Waiting on Kayleigh Heckel

[oldude]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

 

[Gus Mahler]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

Nice post.

 

[darrell]

I think Kayleigh could be a great addition just as Kaitlyn was a year ago. Since the Sweet 16 loss to tOSU in 2023, Geno has emphasized having ball handlers on the floor and she’s a floor general if I’ve seen one.

With this in mind, I wonder how Koval (Notre Dame → LSU ) and Howell (USC → Washington) were able to enter the portal and commit so quickly to their new teams as Freshmen.

 

[huskyd]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

I predicted that Serah would commit after reading the extent to which UConn went to get her.
I am now prepared to make the same prediction re Keyleigh.
Heckel will come home to CT, join the Huskies, and be the starting point guard alongside Azzi.
My most far-reaching prediction is that Morgan has an excellent shot (if healthy) of starting as a hybrid guard-small forward.
This is a daunting line-up. My choice for raising #13.

 

[oldude]

I think Kayleigh could be a great addition just as Kaitlyn was a year ago. Since the Sweet 16 loss to tOSU in 2023, Geno has emphasized having ball handlers on the floor and she’s a floor general if I’ve seen one.

With this in mind, I wonder how Koval (Notre Dame → LSU ) and Howell (USC → Washington) were able to enter the portal and commit so quickly to their new teams as Freshmen.

Good question. Maybe Koval & Howell are not official yet, but LSU & Washington wanted to publicize their transfer decisions anyway. We know that LSU puts the cart before the horse, as they did to their own embarrassment when they released a photo of Serah Williams in an LSU uniform.

But here’s reading the tea leaves on Kayleigh coming to UConn. Geno has one more scholarship available. Since Kayleigh’s visit we have heard nothing about any other player visiting UConn. Unlike LSU and other schools you will hear nothing about incoming transfers to UConn by the University until it’s official.

Geno is sitting at the poker table with a full house, aces over kings. If Kayleigh comes to Storrs that gives Geno 4 aces. He may have told Kayleigh, “We will hold the scholarship open for you. Go finish your course work and once you’re eligible we’ll finalize your decision through the Compliance Office and release a public statement.”

 

[oldude]

I predicted that Serah would commit after reading the extent to which UConn went to get her.
I am now prepared to make the same prediction re Keyleigh.
Heckel will come home to CT, join the Huskies, and be the starting point guard alongside Azzi.
My most far-reaching prediction is that Morgan has an excellent shot (if healthy) of starting as a hybrid guard-small forward.
This is a daunting line-up. My choice for raising #13.

KK will be the starting pg next season. If Kayleigh comes to Storrs she will get a lot of PT.

 

[huskeynut]

For those comparing Heckel to Kaitlyn and/ or starting next year with Azzi, I say no.

First, Heckel doesn't have the experience Kathlyn came with. Second , she has to learn UConn's offense. We know that is no easy task.

KK starts at PG next season. Will Heckel get minutes, yes. Or Geno would never have offered her.

 

[BobbyJ]

I predicted that Serah would commit after reading the extent to which UConn went to get her.
I am now prepared to make the same prediction re Keyleigh.
Heckel will come home to CT, join the Huskies, and be the starting point guard alongside Azzi.
My most far-reaching prediction is that Morgan has an excellent shot (if healthy) of starting as a hybrid guard-small forward.
This is a daunting line-up. My choice for raising #13.

So you believe that Auriemma, of all people, allowed the details of Williams’ recruitment to get out publicly to some anonymous blogger on his laptop using a AI generated voice? Wanna buy a bridge?

 

[Centerstream]

Jinx

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

How in the name of time you come up with this sort of stuff is beyond me!

 

[Majic Hands]

Was she offered a spot?

Does a visit automatically come with an offer?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Centerstream]

I predicted that Serah would commit after reading the extent to which UConn went to get her.
I am now prepared to make the same prediction re Keyleigh.
Heckel will come home to CT, join the Huskies, and be the starting point guard alongside Azzi.
My most far-reaching prediction is that Morgan has an excellent shot (if healthy) of starting as a hybrid guard-small forward.
This is a daunting line-up. My choice for raising #13.

I asked this question in another thread that swerved to a discussion of Heckel committing to UConn.
Other than having Paige flex on her after Kayleigh's "and one" foul in the Elite Eight game, what has she done during her freshman season that indicates that she is going to the starting PG? She was a reserve player at USC even after JuJu went down. It seems to me after looking at some box scores that most of her playing time and points came after the game was pretty much in hand for USC.
Are you expecting a huge sophomore leap, even in a new, harder system?
Just would like to know...

 

[oldude]

Was she offered a spot?

Does a visit automatically come with an offer?

Asking for a friend.

Geno’s not talking. Neither is Kayleigh. But I can assure you that we will all know when we know……

 

[oldude]

How in the name of time you come up with this sort of stuff is beyond me!

Too much time on my hands….

 

[Huskee11]

Great post, I learned a lot. Well researched, even down to knowing when USC holds exams!

Maybe we heard about some other players like Koval and Howell before it became "officially official". In most cases, it is not much of a limb to go out on.

Probably wishful thinking, but the fact that we haven't heard might be a tea leaf favoring the i dotting and t crossing Huskies? Also possibly creating distance from Serah's announcement? We can hope.

I check in on X with Talia Goodman and Skim Milkey more often than I should and they have both been pretty quiet in recent days, not much to report.

Obviously waiting for word on Heckel, but I am also hoping to hear some good news about Q at some point. I think the biggest other name still out there is Iyana Moore of Vanderbilt. The other big names have found new homes.

I am all in favor of getting Heckel, additional depth at the point - especially since KK is prone to foul trouble. It will give KK more freedom to play her aggressive style of defense and the option to utilize a better three point shooter at the point. Kelis should be great but there will be a learning curve.

The only downside I see to adding Heckel is that it would limit UConn to three scholarships/portal entries for the class of 2026. Assuming no UConn players entering the portal, that is.

 

[Big Fan]

If this happens I feel bad for Ash

 

[Urshurak]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

Excellent post. Thank you for posting this.

 

[Bills Fan]

Great post, I learned a lot. Well researched, even down to knowing when USC holds exams!

Maybe we heard about some other players like Koval and Howell before it became "officially official". In most cases, it is not much of a limb to go out on.

Probably wishful thinking, but the fact that we haven't heard might be a tea leaf favoring the i dotting and t crossing Huskies? Also possibly creating distance from Serah's announcement? We can hope.

I check in on X with Talia Goodman and Skim Milkey more often than I should and they have both been pretty quiet in recent days, not much to report.

Obviously waiting for word on Heckel, but I am also hoping to hear some good news about Q at some point. I think the biggest other name still out there is Iyana Moore of Vanderbilt. The other big names have found new homes.

I am all in favor of getting Heckel, additional depth at the point - especially since KK is prone to foul trouble. It will give KK more freedom to play her aggressive style of defense and the option to utilize a better three point shooter at the point. Kelis should be great but there will be a learning curve.

The only downside I see to adding Heckel is that it would limit UConn to three scholarships/portal entries for the class of 2026. Assuming no UConn players entering the portal, that is.

I think 3 or 4 new scholarships every year is a perfect number. As the roster stands now (assuming Heckel comes) we would have 3 next year, as you point out, but 6, the following year which would probably not all be used, thereby carrying over 2 or 3.

 

[Majic Hands]

Geno’s not talking. Neither is Kayleigh. But I can assure you that we will all know when we know……

What I was thinking. But you know. I’ve got this friend. . .

 

[Zarathustra]

Borrowing from someone else's earlier comment regarding Serah:
"Patience (Boneyard) grasshopper(s)"
IMHO: "K9" will be a Husky. Then: "WOW" or "Bow wow"!!!!

 

[Sifaka]

Too much time on my hands….

 

[MSGRET]

Great post, I learned a lot. Well researched, even down to knowing when USC holds exams!

Maybe we heard about some other players like Koval and Howell before it became "officially official". In most cases, it is not much of a limb to go out on.

Probably wishful thinking, but the fact that we haven't heard might be a tea leaf favoring the i dotting and t crossing Huskies? Also possibly creating distance from Serah's announcement? We can hope.

I check in on X with Talia Goodman and Skim Milkey more often than I should and they have both been pretty quiet in recent days, not much to report.

Obviously waiting for word on Heckel, but I am also hoping to hear some good news about Q at some point. I think the biggest other name still out there is Iyana Moore of Vanderbilt. The other big names have found new homes.

I am all in favor of getting Heckel, additional depth at the point - especially since KK is prone to foul trouble. It will give KK more freedom to play her aggressive style of defense and the option to utilize a better three point shooter at the point. Kelis should be great but there will be a learning curve.

The only downside I see to adding Heckel is that it would limit UConn to three scholarships/portal entries for the class of 2026. Assuming no UConn players entering the portal, that is.

Need to update your handle, you're missing #12.

 

[Shenandoah]

The process by which a player enters the transfer portal, selects a new school and then transfers to that school has several moving parts:

• First, a player notifies their school's compliance officer of their intent to transfer. The school then has 2 business days to enter the player's name in the NCAA Transfer Portal database.
• The player can go into the portal under two different designations: one allowing any interested school to contact them and a second "Do Not Call" designation which means the player, or their representative will contact schools the player is interested in directly.
• After school contacts, visits, etc. the player chooses their transfer school and provides notice to the compliance officer of the school they are transferring to, who must then confirm that the player meets all NCAA academic eligibility requirements before the transfer becomes official.

Kayleigh Heckel and Serah Williams both visited UConn early this week. Soon after their visit, Serah posted her decision to transfer to UConn on social media. We didn't get the official word from UConn and Geno of Serah's decision until all the "i's were dotted and the t's were crossed" a few days later.

At the same time, it's been radio silent on Kayleigh's decision for any of the 4 schools she visited: Vanderbilt, ND, Michigan St and UConn. The notification delay likely involves the NCAA rules relating to "Progress towards a degree" benchmarks which set minimum credit requirements by semester to be eligible. Serah who is both a rising senior and a smart young lady has probably banked more than enough credits to be eligible next season as she finishes her 3rd year at Wisconsin.

As for Kayleigh, she has only completed 1 semester in her freshman year, along with whatever courses she was able to knock out last summer. She needs to complete 20% of her degree requirements by the end of her freshman year in order to meet NCAA eligibility requirements for next year. Spring semester finals at USC are this coming week. Kayleigh was an honor student at Long Island Lutheran, so I have no doubt that she will sail through her finals. But for all of us impatient fans at UConn, ND, Michigan St and Vandy, we're just going to have to wait a little bit longer to learn her final choice.

Thanks for the info. Most of have been checking and rechecking the Boneyard multiple times /day to see if Kayleigh Heckel has made her decision yet.

 

[Sifaka]

Too much time on my hands….

 

[CTBballfan243]

In KK we trust. Looking forward to seeing last years class and this year class get plenty of playing time.

 

[DEpup]

Maybe she is just a bit of an indecisive young adult who needs to deliberate a bit before deciding. Azzi has admitted to having a hard time making decisions.

UConn is also quite deliberate and knows how to manage communications so I also think it is quite plausible that they are maximizing exposure by spacing out the announcements. Let the older Serah have her week news cycle and Heckel can finish her finals and then make her announcement. That then leads to at least 2 weeks of UConn in the news which is great for the brand. A strong brand leads to NIL opportunities for all the players which also helps recruiting. It's all connected.

 

[oldhusky]

I asked this question in another thread that swerved to a discussion of Heckel committing to UConn.
Other than having Paige flex on her after Kayleigh's "and one" foul in the Elite Eight game, what has she done during her freshman season that indicates that she is going to the starting PG? She was a reserve player at USC even after JuJu went down. It seems to me after looking at some box scores that most of her playing time and points came after the game was pretty much in hand for USC.
Are you expecting a huge sophomore leap, even in a new, harder system?
Just would like to know...

I will take a stab at this, but I wouldn't expect Heckel to start either. What I do think is Kayleigh, Kaitlin, KK and Ashlynn are not far apart as overall players although they bring different traits to the table. When you look at comprehensive stats like PER or Box Plus Minus adjusted for competition they are close.

Kayleigh was generally slightly better than KK and Ashlynn's freshmen numbers, but a little behind their sophomore levels, where both improved. All three are pretty close to Kaitlin's as well. KK would seem to have the edge or starting mostly because she fits the definition of a PG a little better than Kayleigh who seems more like a 1/2 to me, Kaleigh's turnovers were a little high etc..

KK could also show a significant improvement because this is the first year she will play almost all the time at her best position. In her first year Nika had the ball all the time, and KK had to mostly play as a 2. In her second year Kaitlin was given the starting role and KK played some at the point, but generally not when she was in with Kaitlin. And both years had another PG ability player on the floor with Paige.

My main point is this year KK gets to spend most of her time where she should be, and presumably will be a better player at her natural position. Kayleigh if she comes would presumably get first dibs on backup PG ahead of Kelis, and could compete for playing time off the ball, but of course there is tremendous competition there.

 

[Zarathustra]

One Kayleigh stat that I had missed: (in "THE ATHLETIC " from
April 16 and updated April 17). This was a review of the players
available in the transfer AT THAT TIME and Kayleigh was listed
as #13 (i.e. you'll need to scroll down to get to her discussion). Anyhow, the Athletic
called Kayleigh: "A solid backup ballhandler and perimeter
defender"... " a strong (transfer) pickup". Sounds good, huh?
NOW THE STAT: Kayleigh had a 46% field goal percentage!!...
to go with her 6.1 ppg, 1.4 reb per g, and 1.9 assists per game.
There is also a very short video embedded in the article of
"K9" playing against Miss St (?). She is bringing the ball up
(as any good PG would do) and blows by the defenders for
a nice layup. To me, all the stars are in alignment...
"Let the shoe drop!" GO KAYLEIGH.... we're (I am) ready!!

 

[Blond D.]

Do we really need Kayleigh? It wasn't like she burned up the court in any category.

 

[Stagnant]

I think Heckel is coming. I think maybe it is her dream to play at UConn. She would be close to home. Maybe she looks at the roster and it is a crowded roster. But she is a confident player and she thinks she can beat some people out and get the playing time she wants.

If she does come. I am getting ready to write some sort of message about what I think it means for our 2026 recruiting strategy.