Kentucky WBB transfer portal news and offseason notes

It’s transfer portal season, folks! After Kentucky women’s basketball underachieved in 2022-23 with a 12-19 overall record and a 2-14 mark in the Southeastern Conference, head coach Kyra Elzy is looking to bounce back in a major way in 2023-24.

The offseason didn’t get off to a great start with the outgoing transfer decisions of freshman Kennedy Cambridge and sophomore Jada Walker — along with the losses of three key seniors in Robyn Benton, Blair Green, and Adebola Adeyeye — but that is expected to be the end of any more departures. Now, Elzy and company turn to the transfer portal for help. Kentucky brought in four new faces from the portal last season, landing a gem in Maddie Scherr from Oregon, who slowly became the Wildcats’ best player by year’s end. Another multi-player group of incoming transfers this offseason will almost be required.

Currently, Kentucky has nine players on the roster for next season, 10 if you include incoming four-star freshman Jordy Griggs. The loss of three veterans hurts, as does the loss of two promising pieces in Cambridge and Walker, but there are plenty of options available in the portal. Which brings us to the meat of this article.

Multiple sources have indicated to KSR that Kentucky is working hard in the portal. According to those sources, there are three transfer targets expected to visit Lexington in the near future, along with several other names that have some level of mutual interest with the ‘Cats. Let’s dive right in.

Expected visitors

Camille Hobby (NC State) 6-3 G, 5th yr. | Hobby is a top priority for Kentucky. The NC State transfer will have one more year of eligibility remaining after four seasons with the Wolfpack that saw constant progression in her scoring and efficiency. She went from 2.2 PPG as a freshman to 4.5 PPG as a sophomore, 5.1 PPG as a junior, and finally 8.8 PPG this past season. She started all 32 games for NC State in ’22-23, which finished 20-12 (9-9 ACC). Hobby is close friends with Kentucky’s rising senior forward Nyah Leveretter; the two played AAU ball together back in high school. Hobby shot nearly 52 percent from the field this past season while averaging 4.2 RPG, as well.

Taiyier Parks (Michigan State) 6-3 F, 5th yr. | Another graduate transfer, Parks has been a steady piece for Michigan State the last four seasons. She holds career averages of 7.1 points and 5.5 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per outing while shooting just over 50 percent from the floor. She’s more of an inside presence than Hobby but can bring the same sort of size to the floor, which Kentucky has desperately lacked over the years. Parks started 11 of the 29 games she appeared in as a senior for the 16-14 (7-10 Big Ten) Spartans.

Darian White (Montana State) 5-6 G, 5th yr. | The most decorated of the three expected visitors, White started her college career as the Big Sky Rookie of the Year for Montana State. Her production didn’t slow down, either. White averaged 12.7 PPG as a freshman, 14.6 PPG as a sophomore, 15.6 PPG as a junior, then dipped down to 14.3 PPG as a senior, but on much better efficiency. As a senior, she added 5.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per game to her stat line. Throughout her four seasons at Montana State, she started in all 120 games she played in, putting together a four-year average of 30.4 minutes per game. White earned All-Big Sky honors three times and won two Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Other names to watch

Lexi Donarski (Iowa State) 6-0 G, Sr. | Possibly the most talented target of the entire bunch, a source tells KSR that Donarski spoke with the Kentucky staff earlier this week. She started all 95 games she played in during her three seasons at Iowa State, making the Big 12 All-Defensive Team twice (Defensive Player of the Year in ’21-22). She was also tabbed to the 2023 All-Big 12 Tournament team. As a junior this past season, Donarski averaged 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.0 steals in 35.5 minutes per outing. Her three-point shooting has dipped over the years, but there aren’t many portal options out there more reliable than Donarski.

Erynn Barnum (Arkansas) 6-2 F, 5th yr. | Barnum is no stranger to Kentucky, as she played the Wildcats four times during her four years at Arkansas. After three so-so seasons in Fayetteville, she exploded as a senior in ’22-23, more than doubling her career average in points. Barnum averaged 15.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.3 steals this past season while shooting an impressive 55.6 percent from the field on 10 attempts per game. She’s even expanding her range, taking and making more threes as a senior (13-44) than in the three previous years combined (7-30).

Matilda Ekh (Michigan State) 6-0 G/F, Jr. | One of Michigan State’s most dependable players the last two seasons, Ekh has averaged 11.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists during her time with the Spartans. The rising junior started 57 of the 59 games she played in, shooting right at 42 percent from the field in both seasons. She’s also a career 39.0 percent shooter from long range.

Aicha Coulibaly (Auburn) 6-0 G, Sr. | Coulibaly is going to be one of the most sought-after targets in the entire portal after three seasons at Auburn, two of which saw her earn a spot on the All-SEC team. Her production boomed beginning with her sophomore season and held firm into her junior year where she averaged 16.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 steals per outing for the 16-15 (5-11 SEC) Tigers. Coulibaly started 52 of the 53 games she played in as a sophomore and junior.

Kyndall Hunter (Texas) 5-7 G, Jr. | Hunter’s situation is different than the rest of the players mentioned already. She was a McDonald’s All-American out of high school before committing to Texas but averaged just 8.1 minutes per game as a freshman. She then sat out the entirety of the ’22-23 season due to “private matters”, according to head coach Vic Schaefer, before announcing her intentions to transfer. Still, she was an All-American for a reason and surely has the talent to play at a high level.

KiKi Jefferson (James Madison) 6-1 G, 5th yr. | A four-year starter at James Madison, Jefferson is a name to keep in the back of your head. She’s averaged over 16 PPG her last three seasons, including 18.3 per game this past season on 42.9 percent shooting from the field and a 34.1 percent clip from long range. Jefferson has improved every season at James Madison, registering a career-high in assists (2.9) and cutting down her turnovers from ’21-22 to ’22-23.

What about a late addition from high school?

There are two potential names to keep an eye on from the high school ranks as potential late additions. The first is Eseosa Imafidon, a 6-foot-6 senior forward out of Charlotte, NC who reclassified from 2022 to 2023. She announced an offer from the Wildcats on March 30, just a day after Iowa State did the same. Imafidon also holds offers from the likes of DePaul, East Carolina, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, and South Carolina State. In a recent interview with PhenomHoopReport, she says a decision is expected in the “first or second week of May”.

The second name to keep an eye on is Jordan Wood, a 6-foot-2 four-star forward who announced her decommitment from Michigan State on Wednesday. Kentucky was heavily involved in her recruitment the first time around before committing to the Spartans in Sept. 2021. The Carmel (IL) product was one of the best players from the state of Illinois this past season and will have plenty of suitors. Expect UK to get involved once again.

Where will Jada Walker land?

Finally, we’ll end on a slightly sour note. Jada Walker’s transfer out of Kentucky certainly wasn’t ideal when the news broke. She was SEC All-Freshman in ’21-22 before stepping into a larger role this past season following the departure of No. 1 WNBA Draft pick Rhyne Howard. Walker averaged 12.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.6 steals (tops in the SEC) this past season for the ‘Cats while shooting 41 percent from the field and nearly 35 percent from deep.

Originally from Virginia, one would expect the Virginia Tech Hokies, which just made it to the Final Four, to be involved. But so far, we only know about one school with eyes on Walker: Baylor, the same school that former ‘Cat Dre’Una Edwards transferred to last offseason. Walker posted a picture of herself on a visit to Baylor to her Instagram story earlier this week. She’ll have plenty of interest from high-major programs as she goes through a second recruitment.

More names will surely surface over the next several weeks, but Kentucky is already on the hunt for additions to next season’s roster.