After an historic season and graduating two of our best players ever, I’m looking forward to next season and how we can continue to improve like we have done the last four years.
Any idea what Collins and Henderson are doing? They haven’t entered the transfer portal yet to use their last year of eligibility but I could see them doing that and going to really good teams. I could also see Henderson declaring for the draft, although her chances of getting drafted might be low.
My slight fear that Meg would leave is gone, given her words, that all the important coaching spots seem to be filled up, and that she probably won’t leave at least until she wins an ILT and makes a deep run in march.
The incoming class looks great, although short so I feel we are probably missing someone from Europe that might be hard to track. Maybe we get someone from the transfer portal too. And hopefully we get back players that have been out this season to have a better rounded and versatile team.
I’m pretty sure Henderson and Collins are out of eligibility. Last years seniors were the last class to get the Covid year. Bright futures for both I’m sure.
Chances are that Coach Griffith and her staff are already very hard at work evaluating possible incoming transfers. She already has two and possibly three high quality incoming players, but needs to find another standout impact transfer like Collins in the Transfer Portal.
Yes, I feel if Jaama is back next season fully recovered, we have the size inside. We would probably need to look for some 3pt shooting (maybe a wing) and some transition speed in the portal
I’ve done a bit of research on the transfer portal and these appeared as reasonable transfer options taking a bit into account academics:
Fr. Grace Oliver 6’1’’ G/F Colorado, 14.2MPG, 3.8PPG, 3.3RPG. 2024 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year. Had a strong offer from us last year, and we were one of her final 4 schools, among Colorado, Georgetown and Harvard. She mentioned she wants to move closer to home, Norwell, Mass. Shared senior year team with Nasi Simmons. This might be the most likely option, although I have a feeling she might be going to Harvard.
So. Ashley Sofilkanich 6’3" F Bucknell, 19.7 PPG, 8.4RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.2BPG. Patriot League POTY. Absolute baller and game changer. Highly wanted transfer, so probably really hard to get.
So. Jada Williams 5’8" G Arizona, 12.7PPG, 3.5RPG, 2.9APG, 1.6SPG. 2023 McDonald’s All-American. Heck of a player, probably with a lot of offers.
RS Fr. Kailey Woolston 5’11" G BYU, 13.3PPG, 3.4RPG, 2.3APG, 46.6%3PT. Prolific 3pt shooter. Missed this season due to an injury. Probably with a bunch of offers.
So. Sumayah Sugapong 5’7’’ G UCSD, 14.8PPG, 4.2RPG, 3.7APG, 2.5SPG. Big West Tournament MVP. Fast scoring guard with great defensive skills that loves to play on transition. Likely to have a bunch of offers.
So. Vittoria Blasigh 5’9" G USF, 13.5PPG, 2.5RPG, 2.0APG, 33.8%3PT. Skilled shooting guard from Italy. One of the reasons USF was that good this year.
So. Sophie Swanson 5’10" G Purdue, 8.9PPG, 0.9SPG, 30.1%3PT. U18 USA Team Trials. Very good and versatile guard and very good 3pt shooter.
Fr. Katarina Knezevic 6’0 F Arizona. 11.5MPG, 2.8PPG, 1.9APG. Serbian national team, playing with Avlijas. Very good versatile player, severely underused this season.
Fr. Angeliki Ziaka, 6’0" G San Francisco, 26.2 MPG, 8.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.2APG. Greek national player, played alongside incoming Vasiliki Cholopoulou.
Fr. Lova Lagerlid 6’0" G Colorado, only 3 games played. Physical and athletic guard from Sweeden. Sweedish national team. Barely played throughout the season for unknown reasons. Averaged 13.3PPG, 5.5 RPG and 2.3 APG in high-school.
I guess (and hope) that they are way ahead of me at this point. Knowing how they are, they probably were already working on the transfer portal on Monday after coming back from NC. Also, I know nothing compared to them lol.
This is a good list… and agree, Oliver could very well have a shortlist of Columbia and Harvard. She’d be a great addition to either team, but would probably get more minutes with the Lions since we’re a bit thin on players over 6 feet tall. Oliver grabbed at least 7 rebounds in 5 different games this season and had a high of 14 vs Houston. She appears to have a solid overall game.
I noticed Gal Raviv entered the portal too… she had a very nice Freshman season at Quinnipiac. Yes, she’s a long shot and probably off the radar, but Meg has developed such a great foundation… she can likely compete against some of the top programs by offering elite players a chance to get minutes right away, play for a winning program in NYC… not to mention the opportunity to get a degree from a great university. I dunno… if I were deciding between Raleigh, NC, Manhattan, KS or Manhattan in the Big Apple… that would be a no-brainer.
Would be amazing if Gal Raviv came to Columbia. She would get a lot of support being Israeli. I’m not trying to be political. Just saying she would have tremendous fan backing behind her.
Yes, she is. I don’t know how much to believe about those numbers, but I don’t think we have reached out to her, and it’s been reported that she is probably going to a Power 4 team between Iowa St, North Carolina, Miami, Nebraska, Clemson and Oregon.
Similar situation with Jada Williams, who seems to have committed to Iowa St.
On the other side, it has been reported that we have contacted at least 2 portal players:
So. Faith Carson, 6’4" C, Ohio State. Residual minutes on 7 games last season and no playtime this season due to an injury.
Fr. Zoe Best, 5’10" G, Souteast Missouri State. 14.0PPG, 5.1RPG, 2.1APG, 1.3SPG, 35.2%3PT. Really skilled shooting guard with a lot of potential and very good 3pt shooting.
With the roster being as it is, I expect Meg to target high quality players, which is why the interest in Carson is a little surprising to me. Meg must see something in her.
She’s brought in Jaida Patrick (Duke), Cecilia Collins (Bucknell), Ava Sciolla (Maryland), and Maria Avlijas (Ole Miss) in recent years. While Sciolla didn’t pan out, hitting on 3 out of 4 is not too bad. And she missed out on McKenzie Forbes from Cal a few years ago, who of course, went to Harvard and then USC… and ultimately got selected in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Fr. Yuting Deng, 6’0" G, Auburn. 11.8PPG, 2.5RPG, 36.5%3PT. Highly skilled scoring guard from China who joined Auburn in the spring and has had a huge impact since, despite joining the team mid season. Pulled out a career-high 27pts 11rbs against Vanderbilt two months ago. One of the future prospects of Chinese basketball.
She has a lot of good offers from better schools. We might have and edge on this one given Griffith, but who knows.
Via X and Instagram accounts that are reporting about the portal. @TaliaGoodmanWBB is doing an extensive coverage of the portal, but other basketball accounts like @BTNScouting are also reporting a lot of stuff. For the particular cases I mentioned, here are the sources: