The women’s college basketball transfer portal has provided some explosive developments over the past 48 hours. A number of high-profile players who were expected to be centerpiece components of 2024 rosters have entered the portal, greatly changing the balance of power in the sport for the coming season.
We can already say that the power structure has changed as a result of these moves if only because the teams on the wrong side of these moves will be greatly hurt unless they can somehow come up with equal replacements (maybe swapping players in essence, though of course trades don’t generally exist in college sports).
The balance of power will continue to change when these various high-level transfers announce their destinations.
Arguably the biggest transfer announcement on Friday came from Stanford center Lauren Betts. The former No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022 spent one season with Tara VanDerveer in Palo Alto and wanted a change of scenery.
This obviously hurts Stanford a great deal and thereby makes the Pac-12 a lot more wide open. USC’s place in the Pac-12 will be shaped by future portal developments. We will discuss some of the possibilities attached to Betts and other elite transfers in future articles, so stay tuned.
Lauren Betts, the top-ranked women's basketball recruit from the class of 2022 according to HoopGurlz, is in the transfer portal after spending one season with Stanford. https://t.co/myItI56Zxn
— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) April 7, 2023
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