It was a big week for Transfer Central University, or TCU, as Mark Campbell continues to prove that his program \u2014 in his words \u2014 can build the plane while flying. The new-look Horned Frogs went into Raleigh and comfortably beat NC State Sunday despite a rotation that has two players who suited up for TCU last season.<\/p>\n
But the Horned Frogs are less of an outlier now than when Campbell took over. Transfers are the lifeblood of modern college basketball as contending teams use the rest of the country as a feeder system, stocking up on experienced players summer after summer and never having to be young.<\/p>\n
There are certainly extremes to this approach, like with TCU and Ole Miss, where Coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin has designated herself a \u201cportalista.\u201d Nevertheless, every good team is heavily reliant on at least one player who started her college career elsewhere, including a couple top-five teams that went to the portal to fill important holes.<\/p>\n
Two weeks into the season, here is this week\u2019s top 25, followed by a check-in on some players who have made an instant impact at their new homes.<\/p>\n
Dropped out: Duke (18), Columbia (22)<\/p>\n
Almost famous: Ole Miss, West Virginia, Vanderbilt<\/p>\n
Gianna Kneepkens gives UCLA go-to perimeter threat<\/p>\n
The Bruins were among the deepest teams in college basketball last season, but the only player who could reliably be called upon to create her own shot, no matter the situation, was Lauren Betts. It\u2019s hard to ask that much of a frontcourt player who already anchors the defense, especially when Betts doesn\u2019t bring the ball up and is reliant on guards to get her a touch in the paint.<\/p>\n
Some uncharacteristic struggles finishing around the rim have caused Betts\u2019 box-score totals to take a dip at the start her senior season. UCLA hasn\u2019t taken a dip, however, because Gianna Kneepkens provides another primary scoring threat from the perimeter. Kneepkens was one of the most efficient scorers in the country at Utah and has helped take the Bruins\u2019 offense to another level through four games.<\/p>\n
UCLA did a good job of spacing the floor around Betts last season with knock-down shooters. Kneepkens adds a new element as someone who can also create a shot after the close-out. She is shooting 47 percent on off-the-dribble jumpers, and it\u2019s a real pick-your-poison when she and Betts participate in two-player actions. Defenders can\u2019t go under screens, because Kneepkens will launch. If they go over, Kneepkens can keep them on her tail and dribble into the midrange. If they switch, Betts can seal a smaller defender in the paint. It makes perfect sense that Kneepkens has the best on-off rating (plus-35.5 points per 100 possessions) on a stacked Bruins roster since she provides the skillset that amplifies its best player.<\/p>\n
Kneepkens isn\u2019t even shooting particularly well from 3-point range yet, about eight percentage points lower than her mark of 43.2 percent with the Utes. That she has already affected UCLA\u2019s offense to this extent is why the Bruins sit second in these power rankings.<\/p>\n
New force in middle for South Carolina<\/p>\n
Protecting the paint is the foundation of\u00a0 South Carolina\u2019s success. The Gamecocks take pride in limiting their opposition directly at the basket. Causing misses and cleaning the glass allows them to get out and run. They congest and force teams to make jumpers to beat them, and that\u2019s usually a winning proposition.<\/p>\n
So much of the credit for South Carolina\u2019s ability to control the paint this season goes to Madina Okot, who Raven Johnson has lovingly dubbed the \u201cpolar bear.\u201d Yes, the Gamecocks have guards who can apply pressure and keep their matchups in front of them, primarily Johnson at the point of attack. But Okot has been better than advertised in the middle, improving upon her first Division I season at Mississippi State.<\/p>\n
Through four games, South Carolina rebounds 28 percent more of its misses when Okot is on the court. And she\u2019s arguably more impactful on the other end, where her 6-foot-7 frame scares opponents from even attempting shots against her. The Gamecocks force more turnovers and foul less frequently with Okot on the floor.<\/p>\n
Last season, Okot passed the 30-minute mark only three times, one of those coming in a double-overtime contest. Against USC Saturday, Okot easily played a career-high 35 minutes and looked as good in the fourth quarter as in the first; she played all 10 minutes of the final frame and the Trojans attempted four shots in the lane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna give a lot of credit to Madina, who just really controlled the paint,\u201d coach Dawn Staley said after the 69-52 win. \u201cShe was where we needed her to be time and time again, and needed it just from a confidence standpoint, of knowing that we need her, and knowing that she can execute a game plan. She\u2019s part of us finding our identity because we usually are led by our bigs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tallest, oldest team in America stays true to form<\/p>\n
TCU\u2019s high pick-and-roll, fast-pace, spread-the-floor offense cannot function without a creative point guard and a rim-running big. Olivia Miles and Clara Silva are the fulcrums of this system, the transfers who allowed the Horned Frogs to even implement it. What takes them from competent to excellent are additional scoring threats who create their own shots when opponents take away their bread-and-butter in the middle of the court.<\/p>\n
Madison Conner was the lethal shooter who created space for Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince last year. Perhaps forward Marta Su\u00e1rez is that supplemental scorer in 2025-26. In the Mark Campbell mold, she is experienced (23 and in her sixth college season), and she is tall, (6-foot-3).<\/p>\n
Su\u00e1rez was elite in isolation against NC State and had a number of back-breaking jumpers for TCU. Whenever the Wolfpack tried to claw back and make a run, she settled her team. Su\u00e1rez ended a 55-second possession in the second quarter with a 3-pointer to tie the game. She had multiple buzzer-beaters to end quarters. After NC State halved a 16-point lead to eight in the fourth, it was Su\u00e1rez who had a well-timed cut to push the advantage back to ten. On the ensuing possession, she got her defender in the air and dribbled into a midrange pull-up.<\/p>\n
Her positional size showed up on the other end as she suffocated Khamil Pierre into 4-of-15 shooting and a couple of travels.<\/p>\n
Su\u00e1rez has never showcased this level of efficiency, but she has also never been in a system that created this much space for her to operate. Even if she doesn\u2019t regularly have 26-point outings on 10-of-18 shooting, she has shown an elite understanding of how to play alongside Miles and Silva.<\/p>\n
TCU won\u2019t really be tested again until January and it may be premature to put a team this new in the top 10. But this type of early-season success is becoming commonplace in Fort Worth. With a point guard who has led elite teams before and can optimize surrounding talent, I believe in their upside.<\/p>\n
An early look at ACC front-runners?<\/p>\n
Conference play in November? I did a double-take when I saw Clemson hosting Louisville this week, then double-checked the list of teams still in the ACC. But there was indeed an ACC game in the second week of the season, and an early opportunity for the Cardinals to establish themselves as front-runners in this league.<\/p>\n
A trio of transfers is averaging nearly double-digit scoring for Louisville. Laura Ziegler (14.3 points per game) is also its leading rebounder with 11.3 boards per game. Although her percentage from inside the arc has been pitiful, she\u2019s at least creating a lot of second chances; the Cardinals rebound 18 percent more of their misses with Ziegler on the court.<\/p>\n
Skylar Jones from Arizona is chipping in 10.3 points per game and is the only Louisville player reliably generating turnovers. Reyna Scott from Oklahoma adds 9.8 points per game on excellent efficiency, looking more like she\u2019s still in a Jennie Baranczyk offense than playing under Jeff Walz.<\/p>\n
Louisville is the only team to have played UConn even remotely close. The Cardinals take care of the ball and don\u2019t foul, but they haven\u2019t really excelled at anything else. Still, that might be enough to win a conference where preseason favorites Duke, Notre Dame and NC State have all disappointed relative to expectations.<\/p>\n
Then again, maybe the favorites reside in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels had UCLA on the ropes for a half and have an honest-to-goodness floor general in Elina Aarnisalo. The former Bruin combines elite rim pressure with the ability to make every pass and set up her teammates. North Carolina still hasn\u2019t figured out how to convert all of those good looks at an acceptable rate, but the Tar Heels have the depth and defense to wear down opponents and get in the mud with them.<\/p>\n
Louisville and North Carolina stand in the top-20 mix for now, which isn\u2019t promising for the ACC as a whole, but good for those programs.<\/p>\n
Games to watch<\/p>\n
Iowa vs. Baylor, 9 p.m. Thursday, ESPN2<\/p>\n
Michigan vs UConn, 8 p.m. Friday, FOX<\/p>\n
Kentucky at Louisville, noon Saturday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a big week for Transfer Central University, or TCU, as Mark Campbell continues to prove that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":385408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,3917,3909,7371,7372,1379,8798,8801,8795,184170,3914,4739,7800,9444,35603,3910,13874,21286,184171,55523,24116,85617,22503,88894,358,9662,3187,8800,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,9446,20974,3522],"class_list":{"0":"post-385407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-baylor-bears","10":"tag-connecticut-huskies","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fortworth","13":"tag-iowa-hawkeyes","14":"tag-iowa-state-cyclones","15":"tag-kentucky-wildcats","16":"tag-louisville-cardinals","17":"tag-lsu-lady-tigers","18":"tag-maryland-terrapins","19":"tag-michigan-state-spartans","20":"tag-michigan-wolverines","21":"tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","22":"tag-north-carolina-state-wolfpack","23":"tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","24":"tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","25":"tag-oklahoma-sooners","26":"tag-oklahoma-state-cowgirls","27":"tag-richmond-spiders","28":"tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","29":"tag-south-dakota-state-jackrabbits","30":"tag-tcu-horned-frogs","31":"tag-tennessee-lady-volunteers","32":"tag-texas","33":"tag-texas-longhorns","34":"tag-tx","35":"tag-ucla-bruins","36":"tag-united-states","37":"tag-united-states-of-america","38":"tag-unitedstates","39":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","40":"tag-us","41":"tag-usa","42":"tag-usc-trojans","43":"tag-washington-huskies","44":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}