We Speak Women's College Basketball

Portal Season Verdict: South Carolina Won April, and Oklahoma State Landed the Nation’s Top Transfer

Published

6 months ago

April 30, 2026

More than 1,300 players entered the transfer portal in the 2026 offseason, and the moves reshaped the top of women’s college basketball. USA TODAY’s post-portal assessment reached a clear verdict: South Carolina “really won April.” The Gamecocks lost no non-draft-eligible players to the portal after their title-game defeat, and Dawn Staley added former Texas guard Jordan Lee — who averaged 13.2 points, 2.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent as a sophomore for the Longhorns — plus Oliviyah Edwards, the No. 6 recruit in ESPN’s rankings, who was released from her national letter of intent at Tennessee and reopened her recruitment. ESPN’s Charlie Creme later ranked Lee the No. 6 most impactful transfer in the country ahead of 2026-27, calling her jump from Texas to its chief SEC rival “one of the most unexpected” moves of the cycle.

Creme’s top-ranked transfer was Iowa State center Audi Crooks, who took her 25.8 points per game — second in the nation in 2025-26 — to Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls were widely judged the portal’s biggest winner after also adding Florida guard Liv McGill, who averaged more than 22 points per game for the Gators.

Defending champion UCLA, which sent its top six players to the WNBA and returned only Sienna Betts as a significant contributor, reloaded with five signees headlined by Iowa State forward Addy Brown. LSU addressed its point guard spot with Iowa State’s Jada Williams, while Tennessee brought in 13 transfers under Kim Caldwell.

Florida, meanwhile, lost McGill among 10 departures, leaving first-year head coach Tammi Reiss to rebuild — though the Gators did land high-scoring guard Kiyomi McMiller from Penn State.

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Five-Star Center Zaniya Johnson Commits to South Carolina

Five-star center Zaniya Johnson of Biloxi, Mississippi, committed to South Carolina over LSU, becoming Dawn Staley’s third five-star pledge of October for the Class of 2027.

Published

3 days ago

October 22, 2026

Royal Jones

Zaniya Johnson poses with South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley during her official visit to Columbia

Dawn Staley’s October run on the recruiting trail is officially a streak. Five-star center Zaniya Johnson announced Wednesday that she is taking her game to South Carolina, choosing the Gamecocks over finalist LSU and giving Staley her third five-star commitment of the month for the Class of 2027.

The 6-foot-4 post from Biloxi, Mississippi, is ranked No. 18 in ESPN’s SC Next 100 for the Class of 2027, and the 247Sports Composite has her at No. 16 overall and the No. 2 center in the class. She is the top-rated player in Mississippi.

“I truly believe [South Carolina] has everything I need and more to grow both on and off the court,” Johnson told ESPN. “South Carolina has a proven track record of developing post players, and having the opportunity to be part of a program like that was something I couldn’t pass up.”

Johnson visited Columbia on Oct. 2 and was spotted alongside Staley on the sideline before the Kentucky football game. She also took visits to Florida State and Texas A&M, and she canceled a scheduled Mississippi State visit after her South Carolina trip — an early sign of where this was headed. She made it official at a ceremony at her school on Oct. 21.

Johnson joins guards Taylor Brown, who committed on Oct. 3, and Jezelle “GG” Banks, the No. 4 overall player in the class, in South Carolina’s 2027 haul. After loading up on the perimeter, Staley now has her true center — a traditional back-to-the-basket post in the mold the Gamecocks love to build around.

As a junior, Johnson averaged 14.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. She passed 1,000 career points as a sophomore and 1,000 career rebounds as a junior, and she is a two-time Region Player of the Year. For a program with a proven record of developing post players, the fit in the paint is easy to see.

Photo: Johnson’s official visit to South Carolina (via ESPN)