As the Iowa women’s basketball program readies for its foreign overseas trip at the end of next week, head coach Lisa Bluder took time out to meet with the media.
One of the items Bluder discussed was why Iowa didn’t add a player out of the transfer portal.
After an historic run to the NCAA Tournament’s national championship game, the nation wondered how Iowa would replace key players such as forward McKenna Warnock and center Monika Czinano. With the national player of the year, Caitlin Clark, returning alongside a talented nucleus, Iowa looked like an obvious landing spot for other stars that put their name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.
There were talented names in the portal, too. Former Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith entered. Former DePaul and Stanford bigs Aneesah Morrow and Lauren Betts did as well.
Then, a weird thing happened. None of those three — or anyone else — transferred to Iowa City.
Instead, both Van Lith and Morrow transferred to the team that topped Iowa in the national championship game in the LSU Tigers. Meanwhile, Betts went from Stanford to UCLA.
Bluder commented on why it didn’t work out for the Hawkeyes.
“There’s like a thousand people in the portal and about 10 of them are good enough to play for us. I mean, they’re in the portal because they weren’t getting playing time, right? That’s why they’re usually in the portal.
“And then we really couldn’t get a one, two or three because we’re so heavy at that position. So, we were really only looking at four and five and now it takes you down to about three kids in the country, and, quite honestly, our salary cap wasn’t as good as the other people’s. You know, that’s what it comes down to for a lot of kids that are in the portal: They want a lot of money,” Bluder said.
It’s really not a surprise to hear Bluder point toward name, image and likeness opportunities as a difference-maker in transfer portal recruitments. It’s the not-so-secret reality of where college athletics finds itself.
The good news for the Hawkeyes is they have a very talented roster even without a transfer portal addition. Beginning with its three-game overseas trip, Iowa gets a jumpstart on the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season.
The Hawkeyes will leave for Southern Italy and Croatia on Aug. 4 and return home on Aug. 16.
Bluder touched on a number of other topics as well. Here’s everything else Bluder had to say with Hawkeye Report and the rest of the Iowa reporters.