Navigating The Women’s Basketball Portal

It has only been roughly 72 hours since the women’s basketball transfer portal opened and already big names from across the country have entered to see where their stock might land them in the conversation and landscape of college hoops. According to On3.com which has a live tracker, as of yesterday, there are 941 active players in the women’s basketball transfer portal.

Top Transfer Portal Watch List

Perhaps the most interesting portal names currently are Ta’Niya Latson (Florida State), Cotie McMahon (Ohio State), Gianna Kneepkens (Utah), Serah Williams (Wisconsin), Kiyomi McMiller (Rutgers) and Jada Williams (Arizona).

Perhaps the two most surprising portal entries are juniors Ta’Niya Latson and Cotie McMahon. Latson is the 2025 national regular season leading scorer with 25.2 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and shooting 45.1%. Latson is also a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, John R. Wooden Award, Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, as well as being a WBCA All-American this season. Latson and the Seminoles lost in the second round of the tournament to LSU, but in the loss Latson put up 30 points and 7 rebounds.

Forward Cotie McMahon has been the definition of consistency in the Big 10. The past three seasons at OSU she has averaged 15.1, 14.4, and 16.5 points per game. This season McMahon was named to the Big 10 All-First Team as well as a Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 Finalist. In her final game in a Buckeye uniform, McMahon scored 17 points and had five rebounds in the second round tournament loss to Tennessee.

According to EJ Arrow, a national and international women’s basketball scout, evaluator, and women’s hoops writer, “Ta’Niya Latson and Cotie McMahon have proved themselves over the past few years (at FSU & OSU) as some of the most elite hoopers and can enter the portal and reap the benefits of pretty much having their choice of school and a sizable NIL package.”

Another guard that is available now in the portal that could be a contributor for a team is junior Gianna Kneepkens. Kneepkens averaged 19.3 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and shooting 50.4% for the season. In the Utes’ NCAA first round loss to Indiana, Kneepkens led all scorers with 24 points. Again, Kneepkens entering the portal is big news as she was nominated for the illustrious Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Ann Meyers Drysdale Awards for this season.

For junior forward Serah Williams who averaged 19.2 points per game, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and was incredibly efficient, shooting 49.3%, her portal entry has already gained attention from big teams still playing and dancing in the NCAA tournament as it is rumored that UConn and LSU have shown immense interest in adding her to their rosters. Whatever team adds Williams will be acquiring a defensive talent as Williams was the 2024 Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year, as well as earning First Team All Conference and Defensive Honors this season.

Kiyomi McMiller, a five star recruit out of high school and McDonald’s All-American nominee is looking to take her talents to another level after a spectacular freshman season. McMiller averaged 18.7 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, 3 assists and shooting 41.5%. However, it was noted throughout the season that McMiller dealt with off-court issues and turmoil with the coaching staff at Rutgers missing games throughout the season for team matters.

Jada Williams is a sophomore guard who averaged 12.7 points per game this season, 13.4 points per game in conference matchups, and led her team with 2.9 assists her game and was a member of the Pac-12 All-Freshman team last year. Per Williams’ personal Instagram page, today she visited Iowa which could mean that the Hawkeyes land a seasoned point guard out of the portal two years in a row. This year the Hawkeyes were led by Villanova point guard transfer who stepped in and replaced Caitlin Clark at the helm of the team, averaging 17.9 points per game, 3.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and shooting 43.6%.

Reasons Behind the Influx of Transfer Portal Entries

For Arrow, this influx of portal activity could be for a multitude of reasons, “So every player has their own reasons behind it [entering the portal]. Some players didn’t receive ample playing time or the playing time they felt they deserved, so they’ve chosen to seek out an opportunity at a new school. For others, maybe it wasn’t their right fit. Perhaps they didn’t feel supported by the program or felt their role was diminished on the team. Sometimes there’s a coaching change and because that player was recruited by the coach who will no longer be there, the player has a change of heart and enters the portal.”

However, he did situate for Power4 players it is about NIL money and the chance to win a championship, stating, “More recently, I’ve found that the two biggest factors, especially for some of the biggest names, is NIL money and building a “super team” to ultimately win a National Championship. Big players in the portal this year like Ta’Niya Latson and Cotie McMahon have proved themselves over the past few years (at FSU & OSU) as some of the most elite hoopers and can enter the portal and reap the benefits of pretty much having their choice of school and a sizable NIL package. So the process is definitely unique to every player’s specific situation.”

Top Coaches Critique Transfer Portal Timing

Since the transfer portal opened on Tuesday, March 25 several of the game’s top coaches have been highly critical of the timing of the portal timeframe given its overlap with March Madness. Today in his press conference before his regional game tonight in Spokane, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma expressed the difficulty of managing preparation of his team and staff for the tournament but also needing to explore transfer and portal options. He said, “There’s just a lot of things going on right now that take away some of the focus of the players, some of the focus of the coaches. The portal has become a big cloud that hangs over everything.”

Auriemma continued comparing the transfer portal in its current state to free agency, “Do you think the NBA will ever have open free agency during the NBA Playoffs? I doubt that,” he said. “It’s got to be sometime after all this is over. It’s got to be when the schools have finished playing. There’s got to be some sort of way to track and monitor and penalize tampering like there is the NBA. There’s got to be a guideline of what you can do in free agency, which is basically what it is.”

Although on the other side of the country in the Birmingham regional, South Carolina’s head coach Dawn Staley also spoke up about the timing of the portal opening in conjunction with the tournament, “I think the timing is all screwed up. It really plays on your ability to compartmentalize. If you aren’t — I mean, most coaches are, but if you are not really good at it, it can sidetrack you. But for us, the main thing, the main thing at this point is trying to win another national championship.”

Similarly, Arrow feels that the portal opening and timing needs to be changed until after the tournament concludes. He expressed, “I wish it would wait until after March Madness is over. There’s enough chaos already with the NCAA Tournament, WBIT & WNIT all happening simultaneously. I just think it creates a mess of a situation where it seems like too much is happening all at once. There’s even instances where individuals who are still competing this time of year are entering the portal. I think waiting until the first week of April to officially “open the portal” would be beneficial for all parties.”

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