The transfer portal for women’s college basketball closes on Wednesday. Graduate transfers can still enter the portal at any time, but any other player who enters the portal after April 23 — barring a coaching change — will have to sit out a season or apply to the NCAA for a waiver.
Once a player is in the portal though, there’s no deadline to commit to a new school. Some players have already been in the transfer portal for weeks. It could take them a while to find a different program in the sport. More than 1,400 players have entered the portal this season.
Some players have already landed with their team of the future. Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles is now at TCU, South Carolina picked up Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson and Mississippi State Madina Okot, Duke’s Oluchi Okananwa ended up at Maryland, and Ole Miss has signed a handful of talented players, including Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon.
The best player left in the portal, unquestionably, is South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley. The electric sophomore guard with an endorsement deal with Under Armour’s Curry Brand remains a free agent.
Beyond Fulwiley, there are still plenty of other talented players in the portal searching for new homes.
Gianna Kneepkens
At Utah, Kneepkens became one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, ranking ninth nationally in 3-pointers made per game this past season with 3.1. She was nearly a member of the 50-40-90 club, shooting 50.4 percent from the floor, 44.8 percent from 3-point land, and 89 percent from the charity stripe. Her 19.3 points per game were 31st in the country.
The 5-foot-11 guard from Duluth, Minnesota was an all-conference player in three seasons for the Utes and was named Pac-12 Rookie of the Year in 2022. In 104 games, she’s shot 43.2 percent from behind the arc in her career while averaging 15.6 points per game.
According to multiple reports, Kneepkens has taken visits to SEC powers South Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma, and also plans to visit UCLA. At all four places, she projects to be a starter right away and a player who can help take a program to a Final Four.
Serah Williams
Perhaps the best true post player remaining in the portal, the 6-foot-4 Williams was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season at Wisconsin and was also a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection. She was one of just four players nationally to average at least 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocks per game this past season, hitting those marks while shooting 49.3 percent from the floor.
Big time suitors are among the finalists for Williams’ services. She’s already visited LSU, while North Carolina and UConn are vying for her talents too.
Williams never played in an NCAA Tournament in three seasons at Wisconsin. Between these three options, that will likely change no matter where she chooses.
Allie Kubek
This is Kubek’s second trip into the transfer portal. After averaging 14.6 points per game at Towson in the 2021-22 season, the forward from Elkton, Maryland, joined Brenda Frese’s Terps, where she’s been an important rotation player for NCAA Tournament teams.
The 6-foot-2 Kubek averaged 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 23.2 minutes per game across 66 contests for the Terps in two seasons. In three NCAA Tournament games this past season, she averaged 15.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while making 4-of-5 shots from 3-point land.
She’s a 35.8 percent career 3-point shooter, and would be a star at the mid-major level, or a solid and consistent role player — like she’s been at Maryland — for a Power 4 team with aspirations of making a deep March Madness run. One source told SB Nation that N.C. State is interested.
Kayleigh Heckel
A former McDonald’s All-American, Heckel averaged 6.1 points, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 16.9 minutes per game this past season as a freshman for the Trojans. The 5-foot-9 native of Port Chester, New York, was tabbed as the 13th best recruit in the 2024 class by ESPN.
She made seven starts this past season for USC and topped 20 minutes of playing time in a single game 10 times. Her best outing was probably the Trojans’ second-round NCAA Tournament win over Mississippi State, where — after an injury to JuJu Watkins — she came off the bench to dish out a season-high six assists to go along with 13 points, two steals and a rebound in 20 minutes.
With more playing time, Heckel has the potential to make a big impact. She has plans to visit Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Michigan State.