Oregon Ducks women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves will be the first to say that the 2023-24 season didn’t go as planned.
The Ducks were 11-21 last season and won just two conference games. To add insult to injury, there was a mass defection of the roster into the transfer portal, leaving coach Graves to completely rebuild the roster.
But as it turns out, that may have been a blessing in disguise. Graves and his staff got down to work and searched the entire country, and then some, to fill out the roster with talent and possibly return the Ducks to past glory.
According to On3 (subscription required), the Ducks have been a huge winner where the portal is concerned. This is writer Talia Goodman’s assessment of Oregon’s off-season.
“The Oregon Ducks lost five players to the transfer portal this offseason, including two starters. But they were slowly but surely able to add a class of seven additions, including UNC star Deja Kelly, Texas sophomore Amina Muhammad and BYU’s Nani Falatea,” she said. “The high-major additions averaged a total of 51.4 points per game in their last full season, and Kelly was one of the biggest recruiting wins in the portal this season.”
Although the former Tar Heel will be a Duck for just one season, she’s the type of talent that could help a program turn things completely around very quickly.
“Kelly has one year of eligibility remaining and averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season at UNC. She’s made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in each of her four years as a Tar Heel,” Goodman wrote. “She was named to the first-team All-ACC for the third year in a row after last season and was named a WBCA All-America region finalist for the third year.”
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