Kate Koval Transfers to Baylor After LSU Signs Russian Player — SkimNews
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- Kate Koval, 20, signed with Baylor University in Texas after the NCAA granted her a transfer waiver outside the regular window at LSU's request.
- Kate Koval played in all 35 of LSU's matches last season, averaging 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, before departing following the arrival of 17-year-old Russian player Anna Minaeva.
- Kate Koval said on Instagram that her father serves in the Ukrainian military and that places where she grew up and first played basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes, making LSU no longer the right place for her.
- LSU initially announced Koval's departure for "personal reasons" before she publicly linked it to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the signing of the Russian player.
- The NCAA only grants out-of-window transfer waivers for extenuating circumstances or events unrelated to the sport and outside the individual's control, and the event must have occurred after the transfer portal window closed.
Why it matters: LSU requested the rare NCAA out-of-window waiver for Koval — the same school that signed the Russian player who triggered her exit — illustrating how the Ukraine war is now shaping individual eligibility decisions in U.S. college athletics, not just geopolitics.
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