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WBB Transfer Portal Targets 2025-2026 (Updated 4/25/25)

SCHawkFan said:
The Wisconsin coach has resigned. Serah Williams, please come to Iowa City.
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Wow, her decision or get out before we push you out the door?
Ad-Hawk said:
Most top 10 recruits also don't average 20 a game. Cambridge and Syla Swords were top 5 recruits and just averaged 15 and 16 PPG, respectively. If Deal does something in the mid-teens as a true freshman she had a phenomenal year.
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True, but a lot of that will depend on the makeup of the roster, which is what we're discussing. IF we add someone from the portal, or someone like Mallegni really steps up, then probably mid teens will be fine. If those things don't happen I do think she's capable of more. While those are very good numbers for the Michigan frosh, there were two of them to split that load, and some other really good players. I could see Ava, and Hannah averaging 14-16 points depending on how Jan uses them, but I wouldn't even want to guess on Mallegni, Stremlow or Guyton will give us consistently. McCabe? Who knows right? One game maybe 12-15 and the next one maybe 6...
 
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kceasthawk said:
Wow, her decision or get out before we push you out the door?
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Almost certainly the latter, the team got worse this year and there have been all sorts of behind the scenes issues there. Multiple player have just suddenly left the team during her tenure and there's been allegations of abuse. If she wasn't at a school where women's basketball is still a complete afterthought it would have been a bigger story and I'm not sure she'd have made it through the season

Williams is awesome but I would be surprised if Iowa adds a front court player of that caliber now that Heiden has started to emerge. Williams is going to want to start and Jan obviously isn't going to be bench Stuelke. Someone is going to get a good one if she enters though. Iowa should be prioritizing a combo guard in the same mold as Lucy and a tweener forward who can play 3 or 4 in small ball lineups over a true big, imo
 
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Ad-Hawk said:
Almost certainly the latter, the team got worse this year and there have been all sorts of behind the scenes issues there. Multiple player have just suddenly left the team during her tenure and there's been allegations of abuse. If she wasn't at a school where women's basketball is still a complete afterthought it would have been a bigger story and I'm not sure she'd have made it through the season

Williams is awesome but I would be surprised if Iowa adds a front court player of that caliber now that Heiden has started to emerge. Williams is going to want to start and Jan obviously isn't going to be bench Stuelke. Someone is going to get a good one if she enters though. Iowa should be prioritizing a combo guard in the same mold as Lucy and a tweener forward who can play 3 or 4 in small ball lineups over a true big, imo
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Its funny. They had big issues at Nebraska as well with an assistant manipulating a player into a sexual relationship, and the HC who knew all about this, (according to several players) did nothing about it, and she's still there. I really thought she'd get canned over it.
 
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HIWILLE said:
We can’t dismiss the Guyton rumor either until she says different. If this has legs, things could get interesting. She needs to squash this rumor if not true.
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Frankly I'd hope the players aren't online enough to hear random internet rumors they might transfer. Given Iowa's history as a program, my default assumption is a player won't transfer, not that they will transfer.
 
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It's a little interesting that the PG position now has an even "deeper" template with Olsen coming in for a season and going All-Big Ten.
Lucy is leaving another set of shoes.

Of course, her experience with Iowa couldn't be a stronger sales pitch for anyone they might go after.

(*edit--Meant to post this in this thread.)
 
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Last night on Hawk talk Jan talked about the portal, Interesting comments, I won’t get the quotes exactly right but I will link so you can listen. She said ideally you want to stay with developing the recruits out of high school but the times are changing and that if you want to compete you have to adapt, She said you want to get and subtract players out of necessity to make the team better. I found the subtract players comment interesting.

The portal talk begins at roughly the 55 minute mark.

 
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Scott559 said:
Last night on Hawk talk Jan talked about the portal, Interesting comments, I won’t get the quotes exactly right but I will link so you can listen. She said ideally you want to stay with developing the recruits out of high school but the times are changing and that if you want to compete you have to adapt, She said you want to get and subtract players out of necessity to make the team better. I found the subtract players comment interesting.

The portal talk begins at roughly the 55 minute mark.

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I know some aren't going to like this, but I agree with her statement. IF Iowa wants to continue to be a top 10 or higher team in the post CC22 era, you can't afford to have 3 or 4 players languishing on the bench who simply aren't going to play.
 
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kceasthawk said:
I know some aren't going to like this, but I agree with her statement. IF Iowa wants to continue to be a top 10 or higher team in the post CC22 era, you can't afford to have 3 or 4 players languishing on the bench who simply aren't going to play.
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It’s really going to boil down to how many players you want/need on your roster. A smaller roster equals less spent on scholarships and a smaller pie in regard to NIL payments. You do have to balance the need for bodies available for practices, Scrimmaging etc.
 
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kceasthawk said:
I know some aren't going to like this, but I agree with her statement. IF Iowa wants to continue to be a top 10 or higher team in the post CC22 era, you can't afford to have 3 or 4 players languishing on the bench who simply aren't going to play.
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I think it depends on what you mean by languishing on the bench. Right now Iowa has 4 players on roster who never became consistent rotation players.

Ediger was valuable to Iowa in that she was briefly the backup 5 for a time when O'Grady wasn't playing well and could play in a pinch if the 5s really got in foul trouble. She also seemed to be a good culture fit.

Gyamfi has had a huge impact on the program culture even though she's basically never played an important minute in her career.

Levin is just a freshman, so we'll see if she can find a rotational role moving forward. I think it's too soon to write her off completely.

Johnson is probably at the point where we can say she's unlikely to ever play much of a role for the team. I have no knowledge on what kind of impact she has off the court.

I think a good program needs a player like Ediger who can play, but who is okay with not playing when everyone is healthy. Program culture has been a huge benefit for Iowa in the portal era, so having a player like Gyamfi is worthwhile. It's also okay to have a young player on roster that might need more time to grow into a role.
 
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BraydonRoberts5 said:
I think it depends on what you mean by languishing on the bench. Right now Iowa has 4 players on roster who never became consistent rotation players.

Ediger was valuable to Iowa in that she was briefly the backup 5 for a time when O'Grady wasn't playing well and could play in a pinch if the 5s really got in foul trouble. She also seemed to be a good culture fit.

Gyamfi has had a huge impact on the program culture even though she's basically never played an important minute in her career.

Levin is just a freshman, so we'll see if she can find a rotational role moving forward. I think it's too soon to write her off completely.

Johnson is probably at the point where we can say she's unlikely to ever play much of a role for the team. I have no knowledge on what kind of impact she has off the court.

I think a good program needs a player like Ediger who can play, but who is okay with not playing when everyone is healthy. Program culture has been a huge benefit for Iowa in the portal era, so having a player like Gyamfi is worthwhile. It's also okay to have a young player on roster that might need more time to grow into a role.
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I was not writing off Levin as she's just a freshman. Obviously you'd have more insight then anyone on here. I'm not sure that I'd agree that much of the culture is do to Jada. She's a great kid and became a favorite side kick for that senior Clark/Kate/Gabby group. I know all the girls like her, but I think its the coaches who have established the culture, (the circle) and other ideas from Lisa and Jan. I've always believed you don't just recruit players who will start right away, but players who are developing who may end up being more then just depth or practice players. I realize that players 11-15 rarely play, but developing those players brings additional benefits. This next year seems to be a perfect example. For the second third straight year we're losing 2-4 starters on this team. Assuming Kylie moves on with Syd,Lucy,AOG, and AJE we have McCabe, and Stuelke and the freshman to go with the new recruits. What if we had been developing another player or two the last two years who was now ready to assume a much larger role. Say another Syd who had been waiting in the wings. Obviously the loss of Ava Jones was part of this, but it points out the good sense to always be developing future players. I know he portal adds a new dimension to this equation, but that could be a crap shoot as we saw the year they went after Betts and Morrow. There's no guarantees you can find the right match, and I fear that if we don't hit in the portal this off season we're going to be thin next seasonat some key spots.
 
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kceasthawk said:
I was not writing off Levin as she's just a freshman. Obviously you'd have more insight then anyone on here. I'm not sure that I'd agree that much of the culture is do to Jada. She's a great kid and became a favorite side kick for that senior Clark/Kate/Gabby group. I know all the girls like her, but I think its the coaches who have established the culture, (the circle) and other ideas from Lisa and Jan. I've always believed you don't just recruit players who will start right away, but players who are developing who may end up being more then just depth or practice players. I realize that players 11-15 rarely play, but developing those players brings additional benefits. This next year seems to be a perfect example. For the second third straight year we're losing 2-4 starters on this team. Assuming Kylie moves on with Syd,Lucy,AOG, and AJE we have McCabe, and Stuelke and the freshman to go with the new recruits. What if we had been developing another player or two the last two years who was now ready to assume a much larger role. Say another Syd who had been waiting in the wings. Obviously the loss of Ava Jones was part of this, but it points out the good sense to always be developing future players. I know he portal adds a new dimension to this equation, but that could be a crap shoot as we saw the year they went after Betts and Morrow. There's no guarantees you can find the right match, and I fear that if we don't hit in the portal this off season we're going to be thin next seasonat some key spots.
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One thing I should've mentioned is that I think Gyamfi is one of the primary player hosts on recruiting visits. I know she was for Brynn McGaughy. Having someone that everyone likes that can do that is part of why I considered her valuable. It makes a great impression for recruits.

I think the coaches establish the culture but having someone everyone likes on the team goes a long way in making sure there aren't issues throughout the season.

I think the lag in replacement developmental players you noticed is mostly explained by the 2023 class unfortunately. In a world without the accident Ava Jones is probably a rotation player next year. Johnson was always a development type player, but she's battled injuries during her time at Iowa. I believe Iowa's two top targets in that class were also Audi Crooks and Sahara Williams and Iowa struck out with both fairly late in the process.
 
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Scott559 said:
Last night on Hawk talk Jan talked about the portal, Interesting comments, I won’t get the quotes exactly right but I will link so you can listen. She said ideally you want to stay with developing the recruits out of high school but the times are changing and that if you want to compete you have to adapt, She said you want to get and subtract players out of necessity to make the team better. I found the subtract players comment interesting.

The portal talk begins at roughly the 55 minute mark.

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The suntract comment might be Jada Gyamfi, I just don't see her making a big jump and this is what her 3rd year in the program and already passed up by freshman. I dont think the coaching staff forces her out I think she may leave on her own as I thought in one of her podcasts she talked about being a teacher and student teaching coming up. I just think if their is anyone thats leaving it may be her and not to transfer to another school.
 
BraydonRoberts5 said:
Johnson is probably at the point where we can say she's unlikely to ever play much of a role for the team. I have no knowledge on what kind of impact she has off the court.
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It is hard to judge what we can expect to see from a player who has not yet played meaningful minutes. She was a freshman on a team dominated by seniors last year, so she did not have much playing time before her injury. With her redshirting this year, there is nothing much to go on. Her high school video looks good so she might be a surprise next year.
 
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SCHawkFan said:
It is hard to judge what we can expect to see from a player who has not yet played meaningful minutes. She was a freshman on a team dominated by seniors last year, so she did not have much playing time before her injury. With her redshirting this year, there is nothing much to go on. Her high school video looks good so she might be a surprise next year.
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Then she'd probably have to beat out Guyton and maybe Deal depending on how Jan uses her to get meaningful playing time.
 
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BraydonRoberts5 said:
One thing I should've mentioned is that I think Gyamfi is one of the primary player hosts on recruiting visits. I know she was for Brynn McGaughy. Having someone that everyone likes that can do that is part of why I considered her valuable. It makes a great impression for recruits.

I think the coaches establish the culture but having someone everyone likes on the team goes a long way in making sure there aren't issues throughout the season.

I think the lag in replacement developmental players you noticed is mostly explained by the 2023 class unfortunately. In a world without the accident Ava Jones is probably a rotation player next year. Johnson was always a development type player, but she's battled injuries during her time at Iowa. I believe Iowa's two top targets in that class were also Audi Crooks and Sahara Williams and Iowa struck out with both fairly late in the process.
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I agree on Ava. I really thought she could have been the missing piece this season. An athletic 6'2" wing who with skills.
 
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I just think from an actual roster makeup for next year whether Jada stays or goes doesn’t make a difference. Iowa has scholarships to give if they find portal targets they want. I guess I don’t understand all the handwringing over Jada’s roster spot.If Jan decides she wants to spend less on Scholarships fine, If she wants to decrease the roster size to increase NIL share fine. I just don’t see where having Jada on the team is currently a detriment to the program.
 
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Scott559 said:
I just think from an actual roster makeup for next year whether Jada stays or goes doesn’t make a difference. Iowa has scholarships to give if they find portal targets they want. I guess I don’t understand all the handwringing over Jada’s roster spot.If Jan decides she wants to spend less on Scholarships fine, If she wants to decrease the roster size to increase NIL share fine. I just don’t see where having Jada on the team is currently a detriment to the program.
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It wouldn't be about decreasing the roster size, it'd be about using that spot on someone who might actually play as opposed to someone you know never will.

That said I don't expect that to happen, Jada is extremely popular with the team and one of their go to recruit hosts. She's big for team chemistry. I would be stunned if they tried to run her off and I doubt she wants to leave since she's not going to get the kind of NIL opportunities she's had here anywhere else.
 
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SCHawkFan said:
It is hard to judge what we can expect to see from a player who has not yet played meaningful minutes. She was a freshman on a team dominated by seniors last year, so she did not have much playing time before her injury. With her redshirting this year, there is nothing much to go on. Her high school video looks good so she might be a surprise next year.
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Iowa's interest in Johnson always seemed incongruent with her high school recruiting profile. Her other reported scholarship offers were SMU, Michigan State, Seton Hall, Bradley, Cleveland State, Illinois State, Illinois Chicago, Oakland and William & Mary. It was hard to tell if MSU was still interested at the time of her commitment.
 
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Lisa used to go with a smaller roster and it bit her a few times also. Have a full roster, and a few don't get the minutes they think they should have.
 
Roster size really isn't an issue right now, and not worth worrying about. Jensen isn't subtracting anyone unless something crazy and impossible happens in recruiting.
 
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Scott559 said:
I just think from an actual roster makeup for next year whether Jada stays or goes doesn’t make a difference. Iowa has scholarships to give if they find portal targets they want. I guess I don’t understand all the handwringing over Jada’s roster spot.If Jan decides she wants to spend less on Scholarships fine, If she wants to decrease the roster size to increase NIL share fine. I just don’t see where having Jada on the team is currently a detriment to the program.
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I'm not wringing my hands about Jada's spot. I'm simply pointing out between her being a player that it appears will not be able to play an actual on court role, AND the unfortunate loss (to this point) of are entire 2023 class, (KJ not being able to play, and Ava's tragedy) we have a big hole in the development of the roster. about 40% of the roster leaves, and we have Hannah, and McCabe as the only player to add to the current freshman. If we don't get really significant step up from Mallegni, Guyton, and Stremlow next year, there will be a lot of pressure on Deal to have a hell of a freshman year
 
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Scott559 said:
Realistically how many players do you think Iowa will take in the portal?
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I think probably 2

citizenHawk said:
Roster size really isn't an issue right now, and not worth worrying about. Jensen isn't subtracting anyone unless something crazy and impossible happens in recruiting.
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In fairness people are bringing it up because Jan herself mentioned it as something you have to consider doing now if you want to be a contender
 
Ad-Hawk said:
Almost certainly the latter, the team got worse this year and there have been all sorts of behind the scenes issues there. Multiple player have just suddenly left the team during her tenure and there's been allegations of abuse. If she wasn't at a school where women's basketball is still a complete afterthought it would have been a bigger story and I'm not sure she'd have made it through the season

Williams is awesome but I would be surprised if Iowa adds a front court player of that caliber now that Heiden has started to emerge. Williams is going to want to start and Jan obviously isn't going to be bench Stuelke. Someone is going to get a good one if she enters though. Iowa should be prioritizing a combo guard in the same mold as Lucy and a tweener forward who can play 3 or 4 in small ball lineups over a true big, imo
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I love a good tweener
 
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Teams get 15 scholarships in WBB. Currently, next year's roster has 12 players committed to it (9 on roster plus the 3 freshman). There's no reason to "subtract" anyone.

To my knowledge Iowa has never "subtracted" anyone. After Clark's junior year Iowa was briefly at the scholarship limit and there was panic that Iowa couldn't add a transfer, but then Wetering transferred out. Iowa never actually added anyone in the portal that off-season, so I highly doubt Wetering was forced out.

I do think there are situations where Iowa has told players they aren't likely to make the rotation soon/at all and that has led the player to transfer out. Megan Meyer and Lauren Jensen come to mind. Maybe Jan considers that de-facto subtraction.

The only other thing I can think of is that Iowa didn't bring Tomi Taiwo and Logan Cook back for their Covid years. I wouldn't consider that subtraction either, but maybe Jan does. The Covid year was a weird mechanism.

As for transfers, I'd be surprised if Iowa added more than 1 unless there were multiple really good players interested. I could see a scenario where Iowa adds a transfer and Feuerbach decides to use her Covid year.
 
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Ad-Hawk said:
I think probably 2



In fairness people are bringing it up because Jan herself mentioned it as something you have to consider doing now if you want to be a contender
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Yeah, i just think she was speaking generally about what teams are doing, and generally about what she may have to do at some point. She's clearly thought about what it will take to contend and keep pace.

Wouldn't discount the idea she wants to keep players motivated as well, regardless of their court time.

*And because I think she believes in what she's selling, I'm sure she hopes they could pull that fantasy scenario where there are more commits than spots---so that subtraction scenario always has to be on the table.

Idk. It's interesting that she has thought about it.
 
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We need a guard that can score. Period.💰
A front line player would be nice too, but I think we could do it with what we have now.
 
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