2025 Transfer Portal | Page 28 | The Boneyard

2025 Transfer Portal

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TheFarmFan said:
Yes - and no. Gottlieb's theory of game plan was, and I quote, "let JuJu be Juju." That would not have flown with Tara at Stanford, Geno at UConn, or Dawn at SCAR. You earn your playing time at those schools, or you transfer (see Betts, Lauren; Rivers, Saniya; and half of UConn's late 2010s classes).

I personally thought Iriafen regressed this season as she stagnated offensively and did not get appreciably better on defense. And I was shocked to hear her say in an interview after their Sweet 16 win, "this season has been so challenging for me." Between $700k in NIL and the bright lights of LA, what was challenging? Maybe, just maybe, an unhelpful coaching dynamic and the recognition she was not actually growing as a player.

Can't speak to Heckel or Howell, but I have always thought Gottlieb is a bad choice if you want to develop as a player. Nice coach and a great human being, though.
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I do and do not blame Gottlieb for these events. She is a coach players can develop their game under. Rayah Marshall is a perfect example of someone whose game improved quite nicely over her 4 years there. At the same time, I agree with all those who think the departures are an inevitable consequence of the ‘Juju show.’ Letting Juju be Juju looks like a weak coaching move.

But did Gottlieb have much choice in this? Once she’d recruited Juju, her hands were tied. Last year, other than Juju, she had assembled another USC roster that wouldn’t have been ranked in the top 20 or made the Sweet Sixteen. Forbes and Marshall alone, while solid players, were not going to carry them any farther, if they even got that far. But with Juju, USC became a national power, albeit a fragile one that couldn’t grow into anything given its reliance on portal players.

This is why Gottlieb’s next recruiting class was so stunning. She seemed on the verge of transforming a one-hit wonder into a perennial powerhouse with the addition of only one portal star, Iriafen. From this perspective, and in hindsight, adding Von Oelhoffen was a mistake. Maybe Gottlieb couldn’t have known it in advance, but she already had the core of a workable backcourt in her freshmen. In effect, she ended up creating too much competition for the players who could have the been the foundation of her backcourt going forward: Samuels, Howell, Heckel. And those two couldn’t have predicted that Von Oelhoffen would bolt from Ore St when they committed.

Could a relatively new coach in Gottlieb’s position have resisted recruiting Juju, or resisted giving her the keys to the team? It’s easy for us to see the consequences of this decision for her program and criticize her now. Adding Iriafen was probably a good move — who could resist that as well? But it wasn’t likely to help build a team culture that might ground a program for years or even decades. Hanging on to her freshmen was key and doing anything to drive them away is regrettable.

Team culture is the most important thing a coach has to attend to if she wants to create a program and not just a team. This is one of the things that drew us to admire Geno and UConn. Even we appreciate the culture he’s built, and we’re just observing from a distance. Imagine the impact it has on the young people who sign on for it. Even in the lean years, they come to love their team and their teammates. They may not always win NCs, but when they do it grows out of this foundation. And when the players move on to populate the W, it’s because the culture made it possible for them to learn the game together.

So, it’s a mixed picture with Gottlieb. Marshall developed into a solid player and a possible draft pick. But Juju is unlikely to change her game much in her four years. Worse yet, Heckel and Howell had no confidence the program they experienced as freshman would do enough for them. We saw similar things at UConn when McLean and Poffenbarger didn’t think Geno could help them realize their dreams. But their decisions didn’t look like an indictment of the culture at Storrs. By contrast, many here are inclined to think the departures at USC are exactly that.
 
yhun89 said:
Even if the article was semi-true, Miles wouldn't be a good fit here, given her "hero ball" mentality that developed at the end of the season. Geno would not put up with Miles driving the lane on a 6'2 shot blocking big instead of kicking the ball out. Or trying for flashy, highlight layups when the team is down 4 in the last quarter.

Unless he can knock that mentality out of her, she would not fit in here as a Paige replacement per se.
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I think Miles had a really nice season coming back from injury, with the exception of the last few games when she and her ND teammates imploded.
 
yhun89 said:
Even if the article was semi-true, Miles wouldn't be a good fit here, given her "hero ball" mentality that developed at the end of the season. Geno would not put up with Miles driving the lane on a 6'2 shot blocking big instead of kicking the ball out. Or trying for flashy, highlight layups when the team is down 4 in the last quarter.

Unless he can knock that mentality out of her, she would not fit in here as a Paige replacement per se.
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If anyone can knock that mentality out of her, it would be Gino. I believe they would be an understanding before she ever signed here. However, I do believe she is Plan B. I would rather go for the big from Wisconsin first.
 
oldude said:
This idea of Miles to UConn has been posted in both “clickbait” publications (SI, Sporting News, Yahoo Sports) as well as legitimate newspapers (NY Times & USA Today). As best I can tell it’s totally based on speculation that makes the case that with Paige moving on, Miles would be an ideal replacement as the Huskies next pg.
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After being the good soldier behind Chen this year, this would be great for KK Arnold's confidence wouldn't it? A reward for doing things the right way and being a backbone of your defense. Not to mention team chemistry. I'll be hoping TCU, USC, or somebody else can come up with enough $$ to buy Miles.
 
BobbyJ said:
After being the good soldier behind Chen this year, this would be great for KK Arnold's confidence wouldn't it? A reward for doing things the right way and being a backbone of your defense. Not to mention team chemistry. I'll be hoping TCU, USC, or somebody else can come up with enough $$ to buy Miles.
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Not to mention being a pretty big roadblock to PT for incoming freshman Kellis Fisher.
 
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I don’t believe it for a second, but I can see why Miles might seem useful to Geno. Mainly, it would take some pressure off Azzi, and Olivia might find Azzi to be a more collegial teammate than Hannah. Fortunately, Geno has other moves he can and probably should make. If the current injuries are resolved before November, Morgan and Caroline might make the addition of Miles less urgent than allowing KK to develop naturally. Nothing gets built by adding Miles, but Geno has lots of bricks to build something without adding her.
 
oldude said:
Not to mention being a pretty big roadblock to PT for incoming freshman Kellis Fisher.
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Maybe not so much with that, I doubt there's going to be much of that anyways.
 
I don't see Miles coming to UConn. She is talented, yes. But she has a "hero ball" mentality. That doesn't fly with UConn.

It would also be a bad move for KK. She started her freshman year and did well. This year with Chen coming in, she was the first guard off the bench. Bringing in Miles would not be a good message for KK.

UConn doesn't need any more guards. And Geno is very selective on transfers.
 
TheFarmFan said:
Yes - and no. Gottlieb's theory of game plan was, and I quote, "let JuJu be Juju." That would not have flown with Tara at Stanford, Geno at UConn, or Dawn at SCAR. You earn your playing time at those schools, or you transfer (see Betts, Lauren; Rivers, Saniya; and half of UConn's late 2010s classes).

I personally thought Iriafen regressed this season as she stagnated offensively and did not get appreciably better on defense. And I was shocked to hear her say in an interview after their Sweet 16 win, "this season has been so challenging for me." Between $700k in NIL and the bright lights of LA, what was challenging? Maybe, just maybe, an unhelpful coaching dynamic and the recognition she was not actually growing as a player.

Can't speak to Heckel or Howell, but I have always thought Gottlieb is a bad choice if you want to develop as a player. Nice coach and a great human being, though.
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She kinda did the same when Anigwe was at Cal....everything went through her to the detriment of the overall team. When she bailed (late) from Cal the team had sort of disintegrated...She is a very nice person though. Always liked her aside from being disappointed in the way she left.
 
This portal animal needs taming. Not in terms of eliminating it, but the timing. It may be amusing, but it’s also distracting and almost as big of a draw as …the Final Four. Doesn’t seem fair to the teams still in the tourney. If possible, maybe withhold commitments until after the title game? I don’t know…just seems afoul on many levels to me.
 
TheFarmFan said:
Yes - and no. Gottlieb's theory of game plan was, and I quote, "let JuJu be Juju." That would not have flown with Tara at Stanford, Geno at UConn, or Dawn at SCAR. You earn your playing time at those schools, or you transfer (see Betts, Lauren; Rivers, Saniya; and half of UConn's late 2010s classes).

I personally thought Iriafen regressed this season as she stagnated offensively and did not get appreciably better on defense. And I was shocked to hear her say in an interview after their Sweet 16 win, "this season has been so challenging for me." Between $700k in NIL and the bright lights of LA, what was challenging? Maybe, just maybe, an unhelpful coaching dynamic and the recognition she was not actually growing as a player.

Can't speak to Heckel or Howell, but I have always thought Gottlieb is a bad choice if you want to develop as a player. Nice coach and a great human being, though.
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I'm sure Juju Watkins "earned her playing time" at USC by stepping on the court at practice and immediately being the best player on the floor on day 1. it would be no different at those other programs.
 
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LwrcasefaN said:
This portal animal needs taming. Not in terms of eliminating it, but the timing. It may be amusing, but it’s also distracting and almost as big of a draw as …the Final Four. Doesn’t seem fair to the teams still in the tourney. If possible, maybe withhold commitments until after the title game? I don’t know…just seems afoul on many levels to me.
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I know what you mean. Maybe the way to tame it is to move the window back, not forward. Require players to commit earlier in the season, before the tournaments, not later. Maybe make the month of January the portal window, or February.
 
Bone Dog said:
I know what you mean. Maybe the way to tame it is to move the window back, not forward. Require players to commit earlier in the season, before the tournaments, not later. Maybe make the month of January the portal window, or February.
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If it works, I’m all in. I haven’t put any deep thought into an actual process…just going on a feeling. My one beer during this time period isn’t as satisfying anymore. Now I’m up to two. lol
 
Bone Dog said:
I

Team culture is the most important thing a coach has to attend to if she wants to create a program and not just a team. This is one of the things that drew us to admire Geno and UConn. Even we appreciate the culture he’s built, and we’re just observing from a distance. Imagine the impact it has on the young people who sign on for it. Even in the lean years, they come to love their team and
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Absolutely!

And I think this is why the hand ringing about nil transfer portal is over done. The vast majority of basketball particularly the local level is not P4 or elite. As I've watched NAU, Grand Canyon, the local community college I'm able to see athletes engaged in sport and various levels of successful coaching and creating culture.

The vast vast majority of participants in women's college basketball and the fans of those teams will be marginally impacted or not impacted at all. We still have the opportunity to see varying levels of achievement of team culture under coaches working with athletes.

The analogy I think of is first world problems. These are first world issues for the top 25 programs of P4 conferences but the 80% of the athletes who are not in those arenas are unaffected. So the moral to that story is if you like your old time rock and roll you can still find Old Time basket ball it may not be on TV but you can go down to the gym to see it.
 
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Bone Dog said:
I know what you mean. Maybe the way to tame it is to move the window back, not forward. Require players to commit earlier in the season, before the tournaments, not later. Maybe make the month of January the portal window, or February.
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That sounds like the old system binding players to their current teams for a year, and a class action suit waiting to happen.
 
Ralph said:
I think this current year may be the last fun year for me watching women's basketball. Best coaching will not matter. Who has the most bucks to throw around. I am getting really scared waiting to see if anyone on our team announces after the season that they got an offer for $2,000,000 and could not afford to turn it down. Just holding my breath. But even if we keep everyone, I see a lot of schools with big bucks who will grab all the best players from all the other teams. No mid major will keep their best players. Even the schools in the SEC or Big10, if you are not a top school with big bucks say good bye. See Vanderbilt. The only good news seems to be a lot of players are fed up with the stars who insist the game is about them. See what is happening at USC and Notre Dame. I think that is what Paige has been fighting against her whole time at UConn. It can't be about me, it has to be about the team. That is how you build lasting friendships and happy teammates who all work together. We get players like Diana who is great, but averages around 17 points, or Breanna who averages under 20 and Paige who is under 20. When you have 5 really good players on the floor, no one should average over 20 for the season. Only in crunch time does Paige now realize she has to take over, especially if Azzi is having an off night shooting. I really think Paige would love it if Azzi shot 10 for 12 from long range in our upcoming game and Paige scored 12, as long as we win. That is what most makes her great. Hopefully everyone on our team loves their teammates, loves the atmosphere, and of course most all they love the Boneyard and our support and outstandingly helpful criticism and other comments and no amount of money could lure them away.
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Like you, I am concerned about what's happening in Womens College BB, but it's just a logical consequence of what has been happening in Mens, and other college sports as we experience the demise of the true student athlete and go to the era of the mercenary for hire. Fortunately, UConn, under Geno, will always be old school and continue with the emphasis on education and the college experience. I believe we can hang with him and enjoy the new competitive challenges. If, however, the NCAA decides that Women can be one and done like the Men, we are doomed.
 
oldude said:
That sounds like the old system binding players to their current teams for a year, and a class action suit waiting to happen.
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That there's a portal window at all is a class action suit waiting to happen. Why should there be any restrictions? If the argument the NCAA would make is that it's "in the interest of the sport and the athletes" any particular date could be argued for under such reasoning. Eventually, this sort of argument will lose its credibility.
 
southie said:
Lots of posters refuse to add emojis to their supposed sarcastic comments. The rest of us are supposed to be mind-readers. :D
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I, for one, don't "mind" what I read.... I sometimes enjoy chess...
but the mind games on the BONEYARD are much more entertaining.... As
they say in Australia " Check, mate". Another loose connection!
Go Huskies! Beat the Bruins!
 
pvdoggy said:
The way things are going, why bother watching/following college athletics? You might as well go watch professional sports. They also get paid, but at least they are more skilled.
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I hear you. And it used to be that you had the chance to watch players develop over four years. Now, with one-third of the players in the portal (and counting!), a player staying all four years is the exception rather than the rule. A player on a pro contract is likely to stay with a team longer than a college athlete—is that really possible?

As a UConn fan, I'm crossing all my fingers that we buck this trend and don't lose anyone to the portal after the season.
 
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GoChips20 said:
I think you’re probably right but what’s puzzling is they got decent minutes. There have been cases of highly ranked freshmen riding the bench (see Betts, Lauren) but it seemed to me that Howell and Heckel were both major contributors.

If the rumors are true and Heckel enters as well I think USC is in trouble next season. With this year’s freshman trio and Jazzy Davidson I thought they’d still be elite even without Juju but I don’t think they can afford to lose half that quartet.
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It's really an interesting and fascinating discussion. I thought that as well regarding Heckel and Howell even throughout the season. I mean I think Heckel legit could be better right now than TVO. And Howell was probably the best shooter on the team once she got in campus. On top of that it must be hard to play with superstars who get the majority of the attention and credit. It has to be a bit humbling. The storylines and even the questions the players receive are often times not even about them. I guess it's the idea of being in a team you have to buy into but often times individual stars are lifted up instead of the team. And as a teammate you are working just as hard and ultimately want the best things for you as well. And it's not just on the college level. Frankly it's not really even about sports. Theres this tension between am I doing something where I'm fulfilling my potential or am I doing something that even if rewarding is limiting the person/player I perceive myself to be. Like is a ring worth it, if I'm not allowed to reach my potential. Like was it worth it for Saniyah Rivers? I get deciding to leave. But on the flip side ultimately there can only be so many stars.
Nevertheless it could just be about 700k. Lol. But I've seen this a lot in sports and fans and media say certain players are selfish and have egos. One, that could be absolutely right and still not be a negative thing. And 2, I think it's hard to not be fulfilled.
 
Haleigh Timmer from South Dakota State entered the portal and has committed to Oklahoma State.

Only bringing it up because South Dakota State beat Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA in Storrs. Timmer had 11 points in 38 minutes.

I guess OKSt coach Jacie Hoyt liked what she saw.....
 
Stagnant said:


This is what I was afraid of. That the big east would lose some of their best players. Villanova and Marquette in particular were teams I was hoping would stay together.
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Oh, man, this one really bums me out. Maddie is a good player and a cornerstone of that team, especially after Lucy Olsen left. Poor Denise Dillon. For her sake—and the Big East's—I hope Jasmine Bascoe doesn't transfer out too.
 
Ralph said:
... Hopefully everyone on our team loves their teammates, loves the atmosphere, and of course most all they love the Boneyard and our support and outstandingly helpful criticism and other comments and no amount of money could lure them away.
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I enjoyed your post and agreed with most of it, but for goodness’ sake I hope Geno and CD have implemented custom parental controls on all of the players’ devices to prevent them from accessing the Boneyard... :eek:
 
Jonathan14 said:
I hear you. And it used to be that you had the chance to watch players develop over four years. Now, with one-third of the players in the portal (and counting!), a player staying all four years is the exception rather than the rule. A player on a pro contract is likely to stay with a team longer than a college athlete—is that really possible?

As a UConn fan, I'm crossing all my fingers that we buck this trend and don't lose anyone to the portal after the season.
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Still can.

I've watched unbelievable player development at McClintock High School, Mesa Community College, Arizona Eastern, and Northern Arizona University. And in the old days with CCT and I think those days are going to return with Molly Miller at ASU.

And you're absolutely correct this is one of the most enjoyable things about watching Athletics is the development from the point when they come in as freshmen to the point that they leave five years later.

I remember when Reagan Schenk came to NAU as a freshman point guard. 5 years later she had a triple-double and had made a lasting impact on the program. I was crossed falling after her graduation because the freshman had been sitting behind her in her fifth year was Taylor Feldman who I was convinced would never be able to play Big sky level basketball.

Flash Forward Taylor was the second leading scorer in the Big sky tremendous leader as well as a constant point guard.

I know all of the dedicated fans on the BY have had this experience both in the distance past recent past and we'll have in the future

So yeah it's still possible to watch this perhaps not at the elite power 4 level but I suspect that you're local high school, community college, or state school or smaller private school you will be able to see this. I know I hvw
 
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