LSU WBB forward enters transfer portal
LSU forward Alisa Williams has entered the transfer portal, a source confirms to Bengal Tiger On3. She is the first player to enter the portal from LSU’s championship team this offseason.
As a true freshman in 2022-23, Williams played in 20 games for a total of 58 minutes and scored 18 points on 8 of 21 shooting. The 6-foot-2 forward from Denton, Texas was named to the TGCA 5A All-State Team as a senior at Braswell High School averaging 17 points and seven rebounds en route to a 35-3 record.
Williams’ departure put the Tigers at 12 roster spots now, three under the 15-player cap. While Williams was not expected to be a heavy contributor to the 2023-24 team, it still puts LSU in a position where it could look to add a young player with potential or look for someone who can help them win now.
Last year, LSU was hit with a wave of departures during the season in Tamia Ware, Hannah Gusters, and Ryann Payne, putting them at only ten scholarship players before awarding Emily Ward with a scholarship as a senior. It was enough to win a national title, but it seemed like head coach Kim Mulkey wants to be around 13 instead of 10 in the coming years.
The Tigers added four players from their No. 1 ranked recruiting class and two more players from the No. 1 ranked transfer portal class in All-American Aneesah Morrow and All-ACC first-team selection Hailey Van Lith. LSU has continued to roll this offseason, but this departure adds at least a small wrinkle, giving the Tigers a chance to look for more.
The transfer portal continues to fuel LSU’s rapid rise back to the top of women’s college basketball. With the transfer portal, Mulkey has not had to wait on the development of freshmen to rebuild a program that won just nine games before she arrived. Now, she’s a champion and has even more talent coming in from the portal.
“I can’t even compare my Baylor teams to what we’re doing here,” Mulkey said last year during the NCAA Tournament. “We are on a fast track and I think sometimes the fast track blinds the media and the fans on really what we should be achieving, but it doesn’t blind me. I know what our strengths are. I know how hard it is to build a program and we are way ahead of schedule.”
