Despite the loss of Page, Rafiu, and maybe Arrebola too, the future continues to look bright. Princeton and Harvard will be very strong too, but I like how the roster looks at this moment with the emergence of Broom, Feldrappe, and Simmons in the WBIT.
The team will rely on upperclassmen obviously, so would be a huge plus if we can get at least one Soph and one FY to contribute next season.
At first glance, our guards will be better. Mia has emerged and that alone makes the backcourt better. Perri and Susie are obviously big losses. Their production needs to be replaced and they’ve provided tremendous leadership. Tor and Feldrappe need to step up and we need Fliss to be a well-rounded contributor in a likely different role. Would also be nice to get a front court transfer. Looks like team can play a bit smaller at times, which isn’t unusual these days.
We have a pretty good 5 guard rotation for next year. Weiss, Broom, Henderson, Avlijas and Simmons compliment each other in so many useful ways. It will be an important task to distribute roles in a way that benefits the team more, but I guess that arguing against Broom being the main PG is going to be hard. I expect that most of the time, 3 of these 5 players will be simultaneously on the floor, and we might even have 4 of them sometimes.
Regarding bigs, it’s a different story. Feldrappe has definitely stepped up and her 3pt shooting can be very valuable to spread the floor. At 6’3", she need to learn how to be a solid interior defender and it will be hard to not rely on her a lot. I expect Erinugha to get significantly more minutes next season. She is the closest player to Page we have, and I believe she can become this type of fighting forward that makes the difference defensively and rebounding. Tor, Jaama and even Mitchell can be candidates stepping into a bigger role. I have doubts about all of them, but when size is needed, they can give useful minutes for the team. Let’s see how Dritz lands, because depending on how her first season goes, we could lean towards a guard-scoring team or to a fully versatile offense, similar to what we have seen during the WBIT. Vella might need some time to adapt, but she could become a bigger version of Susie in the future.
The higher unknowns for me are the remaining 3 guards and what will be their role next season. Both Shippen and Cholopoulou have had very little playing time this season. If they both stay (we might see Shippen on the portal on Monday), I don’t know how much Meg counts on them as rotation players. And with Dix I feel she could be anywhere honestly. Type of “Kitty” guard that could be very valued by Meg, or she might need a year of getting used to the team, the system and everything before she is ready to significantly contribute.
PS: Let’s wait a bit more, but I’m leaning towards assuming Arrebola might not be part of the team next season.
Arrebola leaving? Simply a lack of minutes or another reason for her discontent?
And Shippen too? For someone who was the all-time woman’s hs scorer in Idaho, it seemed odd that she played just a few minutes in one or two games all season.
She was. But I think she has been available a significant part of the season and barely played. Some accounts have reported she is rumored to enter the transfer portal. But this was before postseason, so who knows if traveling with the team for the WBIT has changed that.
About Arrebola, I don’t want to speculate much. But not traveling with the team and not being on the celebration post it’s a clear indicator that there is something going on. I would be surprised if she leaves Columbia because she was majoring in math and academically it doesn’t make much sense to leave, but who knows.
Montes is a Junior. She missed her entire Freshman season to injury, played sparingly last season as a Sophomore, and left the team in late October 2025 shortly before her Junior year.
Disappointing to hear about Shippen, but somewhat understandable. Unless she improved significantly in the off-season, she was unlikely to get any playing time next season playing behind a slew of proven/talented guards.
Tough choice for her. Transfer somewhere with 3 years of eligibility, finish her undergrad degree and get some grad school or get her Columbia undergraduate degree. Gotta be realistic about the basketball part.
Megan was bragging in one of her interviews after the WBIT that she never had a player transfer to another Division I program. That’s gonna end when Shay and Emily transfer.
