dominance grew to become an excessive amount of, and Gilbert and Arizona parted methods in February. It may not assist Gilbert’s marketability that the Wildcats received higher after she left. If her method adjustments, the expertise is there to make a big effect for the subsequent two years.
9. Izzy Higginbottom, 5-7, G, Jr., Arkansas State Pink Wolves
Dedicated to Arkansas
The one influence participant to select a brand new college already, Higginbottom stays in state, going from the Solar Belt to the SEC. She started her profession at Missouri, however did not make an influence. Two years later she grew to become top-of-the-line gamers within the Solar Belt. Her 22.1 factors per recreation symbolize a virtually seven-point enchancment. Her 36.8 3-point share may also be a welcomed asset in Neighbors’ system. The addition of Higginbottom lessens the blow of dropping Scott, two scoring-minded smaller guards.
10. Terren Ward, 5-11, G, Sr., Georgia Southern Eagles
After 4 years with the Eagles, Ward is probably going trying to step to a bigger league. She completed second to Higginbottom in Solar Belt scoring at 22.0 factors per recreation, led the league with 9.1 rebounds and even shot 41.8 % from 3-point vary. A two-time Solar Belt first-team choice, Ward might need been on the transfer as a grad switch anyway, however when Eagles coach Anita Howard was let go, seven Georgia Southern gamers entered the portal.