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.
With just 16 teams remaining in this year's March Madness tournament, NCAA programs that have fallen from contention have athletes jumping into the transfer portal, which opened to all college basketball players on Monday.
Multiple players are now seeking to make an offseason move, including this season's Division I leading scorer, Florida State junior guard Ta'Niyah Latson.
After averaging 25.2 points per game throughout her 2024/25 campaign, the National Player of the Year semifinalist jumped into the portal on Thursday, three days after the No. 6-seed Seminoles fell 101-71 to No. 3-seed LSU in Monday's second round.
The All-ACC standout is exploring her transfer options — and the potential NIL windfall a move could bring her — though remaining at Florida State is reportedly still very much on the table.
Another top prospect eyeing an exit is Cotie McMahon, who joined the transfer race on Wednesday following her No. 4-seed Ohio State's 82-67 second-round March Madness loss to No. 5-seed Tennessee.
The 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and two-time All-Big Ten First Team selectee looks to carry her career-best 16.5 points per game average elsewhere for her final year of collegiate eligibility.
More top teams see players take to the transfer portal
Other freshly eliminated programs have also seen portal movement, with players from No. 4-seed Kentucky, No. 7-seed Louisville, and No. 8-seed Georgia Tech all testing the transfer waters.
Notably, the program with the most athletes fleeing is No. 9-seed Indiana, who has seen five of their nine non-graduating players enter the portal in the last three days — including every Hoosier who earned minutes off the bench in the team's two March Madness matchups.
With athletes weighing everything from playing time to NIL paydays to postseason potential, the current NCAA landscape boasts multiple factors motivating decisions to either jump ship or weather the storm.
As the 2025 March Madness tournament rolls on, expect even bigger college basketball names to throw their hats into the transfer ring, as players seek out top programs ahead of the 2025/26 NCAA season.
Florida State basketball coach Sue Semrau announced her retirement Monday. She is the longest-tenured head coach in the ACC and Florida State’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 470-271.
𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐄 ❤️💛
— FSU Women's Hoops (@fsuwbb) March 21, 2022
Sue Semrau has announced her retirement as the head women's basketball coach at Florida State University.
🔗 https://t.co/h2H4kzV5kv pic.twitter.com/2kpXod2cel
During her tenure, the Seminoles made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, including Elite Eight appearances in 2010, 2015 and 2017. She was voted Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, WBCA and ESPNW in 2015 and, in her 24 seasons, was named ACC Coach of the Year four times.
“It’s been a joy and a privilege to be the head coach at Florida State University,” Semrau said in a release. “Thank you to the amazing players and the talented and diligent members of our staff, you have given me millions of moments to cherish, and friendships for a lifetime. The countless supportive and hard-working administrators, faculty and staff have enriched my life.
“Our precious fans embrace us, fight with us and represent this great university with passion. The excellent camaraderie of the coaches I worked with at FSU shaped me. I still remember on my interview Coach Bowden sitting with me and telling me that we could do this; and that he would help me. And he did. More than I could have imagined.”
Over the last 10 years, the Seminoles averaged almost 25 wins per season. Since the WNBA formed in 1997, over 20 of Semrau’s players have been drafted, signed or have played for a WNBA team. Of those 20 players, 10 have been selected in the past 10 years. Another 12 of her players have gone on to play professionally overseas.
In 14 of her 24 seasons, the Seminoles have won at least 20 games, including a string of eight straight seasons of 20 or more wins from 2012-20. She also spent time as the president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association from 2013 until 2015.
“It is hard to put into a few words just what Sue Semrau has meant to our athletics program, our university and the women she has inspired over her career,” said FSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford. “I know I speak for the FSU athletic directors who had the opportunity to work with her over her long career in saying that you couldn’t find a better representative of Seminole athletics or women’s basketball than Sue.”