The ACC women's basketball transfer tracker
Plus, Wes Moore gives his thoughts on Muffet McGraw retiring from Notre Dame. An ACC round-up, notes and more.
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There’s been a bit of change in ACC women’s basketball this off-season with players coming and going from the conference, and even a few changing teams inside of it. I’ve written about some of them, but I thought it would be good to have all of the ACC transfers in one place. So, without further delay, here’s the 2020-21 Transfer Tracker.
(If I missed any, feel free to shoot me a note through email or on Twitter)
**Currently, Boston College does not have any transfers coming in or leaving the program.
Clemson
Outgoing: Isis Lopes (UTEP)
Duke
Incoming: Sara Anastasieska (Cal)
Outgoing: Azana Baines (Virginia Tech), Kyra Lambert (Texas)
Florida State
Incoming: Tiana England (St. John’s), Sara Bejedi (Arizona State), Erin Howard (Auburn)
Outgoing: London Clarkson (Virginia)
Georgia Tech
Incoming: Aixa Wone Aranaz (Ohio State)
Outgoing: Jasmine Carson (West Virginia), Anne Francoise Diouf (James Madison), Daijah Jefferson (George Mason), Chanin Scott (NC A&T)
Louisville
Incoming: Ahlanna Smith (Gulf Coast State College - NJCAA)
Outgoing: Lindsey Duvall (Northern Kentucky), Seygan Robins (UT Martin)
Miami
Incoming: Karla Erjavec (Wyoming)
Outgoing: Iggy Allen (FAU), Yasmeen Chang (Florida)
N.C. State
Incoming: Raina Perez (Cal State Fullerton)
North Carolina
Incoming: Petra Holesinska (Illinois), Ariel Young (Michigan), Stephanie Watts (USC)
Outgoing: Nia Daniel, Lexi Duckett (Wisconsin), Olivia Smith (?), Emily Sullivan (Florida), Naomi Van Nes (Mercer)
Notre Dame
Incoming: Dara Mabrey (Virginia Tech)
Pitt
Incoming: Destiny Strother (Marquette), Jayla Everett (New Mexico)
Outgoing: Kyla Nelson (FIU), Alayna Gribble (Saint Joseph’s), Jasmine Whitney (George Washington), Jahsyni Knight (?)
Syracuse
Outgoing: Alisha Lewis (UCF)
Virginia
Incoming: London Clarkson (FSU), Emily Maupin (Liberty)
Outgoing: Yanni Hendley (Rhode Island)
Virginia Tech
Incoming: Da’Ja Green (Wofford), Azana Baines (Duke), D’Asia Gregg (Gulf Coast State College - NJCAA)
Outgoing: Dara Mabrey (Notre Dame), Trinity Baptiste (Arizona)
Wake Forest
Outgoing: Ellen Hahne (Albany)
Biggest Loss
Azana Baines seemed to be in-line for a starting job and a big role next season at Duke. She played in all 29 games as a freshman and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per-game, but showed in spurts that she could do much more; like scoring 15 points in games against Louisville and Boston College. With Kyra Lambert leaving, and Haley Gorecki and Leaonna Odom transferring, Baines looked like a lock to start. Now, she’s created a hole in the Blue Devils’ roster and given Virginia Tech fans something to look forward to in 2021-22.
Best Addition
While Raina Perez and Da’Ja Green might slide into starting roles with their new ACC squads, Petra Holesinska is going to have the chance to put up some big numbers for the Tar Heels. Last season, she put up 12.6 points per-game at Illinois, but had no real help on offense as no other player averaged double-digit scoring totals. Holesinska also shot 41 percent from beyond the arc last season and made 71 three’s — a pair of marks that would have led UNC in Courtney Banghart’s first season. With Janelle Bailey and Malu Tshitenge dominating inside, Holesinska should be able to move a bit more freely and pick her best spots along the perimeter.
(Note: if Jayla Everett was eligible right away for the Pitt Panthers, I might’ve picked her here. In 2018-19, she was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, averaging 13.5 points, 3.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals per-game. Following an upset of Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, keep an eye on what Lance White is building at Pitt.)
Wes Moore on Muffet McGraw
Two weeks ago, a handful of reporters hopped on a Zoom call with N.C. State head coach Wes Moore. I’ve written a bit about what he said here and here, but I didn’t get to include Moore’s answer to my question about what he thought of Muffet McGraw retiring and Niele Ivey taking over at Notre Dame.
Moore: “Coach McGraw, you know, she’s a hall of famer. She had a major, major impact. I congratulated her on her career and on retirement. I still think she's going to be very vocal and very present out there on a lot of fronts. I don't think she's going away.
“Coach Ivey, you know, again, was there for I think 17 years maybe, or something to that effect — a long time as an assistant at Notre Dame. And, yeah, they’re going to miss McGraw's experience. I mean, you just can't — 30 some years of coaching, you just don't learn that overnight when you move over into that hot seat. At the same time, I know the first week (Ivey) got the job, she landed two of the top 15 or so recruits in the country. So, if that's any indication, we're going to have our hands full still. It's still going to be a tough challenge when you play that team.”
Around the ACC
Louisville was supposed to play UConn this season at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That match-up is being pushed back a year, according to what Jeff Walz told the Courier Journal.
For SLAM, Jackie Powell profiled Sonia Citron, who just might be Notre Dame’s next star.
Speaking of Notre Dame, longtime assistant coach Beth Cunningham will not be retained on Niele Ivey’s staff, according to multiple reports. The former Notre Dame player had been an assistant for the Irish since 2012. Before that, Cunningham was the head coach at VCU, where she made the postseason in five-of-nine seasons.
Louisville transfer Seygan Robins has landed at UT Martin. Named Kentucky’s Miss Basketball in 2018, Robins was a five-star recruit in 2018 and played in 26 games for the Cardinals as a freshman. She played in two games this past season as a sophomore before injuring her ankle and having season-ending surgery on it. Robins received a medical redshirt for the 2020-21 season and goes to UT Martin with three years of eligibility left. Robins also competed at the 2019 USA Basketball Women's 3x3 National Championship.
According to Danielle Lerner, Walz won’t fill the two open scholarship slots he has from Robins and Lindsey Duvall transferring. Lerner has a larger Louisville notebook here that’s worth checking out.
In a notebook at Cardinal Authority, Walz mentioned the possibility of Louisville using more four-guard lineups this coming season, saying: “We're going to be able to put four guards on the floor many different times where you could see a lineup with Hailey (Van Lith), Dana (Evans), Kianna (Smith) and Ahlana (Smith) all on the floor and they have all played point guard.”
Brooklyn Miles, a five-star 2021 guard from Kentucky, picked up an offer from N.C. State this week. Listed at 5-foot-6, she’s ranked as the ninth-best point guard in her class by ESPN. She also has offers from Tennessee, Miami, Purdue, Cincinnati and Kentucky.
After spending one season on Nell Fortner’s staff, Brandy Manning has left Georgia Tech to be an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on DeLisha Milton-Jones’ staff at Old Dominion. This upcoming season will be Manning’s 15th coaching Division I basketball.
Duke’s EJAK crew – from the class of 2015 – got together earlier this week for a 30-minute Zoom call.
Chicago State hired former Virginia player and Clemson assistant Tiffany Sardin as their head coach.
Elsewhere in women’s basketball
Dawn Staley will take a 10 percent pay cut in 2020-21, according to the State.
At Floor Game, Ben Dull has projections on final WNBA rosters after they’re cut down to 12.
Following the departure of Shay Robinson (who went to Ole Miss), Maryland has promoted Lindsey Spann to interim assistant coach. She was previously the Terps’ director of recruiting operations. As Lindsay Gibbs notes, this means Maryland will have two women assistant coaches under the age of 30 this upcoming season, which is pretty cool.
“She had a nice short jump shot, but Tori was dominant in the paint. She was like Wes Unseld, Moses Malone…” Tori Harrison, one of the greatest basketball players ever from Baltimore died recently at 54. At the Baltimore Sun, Mike Klingaman has a proper obit.
Also read
“Revenge of the Sith” – the final movie in the Star Wars prequels – came out 15 years ago this week. Despite the meme-ing of the film, I’ve long had the opinion that it is the third-best Star Wars installment of this century (just behind Rogue One and The Last Jedi). In a piece for the Ringer, Miles Surrey explains why it’s underrated.
Always read Wright Thompson. Especially on Michael Jordan.
“Somewhere along the road to becoming a chic mainstream sport, NASCAR lost its soul. Maybe a pandemic could help NASCAR rediscover it.” At the Washington Post, Barry Svrluga argues that NASCAR should stay close to its roots in the South (and I agree). At ESPN, Ryan McGee also had a piece on NASCAR’s return to Darlington, South Carolina.
Pablo Maurer writes about how Trinity Rodman – yes, that Rodman – is forging her own path in women’s soccer.
Some stuff I wrote
For SB Nation’s “What if? Week” I took a look at Navy’s 2016 football team and wondered, what if Will Worth and Toneo Gulley don’t get hurt on the same play in the AAC Championship game? The Mids probably beat Army that season, at least.
I took some other leftover items from that Wes Moore interview and whipped it into a story for the Chatham News + Record about how the N.C. State head coach is staying on the recruiting trail during the coronavirus. Also, find out why he wants people to call Elissa Cunane “Big Frown” more often.
From the archives
After the final episode of “The Last Dance” premiered Sunday night, some folks wondered why there was no mention of Michael Jordan’s two-season spell with the Washington Wizards. Back in 2015, when Peyton Manning and Kobe Bryant were ending their respective careers in disappointing fashion, some people lazily compared them to the Wizards’ version of MJ. The thing is, Jordan was a lot better than people remember for the Wizards. In the 2001-02 season (MJ’s first with the Wizards), their win total increased by 14 and he averaged nearly 23 points per-game at age 38. I wrote about MJ’s time with the Wizards — and how it’s misremembered — a few years back for SB Nation’s Bullets Forever.
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