The NCAA basketball transfer portal window officially closes on Wednesday, after an active period saw top players unafraid to jump ship — even if that means joining a rival team.
After the portal window shuts, athletes can no longer declare their intention to transfer, though there's no official deadline for accepting admission to a new school.
Former UCLA rising senior Londynn Jones is the latest to switch sides, taking her 35.1% three-point shooting to the Bruins’ fiercest Big Ten competition by committing to crosstown rival USC on Tuesday.
The SEC — arguably the sport's powerhouse conference — has also seen significant movement in recent weeks, with Ole Miss landing ex-Ohio State standout Cotie McMahon and ex-Mississippi State guard Denim DeShields — WNBA veteran Diamond DeShields’s little sister.
Maryland is also cleaning up, signing ex-Duke star guard Oluchi Okananwa and Indiana center Yarden Garzon to the Terps' 2025/26 roster.
Meanwhile, 2025 national championship runner-up South Carolina added former Mississippi State big Madina Okot on Monday, after securing ex-Florida State guard and Division I's 2024/25 scoring leader Ta’Niya Latson earlier this month.
Another transfer portal superstar considers a jump
As the stars begin to settle, all eyes are on South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley as she weighs her options ahead of her junior year.
Like UCLA-to-USC transfer Jones, the Columbia, South Carolina, product could opt to go the rival route, with rumors of Fulwiley seriously eyeing SEC foe LSU currently making the rounds.
All in all, while the player pool will be finalized on Wednesday, it could take days, weeks, or months to round out NCAA basketball rosters, as teams continue courting athletes in the portal before the 2025/26 season tips off.
Two of the biggest names in NCAA basketball revealed their transfer portal decisions on Tuesday, as student-athletes continue to weigh their options ahead of the April 23rd deadline.
Prospective top 2025 WNBA Draft pick Olivia Miles will instead play out her final year of collegiate eligibility at TCU, making the leap to the team that knocked her Notre Dame squad out of this season’s national tournament.
"I just want to be a pro without being a pro," Miles told TNT. "Every day on campus I want to be the way a pro would be, so I'm prepared when I do actually go to the league."
Similarly, Division I's 2024/25 leading scorer Ta'Niyah Latson announced her departure from Florida State to join 2025 NCAA runners-up South Carolina on Tuesday.
Latson already has connections in the Gamecock locker room, having played high school ball with South Carolina guard Raven Johnson — a draft-eligible junior who recently hinted she’ll be sticking around for one more NCAA season.
Strong teams prevail as NCAA transfer portal continues
As strong teams like South Carolina and TCU grew stronger this week, talent drain affected other top squads, including 2025 Final Four contender UCLA.
The Bruins saw three highly touted freshmen enter the transfer portal this week, with Elina Aarnisalo, Kendall Dudley, and Avary Cain seeking fresh starts to their sophomore years.
The talented young trio are likely seeking increased playing time, as the Bruins will return most of their 2024/25 starters next season, all while adding top recruit Sienna Betts — the younger sister of Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts — to the mix.
All in all, college basketball’s new era can be dizzying but, while the portal's carousel is far from done spinning, the 2025/26 field is starting to take shape as players make their transfer announcements.
UConn guard Azzi Fudd is again delaying her WNBA aspirations to return to the Huskies for the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season, the 22-year-old announced in a social media post on Tuesday — just one day after the No. 2-seed squad booked their Sweet 16 spot in this year's March Madness tournament.
In an interview with ESPN, Fudd explained that her decision to declare for the 2026 WNBA Draft and exhaust her NCAA eligibility will allow her to "work on everything I need to work on" before turning pro.
Fudd also noted that her choice became clear after UConn head coach Geno Auriemma told her that while he supports whatever decision she makes, she has yet to max out at the collegiate level.
"He [told me], 'I would say 10 games, maybe, you've played to your full potential of who Azzi Fudd really is,'" Fudd recounts. "'You wouldn't do yourself justice leaving. You would leave here not doing what you could in a UConn uniform.' I was like, 'Yeah, he has a point.'"
Already a standout, Fudd chases greatness
Entering the NCAA as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021, Fudd has been a highly-touted professional prospect for years, with the Husky originally expected to be chosen in the first round of next month's 2025 WNBA Draft.
However, Fudd's college career has been dampened by injury, with the talented shooter playing in just 72 games across her four years at UConn.
Making her competitive return in November after suffering an ACL and meniscus tear one year prior, Fudd hit her stride, earning a career-high 30 appearances for the Huskies this season — 26 of them as a starter.
A season-high 28-point performance in UConn's 87-58 February beatdown of defending national champs South Carolina further boosted Fudd's momentum, with the guard putting up a March Madness career-high 27 points in UConn's first-round victory over No. 15-seed Arkansas State on Saturday.
After adding another 17 points in the Huskies' second-round win over No. 10-seed South Dakota State on Monday, Fudd's 16.4 postseason points per game trails only iconic teammate Paige Bueckers' scoring rate on the UConn stat sheet.
It's those top-tier performances that Fudd will be chasing next season, hoping to add some lengthy consistency and confidence to her basketball resume.
"Having someone of Azzi's ability and the way she can just control a game, she just hasn't had an opportunity, at this point, to fully show who she is, what she can do, what impact she can have on our program and on college basketball," Auriemma told ESPN. "Can we get a full year out of that? I'm as excited as anybody, our fans, anybody to see what can happen."
Delaying WNBA debuts could result in higher rookie salaries
Though Fudd is adamant that her decision to play one more year in college is purely based in on-court considerations, there are also other major financial implications at play.
With the WNBPA currently negotiating a new CBA set to begin in the 2026 WNBA season, rookies who enter under those new terms will likely begin their professional careers at a higher salary than the $78,831 that this April's No. 1 draft pick will earn.
Even Auriemma acknowledged the potential financial benefits Fudd would reap by staying in Storrs.
"If [Fudd] stays one more year, she'll make more money next year when she goes into the draft because they have a new collective bargaining agreement coming up that should pay them more money than if she goes at the end of this year," Auriemma told reporters earlier this month.
Even more, an extra year at the NCAA level will allow Fudd to grow her already flush NIL portfolio, which includes deals with brands like Bose, Chipotle, Buick, and DoorDash.
With the business side of basketball booming, top college players are recognizing the long-term impacts of kicking off their pro careers with stacked athletic and brand-building resumes — and Fudd just bought herself another year to raise her WNBA and financial stock.