WBB Transfer Portal Targets 2025-2026
- Thread starter HawksGoneWild1
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I feel irrationally confident about landing one of the USC transfers. Especially Howell. She seems like a perfect fit and her background should help Iowa's favorability. The longer we go without hearing anything only increases my irrational confidence. Perhaps it's why we didn't hear more or why we didn't chase Tonie.
I thought it was odd that one "scout" who was at the all-star game this weekend and obviously spoke with our staff reported Iowa had "major interest" in the Howell. Shouldn't that be obvious? If done for clicks/page views then I don't see how that generates any appreciable amount? I just thought that was tweet was peculiar. Never know when coaches intentionally feed these scouts/writers/reporters misinformation.
I thought it was odd that one "scout" who was at the all-star game this weekend and obviously spoke with our staff reported Iowa had "major interest" in the Howell. Shouldn't that be obvious? If done for clicks/page views then I don't see how that generates any appreciable amount? I just thought that was tweet was peculiar. Never know when coaches intentionally feed these scouts/writers/reporters misinformation.
SIAP: Anyone got wind of what this possible smoke is about?
Haven't looked back to see if this has been mentioned, but Iowa has reached out to Shannon Dowell (Illinois St.)
Such an interesting development. It feels like things are starting to develop with the portal game where teams have to dive in and swim to stay on top. Fans are so invested in high school recruiting, it's difficult to make the mental switch. Five stars are five stars, and you take them however they might come to you, but you have to know it could change other hopes and investments.
I sure hope they can land one or two, but i do wonder how it shakes things up.
I sure hope they can land one or two, but i do wonder how it shakes things up.
Shannon Dowell scored 37 in Illinois State's last WNIT game. ✨ First thing I see.
True. Bird in the hand, two in the bush. I ignorantly defer to the staff's expertise about who they take as transfers and the ramifications juice being worth the squeeze. Then again, coaching staffs are not always picking the long-term option if they fear an injury or two at the wrong time could make their time suddenly forfeit. Jan knows she has to demonstrate clear improvements over the next two years.
Part of the gig if you're handed the reins without going through the new coach rigmarole. So, it's fair.
If I smell like smoke it’s only cause I’ve been through hell
Shannon D. stats for those interested. 5'10. 2nd team all-conference (behind McDermott and Dannibier). From O'Fallon, IL. IIRC, its a little town next to a certain Edwardsville, IL some might be familiar with... i think
SUMMARY
2024-25
Career
G 37 71 PTS 17.6 13.6 TRB 5.2 4.7 AST 2.1 1.8 FG% 49.3 48.8 FG3% 31.5 30.5 FT% 75.1 77.3 eFG% 52.3 51.5 PER 25.9 24.3 WS 5.3 7.7
First number is for her sophomore year, the second number is career total. Speaking of ramifications, I still think having a senior point guard would be best for a certain 2026 PG recruit to start as a back-up. Just me tho.
SUMMARY
2024-25
Career
G 37 71 PTS 17.6 13.6 TRB 5.2 4.7 AST 2.1 1.8 FG% 49.3 48.8 FG3% 31.5 30.5 FT% 75.1 77.3 eFG% 52.3 51.5 PER 25.9 24.3 WS 5.3 7.7
First number is for her sophomore year, the second number is career total. Speaking of ramifications, I still think having a senior point guard would be best for a certain 2026 PG recruit to start as a back-up. Just me tho.
Haven't seen Illinois State play since they played the Hawkeyes in the NCAAs, but doesn't appear that she was a point guard for the Redbirds. She was only third on the team in assists (first in TOs), and one player had virtually twice as many. She had 205 2pt FGs and only 29 3pt FGs. For comparison, Lucy this year had 162 2s in five fewer games. So, another master ( mistress?) of the mid-range?
2024-25 Women's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - Illinois State University Athletics
The official 2024-25 Women's Basketball cumulative statistics for the Illinois State University Redbirds
goredbirds.com
Re: Shannon Dowell
She has a pretty good PER of 25.9.
PER = Player Efficiency Rating
A measure of per-minute production standardized such that the league average is 15.
Her 2pt% is better that most 53.5%. Probably one reason her PER is high.
Lucy Olsen was 47% from inside the arc this last year.
Think she has 2 less than desirable stat sets (assists and defense).
| Season | Games | Mins | Mins/Game | Assist | TO | Assist/TO Ratio : 1 | Assists Per Game | Def Box+/- | |||||
| '24-'25 |
|
|
| 79 | 94 | 0.84 |
|
|
Can only guess Jan has a plan to correct these with her or at least minimize them.
Overall #41 so she's in the top half of my portal short list.
Shannon Dowell College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Shannon Dowell - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more
www.sports-reference.com
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Some of Dowell's recent WNIT game is here:
I watched parts of the first quarter. Dowell looks like she can dribble decently well, but she definitely wasn't playing point guard. I didn't watch long enough to truly evaluate her defense, but nothing in what I saw or her stats screams lockdown defender.
She hit a couple threes in the first quarter. It looks like she can shoot threes okay when wide open, but she doesn't shoot them a ton. I worry her shot release is really low, which might limit how much she can shoot when closely guarded.
She didn't shoot any midrange jumpers in the parts I saw. Seems like she tries to attack the basket first. That's not bad necessarily, but I wonder how much harder it might be to do that in the Big Ten where players are more athletic and rim protectors are taller and better.
Overall, I'm just not sure what need she fills for Iowa. She's 5'10', so not really an option at the 4. Do the coaches think she could actually play PG if given an opportunity? Do they think her shot has potential if developed? Is her slashing just that good?
For now, I'd say the USC duo are likely the higher priority.
I watched parts of the first quarter. Dowell looks like she can dribble decently well, but she definitely wasn't playing point guard. I didn't watch long enough to truly evaluate her defense, but nothing in what I saw or her stats screams lockdown defender.
She hit a couple threes in the first quarter. It looks like she can shoot threes okay when wide open, but she doesn't shoot them a ton. I worry her shot release is really low, which might limit how much she can shoot when closely guarded.
She didn't shoot any midrange jumpers in the parts I saw. Seems like she tries to attack the basket first. That's not bad necessarily, but I wonder how much harder it might be to do that in the Big Ten where players are more athletic and rim protectors are taller and better.
Overall, I'm just not sure what need she fills for Iowa. She's 5'10', so not really an option at the 4. Do the coaches think she could actually play PG if given an opportunity? Do they think her shot has potential if developed? Is her slashing just that good?
For now, I'd say the USC duo are likely the higher priority.
Man, do you ever have anything positive say? 99.9% of everything you say is negative towards Iowa. It gets real old dude.
Do you have any reliable information on contact between Iowa and the "USC duo".
A lot of obstacles working against Iowa. Players coming in want to play. HS will be playing out of position and will hamstring us in both the portal and season, IMO. I like HS a lot, but she is not a forward. I would assume she will sub for Heiden, also. 5* Addie Deal is coming in and with Fuerbach and McCabe coming back, it’s not attractive for a transfer seeking a lot of minutes.
I don't have specific information on that. My comment about higher priority was based on seeing how both would be fits for Iowa's current needs.
I get your point but while I don't expect to get Howell...if she were to come I think they would easily find her minutes.
We need another scorer like Lucy who can create off the dribble and get her own shot. It would be nice to have that option while Addie gets adjusted to the college game.
Agree 100% with everything you said.
Here's a second full game against Drake in the conference tournament.
Definitely not playing point guard in either game at any time. She doesn't really bring the ball up the floor as help either. Now it makes sense of why her assists are so low not being the PG. I just auto assumed she was a PG from her height and what Jan said she needed from the portal and that was before Guyton packed up.
She can dribble as she can get to the basket. I wouldn't say her main gig is a middy game like Lucy. It's more of an aggressive drive to the basket. She draws fouls and +1s. To me her drives to the rim are better than Hannah and she looks comfortable doing it. How will that translate into B1G play is a wildcard.
Can't really tell how she would operate as a PG if that's the plan. She can shoot the 3 but it's not her bread and butter to be playing beyond the arc as a 2 - 4 player. This is what Braydon is saying. How would her game even fill any of the positions we lack depth at (PG and Syd's position)?
Think I heard the announcer in one of the games say that she could easily break a press so I think it was Abilene game. I thought that was odd as she didn't really help bring the ball up the court. So I don't know if she misspoke or if that's really true. She seems to have good body control and decision making to not get stuck in traffic and to draw fouls.
This almost signals Deal as PG if they bring her in. Would of liked to see her bring the ball up that floor against the press to see if that announcer was right about her breaking them. Think it could be possible from the other dribbling she does, just not comfortable saying she can yet. Think she has some pretty good skills. Just don't know how well they translate for our most important needs.
Since she has 2 years left and if they plan to use her at PG, that seems to disrupt Harpring coming in the following year. I'm confused by what their intentions are for Dowell. Maybe they feel she can fill multiple roles of 1 -3 so they can move her if Harpring comes in? There must be something hidden here we don't know about yet to make an informed decision of why they would go after her.
The weirdest part of this is hawkbuck is the one bringing it up out of the blue on top of it. He's usually more plugged in than the rest of us. So far he has only stated we have reached out to Dowell and nothing more at this point. However, why do I feel that when he's got some insider info that there's more to it than just reaching out?
Oil money. Plus everyone thinks Mark Campbell tampers.
The only team I'm worried about getting howell over us is notre dame. But it sounds like players got mistreated at usc from what I've read and i doubt she wants any part of that again. Theirs a reason all those players left notre dame.
I think their is a very good chance we land both howell and heckel? From usc.
Remember there is a dead period until the 11th. So players will be able to visit then. I don't expect news until then
I think their is a very good chance we land both howell and heckel? From usc.
Remember there is a dead period until the 11th. So players will be able to visit then. I don't expect news until then
What do you mean mistreated?
The realist in me thinks it's a pretty slim chance we even get one from USC. Getting both is very low percentage.
I would take them both in a heartbeat, though. There's just way too much at play in college recruiting to be sure.
Their was favoritism played. Some players got away with stuff while others got treated bad. Its on Twitter somewhere from an insider
It was also brought up in this exchange on an USC forum at the link hawkod posted a few days back.
Gotta new target....Joens from ISU!!!!!!
Just kidding.😜😜
Just kidding.😜😜
My gut feeling has steadily gone downhill on Howell--personally, I don't expect any more positive momentum there. Heckel I feel more optimistic about -- she at least seems to have already had relationships with or close to Iowa WBB people.
Even if those two are a bust, there are two new guards in the portal from UCLA possibly worth a look (Aarnisalo and Cain).
edit - Aarnisalo, not Arnisalo
Even if those two are a bust, there are two new guards in the portal from UCLA possibly worth a look (Aarnisalo and Cain).
edit - Aarnisalo, not Arnisalo
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For discussion, here's ESPN's list of top players in the portal: https://www.espn.com/womens-college...ransfer-portal-player-rankings-2025-26-season
For what its worth, I disagree with ranking Guyton ahead of Howell and Heckel. To me both Howell and Heckel had better freshman seasons than Guyton, and I think they both have higher upside as well.
For what its worth, I disagree with ranking Guyton ahead of Howell and Heckel. To me both Howell and Heckel had better freshman seasons than Guyton, and I think they both have higher upside as well.
Any other Portal gals we are targeting? Seems like all men and women’s portal we target tell Iowa to kick rocks.
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