NCAA Women's Bball Transfer Portal

[Claxdj01 63]

2 minutes ago, Banksyrules said:

If they go to …. Gulp…. To Purdue, I would think our relationship with that player got feisty while playing here.

I think it would be just for playing time, a chance to be the star, and still being a in big conference which we all know how atrociously bad Purdue was last season, after underperforming the year before with several good players and mass transfer exodus 

[TTT 1,339]

Gianna Kneepkens/UTAH visits to UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma.

[mickey one 96]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

Gianna Kneepkens/UTAH visits to UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma.

Would she start at all of those places?

[TTT 1,339]

8 hours ago, mickey one said:

Would she start at all of those places?

Maybe, start at some of them.  Not sure about every one of them.

 

[LamarCheeks 22,093]

Ohio State's Cotie McMahon commits to Ole Miss -- per Talia Goodman. 

[Aaron 4,530]

10 hours ago, TTT said:

Gianna Kneepkens/UTAH visits to UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma.

I wanted her from beginning, but IU does not have anywhere near the NIL needed at the moment and probably won't for a while. As I have said several times on here through whispers I have heard and putting pieces together, IU is so behind in NIL thanks to Moren and thinking her culture overrode NIL. 

As I have said, Moren gets it now and they are fundraising to try to get there, but way behind. The players they are able to even have a chance with right now, show NIL situation is pretty poor.

This is inferring on my part here, but Hysterics (who have their own issues) were raising alarm bells all year about NIL situation for program to try to get Moren to see the issue. However, her lack of clear understanding of how important NIL would be, has program in bad spot temporarily. 

Moren is a great coach. However, being old school and a bit stubborn similar to Knight, has team in a bit of a bind for the time being. Imagine if Knight were still IU's coach. He would likely think same thing and realize at last second to pivot. Difference is he may have been able to get money quickly with how legendary he is.

Moren is in an interesting spot of having a few good years but far from legendary status. As a result, once she figured out late this yr NIL was a lot more important that she thought, raising to catch up is going to take time.

Given who they are after, tells me they are going to have to take some chances on players who have not done much and hope to get them to overachieve a bit. Also, may have to throw players in fire a bit compared to what we are used to, with people like Faith and the new freshman seeing extended time.

I would infer that if any big time visits are reported or a surprise get is announced by IU, it is a great sign that they finally found someone to give them bigger money towards building a roster. If the current trajectory continues, I would assume the NIL fundraising is taking time as expected and they are having to take chances on second and third tier players.

Finally, IU is in a bit of a unique situation thanks to Mike Woodson and Curt Cignetti for different reasons. They have had to squeeze donors here more than most to get teams competitive and stay that way thanks to Cignetti making people care about football now and Woodson destroying program to point where they need whole new roster.

Most schools are not in this unique situation and have to bleed best donors dry to keep football going and get men's basketball back up and running under Devries. This leaves Moren and women's bball in a tough spot given the two revenue producers in big situation to improve and/or stay there. 

If football had continued to suck or men's basketball were on solid footing, they could focus more on money for women's bball. However, the combination of football suddenly being good and needing huge $$$ to stay there and men's basketball needing huge $$$ to improve, has left women's bball in tough spot.

Combine Moren's lack of understanding how important NIL was, with the focus on the big two and you get situation where are now. If she had asked for more money from beginning it probably would have been more of a focus as she has some pull despite all the $$$ being raised for big two. 

Unfortunately, a few negative factors all hit at once as described above, and as a result, Hoosiers are way behind in NIL fundraising for women's bball. As I have said should be much improved with time to fundraise. Especially, once men's roster is put together and Hoosiers Connect can focus on smaller donors earmarked for this women's program for future. They are doing it now but have to split attention till men's roster put together and $$$ fully there.

You can make a solid argument women deserve better and to throw either football or men's ball aside. Unfortunately though, that is not how economics of college game work anywhere.       

[Aaron 4,530]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

Maybe, start at some of them.  Not sure about every one of them.

 

100% she would start at any school in America. She was a star on a good Utah team who played IU. She is better and more sought after then any player on Hoosiers. 

Kneepkens is one of the top 5-10 players in entire portal and IU almost certainly does not have anywhere near NIL needed for her as described above.

[Aaron 4,530]

9 hours ago, mickey one said:

Would she start at all of those places?

Yes at any school in America she would start. See above.

[TTT 1,339]

So…before the NIL fiasco T. Moren was pretty stable to retire from IU.  Is it still the same as a player in the range of bottom half of big ten eventually just riding it out for several years (don’t know how long until retirement) but I think she would have been good for at least another decade or does T. Moren enter the transfer portal as well.

These thoughts after another 20 year win season among many consecutive 20+ win seasons.  Projection forecast is or has the sky fallen that could be questionably be called a team mutiny.  (among the transfers from IU (which is true of many transfers from many schools) I do not see hardly any positive love for coaching staff)….like from the successful players that finished their careers at IU.

[Aaron 4,530]

24 minutes ago, TTT said:

So…before the NIL fiasco T. Moren was pretty stable to retire from IU.  Is it still the same as a player in the range of bottom half of big ten eventually just riding it out for several years (don’t know how long until retirement) but I think she would have been good for at least another decade or does T. Moren enter the transfer portal as well.

Now that she has adjusted, it is quite possible Moren could still retire from IU. However, temporarily for this season, it could be a bit rougher waters while they fundraise for NIL.

If she had refused to adjust, she would have been Coquese Washington at PSU and fallen completely apart and would have been fired in several yrs likely. However, now that she sees the light with NIL, she could well be Brenda Freese who had to adjust on fly a couple season ago and had a bit of a rough year thinking similar. Now it is perfect again for her.

Most likely this is temporary as I have said, and for future seasons money should hopefully be there to be really good again. Moren being slow likely cost them one season in 25-26 from a very high ceiling just as it really cost Freese in 23-24. If Moren had not adjusted and embraced NIL no one would have hired her outside of a mid-major program but it appears she has. 

Moren will squeeze ever last bit of juice out of this roster because she is that good of a coach. However, talent will be behind past with lots of young players likely thrown in fire as described above.    

[TTT 1,339]

26 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Now that she has adjusted, it is quite possible Moren could still retire from IU. However, temporarily for this season, it could be a bit rougher waters while they fundraise for NIL.

If she had refused to adjust, she would have been Coquese Washington at PSU and fallen completely apart and would have been fired in several yrs likely. However, now that she sees the light with NIL, she could well be Brenda Freese who had to adjust on fly a couple season ago and had a bit of a rough year thinking similar. Now it is perfect again for her.

Most likely this is temporary as I have said, and for future seasons money should hopefully be there to be really good again. Moren being slow likely cost them one season in 25-26 from a very high ceiling just as it really cost Freese in 23-24.

Moren will squeeze ever last bit of juice out of this roster because she is that good of a coach. However, talent will be behind past with lots of young players likely thrown in fire as described above.    

Brenda F. though I agree has some parallels in comparison I think it’s really not a good comparison.  B. F. has a national championship 3 final fours and dominance ….many 20+ wins seasons Maryland before joining the big ten for many years.  A more fair comparison would be somewhere in the middle between Northwestern coach/Joe McKeown and Maryland coach/Brenda Frese.

 Agree it’s good to squeeze every last drop of juice out of roster it also could be argued that putting roster in that position equals the situation that is playing out now…even before NIL leaving roster to thin when injuries occur and falling short of a final four (good (much better than what IU had) vs elite/great)….now NIL has multiplied issues problems multiple times.

sidenote: Frese even coached at Ball State early on.

[TTT 1,339]

Disparities in talent levels of women college basketball….UCONN shooting horrible 3 point ball and still dominating win vs South Carolina.  Several teams can win in so many different ways….and then there are the teams that have hardly any margin for error which probably more represents T. Moren era….mostly team coached well but not much room for margin of error.

[Aaron 4,530]

23 minutes ago, TTT said:

Brenda F. though I agree has some parallels in comparison I think it’s really not a good comparison.  B. F. has a national championship 3 final fours and dominance ….many 20+ wins seasons Maryland before joining the big ten for many years.  A more fair comparison would be somewhere in the middle between Northwestern coach/Joe McKeown and Maryland coach/Brenda Frese.

 Agree it’s good to squeeze every last drop of juice out of roster it also could be argued that putting roster in that position equals the situation that is playing out now…even before NIL leaving roster to thin when injuries occur and falling short of a final four (good (much better than what IU had) vs elite/great)….now NIL has multiplied issues problems multiple times.

sidenote: Frese even coached at Ball State early on.

I talked about above how raising money will take more time than average situation due to amount of past success. Freese had more of a legendary to career to get money fast as Knight would have and Painter has. GIven Moren's level of success it will take time as I talked about.

[ronzo4IU 417]

2 hours ago, Aaron said:

I wanted her from beginning, but IU does not have anywhere near the NIL needed at the moment and probably won't for a while. As I have said several times on here through whispers I have heard and putting pieces together, IU is so behind in NIL thanks to Moren and thinking her culture overrode NIL. 

As I have said, Moren gets it now and they are fundraising to try to get there, but way behind. The players they are able to even have a chance with right now, show NIL situation is pretty poor.

This is inferring on my part here, but Hysterics (who have their own issues) were raising alarm bells all year about NIL situation for program to try to get Moren to see the issue. However, her lack of clear understanding of how important NIL would be, has program in bad spot temporarily. 

Moren is a great coach. However, being old school and a bit stubborn similar to Knight, has team in a bit of a bind for the time being. Imagine if Knight were still IU's coach. He would likely think same thing and realize at last second to pivot. Difference is he may have been able to get money quickly with how legendary he is.

Moren is in an interesting spot of having a few good years but far from legendary status. As a result, once she figured out late this yr NIL was a lot more important that she thought, raising to catch up is going to take time.

Given who they are after, tells me they are going to have to take some chances on players who have not done much and hope to get them to overachieve a bit. Also, may have to throw players in fire a bit compared to what we are used to, with people like Faith and the new freshman seeing extended time.

I would infer that if any big time visits are reported or a surprise get is announced by IU, it is a great sign that they finally found someone to give them bigger money towards building a roster. If the current trajectory continues, I would assume the NIL fundraising is taking time as expected and they are having to take chances on second and third tier players.

Finally, IU is in a bit of a unique situation thanks to Mike Woodson and Curt Cignetti for different reasons. They have had to squeeze donors here more than most to get teams competitive and stay that way thanks to Cignetti making people care about football now and Woodson destroying program to point where they need whole new roster.

Most schools are not in this unique situation and have to bleed best donors dry to keep football going and get men's basketball back up and running under Devries. This leaves Moren and women's bball in a tough spot given the two revenue producers in big situation to improve and/or stay there. 

If football had continued to suck or men's basketball were on solid footing, they could focus more on money for women's bball. However, the combination of football suddenly being good and needing huge $$$ to stay there and men's basketball needing huge $$$ to improve, has left women's bball in tough spot.

Combine Moren's lack of understanding how important NIL was, with the focus on the big two and you get situation where are now. If she had asked for more money from beginning it probably would have been more of a focus as she has some pull despite all the $$$ being raised for big two. 

Unfortunately, a few negative factors all hit at once as described above, and as a result, Hoosiers are way behind in NIL fundraising for women's bball. As I have said should be much improved with time to fundraise. Especially, once men's roster is put together and Hoosiers Connect can focus on smaller donors earmarked for this women's program for future. They are doing it now but have to split attention till men's roster put together and $$$ fully there.

You can make a solid argument women deserve better and to throw either football or men's ball aside. Unfortunately though, that is not how economics of college game work anywhere.       

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
The big question that I just can’t get out of my head is that, why would TM ever be stubborn for money that would be infused into the women’s program for upgrades?  That is so strange. It is just mind-boggling that someone at her position wouldn’t know what the wave of the future was going to be and that you always have to be ahead of the curve. I mean, that’s basically what she gets paid large sums of money to think about day in and day out. If a few of the best players are getting paid big money, then all the rest of them are gonna want to get paid, so that’s just like adding 2+2.  
So she actually thought that she could get a crop of kids year in and year out that would forgo the money and just want to play for her because of her system and culture?  That’s twilight zone material.

I know you say that she gets it now and is willing to accept NIL donations,  but there just seems like there had to be something else that was going on or is going on.

[TTT 1,339]

On 4/9/2025 at 10:13 AM, TTT said:

So, a year or two ago IU Ladies were heavily involved recruiting Blakes who went to Vandy……and Zania Socka-Nguemen who followed Dudley to UCLA (Dudley mother coached both I think at some point).  IU Ladies were in top 5 for Socka-Nguemen and after committing to UCLA she was asked a question where she would have went if not UCLA.  Nguemen-Socka stated she wasn’t sure but said probably Indiana or Michigan.  
(Some of these players have big ideas about how much they are going to impact their team when making transition from high school to being a freshman (or even sophomore) to college).

Both, Dudley and Socka-Nguemen are in transfer portal.  Not sure about any mutual interest between Nguemen-Socka and Indiana now.

sidenote: Have not heard anything about Williams/Wisky, Christen Carter/Butler, Makalusky/Butler, Ra Shaya Kyle/Florida among others nor any updates on IU Ladies.

That didn’t take long.  Dudley to Michigan.

[Aaron 4,530]

56 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
The big question that I just can’t get out of my head is that, why would TM ever be stubborn for money that would be infused into the women’s program for upgrades?  That is so strange. It is just mind-boggling that someone at her position wouldn’t know what the wave of the future was going to be and that you always have to be ahead of the curve. I mean, that’s basically what she gets paid large sums of money to think about day in and day out. If a few of the best players are getting paid big money, then all the rest of them are gonna want to get paid, so that’s just like adding 2+2.  
So she actually thought that she could get a crop of kids year in and year out that would forgo the money and just want to play for her because of her system and culture?  That’s twilight zone material.

I know you say that she gets it now and is willing to accept NIL donations,  but there just seems like there had to be something else that was going on or is going on.

As I have said, it was not 'refusing' in in terms of outright refusing money as some have claimed and is beyond ridiculous. No coach would outright decline NIL money handed to her 

It was more being warned by Hysterics and several others she needed more NIL for building a stronger roster and asking Hoosiers Connect and other for donations specifically for women's basketball and fundraising. Instead of doing this, she thought her culture would be strong enough to maintain players and underestimated how much NIL was needed.

The Yarden situation was a bit of a wake up call to her. They did blitz fundraise from what I understand for Yarden and had enough to match Maryland. However, she did not want to be part of a rebuild for a final year. Furthermore, these donors were only willing to pay the reported 300K for Yarden and not give another couple million to fill out roster. They also were unwilling to give any if Yarden was not on team.

As a result, Yarden is gone and NIL fundraising had to start from scratch with smaller donations and it woke Moren up to reality. They will get there but with such a late start, this roster is unlikely to have talent of past for this year, unless a last minute donor step ups which would be evidence if IU were connected to bigger names. So far not seeing that which means fundraising efforts are slow as expected and can't swim in NIL waters for top players.

Also, see above as I said that IU is in a particularly unique situation of having football just getting good and needing extra $$$ to stay there as well as extra $$$ to build a whole new men's basketball roster. Rightly or wrongly, given Moren's attitude towards NIL until very recently, all focus was on the big two sports as would be the case at any other school.

Most coaches saw this on women's side and asked for women's NIL months ago. Moren didn't until last second. Sometimes when you are stuck in old school ways as Moren was, it takes being hit in the face with the real issue (Yarden situation) to realize you need to adjust. 

Those who still refuse such as Joe McKeown or Coquese Washington are no longer viable coaches. Those who adjust as Moren sounds like she wants to might have a down year similar to Freese a couple yrs ago and then be really good again.

Also I think IU and Moren were caught off guard by asking price increase this yr. This goes for all sports but it is much easier to shake donors for extra cash in football and men's bball then women's bball.

I am using imaginary numbers since I don't know amounts but lets say Strip and Shay cost 50k each this year, that level of players might cost 100k this year. With money program had, they could still get 50k players but that is now someone like Spreen who is a risk.

Sort of like if I buy groceries for $200 and assume I can get same amount of food for that price indefinitely and then suddenly the same groceries cost $400 without warning (although someone mentioned to me job might not be sustainable with inflation at current salary which is kind of what Moren had happen) but I have only the funds to buy $200 worth of groceries. Mean's I have to cut back and get less food for same amount of money and try to make it work or find a better job for more money. For the interim, I would probably have to buy groceries for the same $200 and get lesser amounts or less fancy stuff and make it work (Spreen Type player) with maybe springing for a decent treat (Stotijn) instead of something else I really wanted. However, once I can find a better paying job finally (raising NIL funds) I can go back to buying the same groceries I always bought for $400 Instead but it takes time to do this.

This is more or less where IU is at.     

[TTT 1,339]

NIL INFLATION 

So what I am reading, in reality IU Ladies Basketball program NIL is in limbo.

This makes sense because a couple years ago T. Moren talked about fairness, limitations, equitable distribution of NIL among all NCAA programs from universities to universities but she didn’t know what it would look like.  She just thought there needed to be some discussion.  (it seems IU Ladies may have gotten left in the dust)…after riding several IU Ladies players into what is today’s reality.

[Aaron 4,530]

3 hours ago, LamarCheeks said:

Ohio State's Cotie McMahon commits to Ole Miss -- per Talia Goodman. 

IU was not getting McMahon regardless of situation given player types Moren wants and system. You can complain, but if they had more NIL it would be more like Kneepkens and Merkle type players they could afford and fit Moren's system.

McMahon was never an option nor would Moren want her. Hot headed alpha's don't fit and that describes McMahon. However, great kids who are both alpha's (ala Holmes, Berger, Scalia etc.) or role players (Parrish, Ciezki etc.)  would fit and that describes players I mentioned above as well as several others.

Moren has made it clear she won't compromise her standards but wants to get bigger and more athletic. McMahon would compromise Moren's system agree or disagree with pursuing her. However, plenty of portal players match what Moren wants beautifully such as players I mentioned above. However, don't have funds for that right now (see my above and below posts).

[Aaron 4,530]

9 minutes ago, TTT said:

NIL INFLATION 

So what I am reading, in reality IU Ladies Basketball program NIL is in limbo.

That's part of it combined with Moren not realizing the increased prices until to late and needing to try to get additional $$$ like many others did earlier.

Being worked on now, but takes time.

[Todd41 742]

Welcome to the professional sports world where the large market teams get all the money and small market teams fight for scraps.