Former Duck Te-Hina Paopao named as a Top 25 player in nation

ESPN has included former Duck point guard Te-Hina Paopao in its Top 25 women’s college basketball players.

Sometimes the portal giveth and sometimes it can taketh away.

In the case of former Oregon Duck women’s basketball player Te-Hina Paopao, the portal tooketh away.

Paopao was recruited to be the heir apparent to Sabrina Ionescu and while she had three good seasons at Oregon, they were marred by injuries and she found out the hard way that filling Ionescu’s shoes turned out to be an impossible task.

She has moved across the country to South Carolina where she is flourishing for a team that has the potential to win a national title.

Paopao has been included in the latest Top 25 women’s basketball players that was put together by ESPN. Unfortunately, no current Ducks have been listed, but there are several Pac-12 athletes in there as well as Paopao. Here is the Top 25 with their current stats and we included what ESPN had to say about the former Oregon point guard.

Liberty point guard Kennedi Williams transfers to Oregon

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program has added Liberty point guard Kennedi Williams to the roster.

Kelly Graves is gaining a player instead of losing players via the transfer portal.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program announced that point guard Kennedi Williams, formerly of Liberty University, will be headed to Eugene to continue her career.

At 5-foot-7, Williams will be an option to replace Te-Hina Paopao at the point position. She played in all 33 of Liberty’s games last season, starting at point guard in each of the last 24 contests. Her 126 assists were the most by a Lady Flame since the 2014-15 season and became the first player to lead Liberty in assists in back-to-back seasons since Sadalia Ellis did so in three straight campaigns (2013-16).

Williams is from Douglasville, GA and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Former Oregon guard Endyia Rogers transfers to Texas A&M

Former Oregon guard Endyia Rogers says she will play her final college season at Texas A&M next season.

It’s been a month since Endyia Rogers announced she would be transferring out of the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program and now she finally has a new home.

That home is College Station, Texas as Rogers’ third school in four seasons will be Texas A&M. She’ll play for second-year coach Joni Taylor as she attempts to rebuild the Aggie program. Her team was just 9-20 last season and having Rogers in their backcourt will surely help them in a tough SEC.

Rogers had a career year for Oregon as she led the Ducks in scoring (15.9 points) and assists (3.9). She also averaged 4.6 rebounds and Rogers shot 45.3 percent from the field, including 38.7 percent from three, in 35 games this season.

She has one year of eligibility remaining. Rogers also becomes the second Duck to join an SEC squad as Te-Hina Paopao announced she would be attending South Carolina next season.

Who is still in the transfer portal that might make sense for the Iowa Hawkeyes?

Fresh off a trip to the national title game, Iowa wants to retool. Here’s several transfer portal targets the Hawkeyes should consider.

What an offseason this has been for women’s college basketball.

After one of the greatest tournaments in history, the race is on for these teams to reach even bigger heights in 2023-24. A number of top players hit the portal this offseason, looking more like the football version of the transfer portal.

From established stars Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow to talented youngsters waiting for a breakout such as Lauren Betts, there’s something for everyone in the portal!

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they haven’t brought in anyone yet even though some of the portal’s top players have made their way to greener pastures.

Just like one of the worst snubs in American Idol history Chris Daughtry said in his hit song “It’s Not Over,” it is definitely not over yet for the Hawkeyes. There are many talented players still looking for a new home to ply their trade. Plenty of potential Hawkeyes out there!

As we get ready to leave the month of April, here is an updated look at the crazy women’s college basketball transfer portal.

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Oregon Ducks basketball 2023 transfer portal tracker

The transfer portal has been a busy place for the Ducks as of late, with players going and coming. Here’s an updated tracker of the movement.

We are at the point of the college basketball season where everything seems to be in flux. Players are moving in and out of the transfer portal daily, while some others are making decisions about their professional careers as well.

For the Oregon Ducks, both in the men’s and women’s basketball worlds, it has been a busy time. Since the season ended for both Dana Altman and Kelly Graves a few weeks ago, a number of players have announced that they would be leaving the school in search of a new team to play for, and in the case of the men’s team, at least one player has announced that they will be joining the Ducks going forward as well.

In order to keep everything straight, we wanted to throw together a transfer portal tracker for both Altman and Graves’ squads, keeping tabs on who is coming, who is going, and some potential additions via the portal as well.

Report: Oregon guard Endyia Rogers officially enters the transfer portal

Report: Oregon guard Endyia Rogers officially enters the transfer portal

It’s now official, reportedly.

Oregon guard Endyia Rogers will indeed end her time at Oregon and finish out her eligibility somewhere else as she has entered the transfer portal, according to The Oregonian’s James Crepea. 

The transfer from USC played for the Ducks for two seasons averaging nearly 15 points per game. She had declared for the WNBA draft, but a week later announced she had withdrawn her name from consideration.

Although she had changed her mind about the professional league, she didn’t say she was returning to Oregon.

Now we know.

Rogers becomes the third Oregon Ducks women’s basketball player to announce they are leaving Eugene in the past week as Te-Hina Paopao and Sedona Prince also said they are entering the portal.

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Report: Te-Hina Paopao enters transfer portal and leaves Oregon

In a stunning move, Te-Hina Paopao will reportedly enter the transfer portal and leave the Ducks, per @JamesCrepea.

A bombshell of news hit the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program on Monday night.

James Crepea of the Oregonian reported late Monday night that Oregon starting guard Te-Hina Paopao is entering the transfer portal and will finish her college career elsewhere.

Paopao was Oregon’s top recruit in the post-Sabrina Era, but injuries and roster turnover contributed to her not quite living up to her billing.

Even then, Paopao still averaged 13.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Ducks this season. For her career, the 5-foot-9 guard from Oceanside, Calif. averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game.

She has two years of eligibility remaining.

Paopao leaving is a significant blow to Kelly Graves’ team for the 2023-24 season. She was projected to be the starting point guard for a team that should have the talent to make the NCAA tournament. With Endyia Rogers declaring for the WNBA draft, there isn’t a clear point guard on the roster and the three recruits coming in are more shooting guard/forward types.

Graves will most likely search the transfer portal to replace Paopao.

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WBB recap: Ducks’ WNIT run ends in Seattle

Suspect second half shooting took Oregon down as the Ducks’ season ends in Seattle with a WNIT quarterfinal loss.

Of all places to see your season end, Seattle is one of the last places the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team wanted to end the 2022-23 campaign.

Poor second-half shooting was Oregon’s ultimate downfall as the Ducks went down 63-59 to Washington in the WNIT quarterfinals. It was the first time the Huskies have defeated Oregon in four tries this season.

Washington will continue its season against Kansas in the semifinals while Oregon’s off-season officially begins.

The Ducks shot just 35 percent in the second half and the Huskies were able to erase an early double-digit deficit.

Te-Hina Paopao led Oregon with 14 points, but 11 of those points came in the first half. The Huskies’ defense concentrated on Paopao after halftime and the Duck point guard couldn’t get open.

Taya Hanson scored 12 points on four threes and Phillipina Kyei scored nine points and 11 rebounds.

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WBB recap: Ducks pressure Rice into turnovers and advance in WNIT

A dominating third quarter helped the Ducks fry Rice 78-53 to advance to the third round of the WNIT.

When the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team decides to turn up the defensive pressure, not many teams can handle it. Rice proved it was incapable of handling the Duck press in the third quarter and what was a close game turned into a rout.

Oregon advanced to the WNIT third round with the 78-53 win over the Owls. A 23-9 third quarter turned a good game into the blowout. The Ducks had three players in double figures and center Phillipina Kyei just missed a triple-double in points, rebounds and blocks. She was dominating inside the paint and Rice never found an answer for the 6-foot-8 Kyei.

Now the Ducks will host San Diego Thursday night as the Toreros defeated UC-Irvine.

WBB recap: Strong second half may be enough to impress NCAA committee

It’s a loss, but Oregon’a 76-65 loss to Stanford in the Pac-12 quarterfinals could be enough to impress the NCAA tournament committee.

The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is going to look back upon this loss to Stanford and wonder “what if?”

Oregon played the Cardinal straight up in the second half, but a poor first half was enough to send the Ducks out of the Pac-12 tourney with a 76-65 loss to the Cardinal.

Coming into the game, the Ducks had a NET ranking of 19 and with this relatively close loss to the No. 1 seeded Cardinal, Oregon may have done just enough to get into the Big Dance. We won’t know if that’s the case until next weekend.

The Ducks can point to winning their three previous games before this loss, including a victory over ranked Arizona.

Te-Hina Paopao led Oregon with career-high 28 points, including going 7-of-10 from long range. Endyia Rogers added 15, but she struggled the entire day against the Stanford defense. She was 6-of-25 from the field and as a team, the Ducks were just 20-of-68 shooting as a team.

On the other side of the court, the Ducks had no answer for Cameron Brink, who almost got her second triple-double against Oregon this season. The Stanford center scored 22 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had eight assists.

After falling down 37-24 in the first half, the Ducks got hot in the third quarter and at one point, they were within six of Stanford on Paopao’s three-pointer. But Brink came off the bench and went on a run for themselves and the deficit quickly went back to 13 by the time the quarter ended.

To the Ducks’ credit, they never let the game completely get away from them and wound up outscoring Stanford 41-39 in the second half.

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