NCAAW: Can MiLaysia Fulwiley go from transfer to title winner at LSU?

The advent of college basketball’s transfer portal era, certainly, has introduced transactional drama to the sport.

But, it’s important not to underrate the real impact of the portal. The last four national champions all have benefited from the boost provided by a first-year transfer.

Although she logged less than 15 minutes per game, Kamilla Cardoso was the second-most effective player for 2022 national champion South Carolina according to advanced statistics. Angel Reese, of course, was an all-round game changer for LSU in 2023. In 2024, Te-Hina Paopao helped to propel the Gamecocks’ undefeated run back to the national title with her nation-leading 3-point shooting. Last year, Kaitlyn Chen served as a reliably efficient backcourt starter for UConn.

This year, there are plenty of players who hope to pop for their new programs, putting them in position to capture national prominence. Among those is yet another new Gamecock in Ta’Niya Latson, who brings potential best-player-in-the-nation bona fides to the South Carolina. Other names, such as Olivia Miles, who exited Notre Dame not for the WNBA but for TCU, and Cotie McMahon, who takes her bullyball talents from Ohio State to Ole Miss, will have a chance to convince that their move mattered the most.

However, these five transfers enter particularly intriguing situations, with the potential to vault their new teams to a national championship victory:

MiLaysia Fulwiley (South Carolina to LSU)

Reese delivered the Tigers to the promised land during her debut season in Baton Rouge. But, head coach Kim Mulkey and LSU’s second-stab at a title-swinging star didn’t work out nearly as well, with Hailey Van Lith struggling through the worst season of her otherwise accomplished five-year college career when she wore purple and gold.

Either of those outcomes are likely for MiLaysia Fulwiley as she switches from Team Staley to Team Mulkey. Frequently praised by her former head coach as a “generational” talent, Fulwiley, the 2024-25 SEC Sixth Player of the Year, seemed stuck in that role had she remained at South Carolina due to the arrival of Latson and return of Raven Johnson. In heading to LSU, she hopes to be fully unleashed, empowered to show off all facets of a highlight-worthy skillset.

However, the Tigers likewise boast a stacked squad, and as LSU experienced in Van Lith’s lone season in 2023-24, making talents mesh into something greater than the sum of their part is not guaranteed.

But if it all works, with a motivated and magical Fulwiley proving a perfect complement to the dynamism Flau’Jae Johnson and buttery-smooth stylings of Mikalyah Williams, the Tigers might not only finally beat the Gamecocks for the first time under Mulkey, but also be hoisting the national championship trophy once again.

Serah Williams (Wisconsin to UConn)

Serah Williams already provided the Storrs faithful with a preview of what she’s poised to add to the defending national champions.

In the Huskies first exhibition game of the season, an 84-67 romp over Boston College, Williams was a near-automatic 5-for-7 from the field and 5-for-6 from the line as as she racked up 15 points and five boards, plus two steals and a block, in under 18 minutes of action.

One of the most productive players in the Big Ten during her three seasons in Madison, despite playing for an otherwise mediocre Badgers’ team, Williams will give UConn an offensively-dynamic frontcourt partner for Sarah Strong, something they didn’t have during last season’s title run.

And with three Big Ten All-Defense selections, plus a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year trophy, Williams not only will meet the Huskies’ high standard on that end of the floor, but further solidify what was the nation’s second-best defense in 2024-25.

After losing Paige Bueckers, it seems a bit crazy to suggest that this season’s Husky team could be better than last season’s edition. But with Williams, UConn could pack an even more powerful punch as the look to maintain their perch atop the sport.

Gianna Kneepkens (Utah to UCLA)

How does surrounding one of the nation’s most dominant post players with the one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters sound?

That’s the dilemma that UCLA will be imposing on opponents with Lauren Betts and newcomer Gianna Kneepkens. Accounting for both volume and efficiency, Kneepkens had a claim to being college basketball’s most dangerous 3-point shooter during her four seasons at Utah. She never attempted less than 4.4 3s per game, taking just under seven per game last season, and never shot under 38.4 percent, with her percentage settling a snippet below 45 percent last season, even with her high volume.

Kneepkens will introduce a new shooting and spacing dimension to a UCLA offense has been average in terms of 3-pointers made and attempted. Among returning players, Timea Gardner took the most 3s per game with 4.5, but she only played 18.3 minutes per contest, limiting her impact as a spacing threat. Kneepkens also is not just a shooter, which should result in head coach Cori Close relying on her as much as Utah head coaches Lynne Roberts (also now in LA with the WNBA’s Sparks) and Gavin Petersen did. Kneepkens is an efficient 2-point finisher who also got to the line for 4.4 free throw attempts per game, where she shot a Big 12-best 89 percent.

Last season, she also contributed five boards and three assists per game with the Utes, suggesting she should give UCLA the kind of all-round solid play, plus special shooting, that could see the Bruins finally break through for the program’s first national championship.

Oluchi Okananwa (Duke to Maryland)

It could be argued that one of the other players that head coach Brenda Frese plucked from the portal profiles has the higher-impact addition, as Yarden Garzon, coming to College Park after three seasons at Indiana that concluded with an All-Big Ten selection last season, seems poised to slide into tall playmaker role vacated by Shyanne Sellers.

However, Oluchi Okananwa introduces an upside that could take Maryland back to the top of the Big Ten, and possibly beyond. Okananwa, a reserve guard for both of her seasons at Duke, has shown she can raise her play in the biggest games. The shining example of that characteristic came in the ACC Tournament title game, when she helped deliver the conference tourney crown back to Durham with a season-high 22 points, along with 10 boards and four assists. Then, in the grinding Sweet 16 matchup against rival North Carolina, she tallied a 12-point and 12-rebound double-double

Quick and relentless, Okananwa has proven that she will find a way to influence the action, from putting pressure on the rim with speedy drives to pestering opponents on the perimeter as a defender to skying over bigger bodies for boards to hustling after every loose ball. Now likely to be a starter for the first time in her career, Okananwa could activate another level of impact.

Janiah Barker (UCLA to Tennessee)

Through three seasons, two at Texas A&M and one at UCLA, the celebrated star potential with which Janiah Barker entered college basketball remains unrealized. Overburdened as a go-to player for the Aggies, Barker slotted into a reserve role for the Bruins, earning Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year honors last season.

Still, Barker possesses a seemingly pro ready package as a 6-foot-4 physically-blessed forward who has flashed enough skill to continue to intrigue. Her decision to take her talents to Tennessee, however, was a bit puzzling. 3-point shooting, the bread and butter of head coach Kim Caldwell’s high-powered offense, might be Barker’s greatest weakness. She’s averaged less than a 3 per game as a collegian, and shot an icy 18.2 percent from outside last season.

It thus seems likely that, rather than making Barker fit into the Lady Vols’ 3-flinging ways, Caldwell will use Barker’s talents to diversify Tennessee’s attack, with Barker taking advantage of the space created by her sharpshooting teammates to play her more physical brand of ball inside the arc. Defensively, Barker’s place on Rocky Top makes more sense, as her potential as a defensive playmaker should be unlocked within Tennessee’s aggressive system.

A boom-or-bust outcome for Barker and the Big Orange seems likely, but, if it booms, Barker could help the Lady Vols climb back to the sports’ Summitt.