Audi Crooks Leads Deep Women's Basketball Transfer Portal
SkimNews Take
Because the portal window opens immediately after the championship, player exits and coaching changes now occur in parallel rather than sequentially, compressing a full offseason of disruption into a single two-week span.
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- Audi Crooks tops the transfer portal rankings after a Second Team All-American season at Iowa State, averaging 25.8 points and 7.7 rebounds on 64.9% shooting — and she is one of 10 Cyclones to enter the portal.
- Talaysia Cooper committed to Ole Miss on April 8, one of several Tennessee departures after the Volunteers lost their final eight games and fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to NC State.
- Dani Carnegie committed to Iowa on April 11 after leading Georgia to its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2023; her exit follows the Bulldogs' first-round collapse against Virginia and a subsequent coaching change.
- Jada Williams committed to LSU on April 12, marking her third team in three years after the Big 12 First Team guard transferred from Arizona to Iowa State last summer.
- Aaliyah Crump, a former five-star recruit and No. 5 player in the 2025 class, committed to Duke on April 12 after a foot injury cut short her freshman year at Texas and the Longhorns lost in the Final Four to UCLA.
- Kiyomi McMiller is entering the portal for the second consecutive year after a 21.6-point All-Big Ten season at Penn State, having previously been suspended at Rutgers following a reported locker room altercation.
- Gracie Merkle is in the portal for the third time in three years and led the nation in field goal percentage at 72.5% for Penn State, which also underwent a coaching change this offseason.
Why it matters: The NCAA's decision to compress the women's basketball transfer window to 15 days (April 6-20) means programs have less time to recruit and players less leverage to negotiate — and the portal is already reshaping the sport, with bluebloods like Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia each hemorrhaging starters after early tournament exits.
