NCAAW: USC’s Iriafen, TCU’s Van Lith highlight transfers to watch

Every year, the number of players transferring continues to increase. This season is no different, and with so many moves, it’s difficult to keep up and know who is where and what matters. Here are five transfers to keep an eye on as the season begins:

Kiki Iriafen (USC Trojans)

Kiki Iriafen was at Stanford last year and had a phenomenal season. She averaged 19.4 points and 11 rebounds per game, and with the senior forward taking her talents to USC, their title chances have suddenly taken a huge jump forward.

The Trojans begin the season ranked No. 3, and if the chemistry between Iriafen and JuJu Watkins jells quickly, they could be the team best equipped to defeat No. 1-ranked South Carolina.

On paper, this team is stacked, with four Trojans named to the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List: Watkins, Iriafen, Rayah Marshall and Talia von Oelhoffen, another transfer. USC is a team everyone should be watching, and Iriafen’s arrival is a big reason for this.

Charlisse Leger-Walker (UCLA Bruins)

The Bruins didn’t just sit around and let USC get better; they got Charlisse Leger-Walker from Washington State. The graduate guard has a career averages of 16.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, but the biggest question mark heading into the 2024-25 season is her health.

She suffered an ACL tear in January, so one would like to see her on the floor and moving well. As long as she’s good to go, UCLA will be in the running for the Big Ten title.

Kaitlyn Chen (UConn)

Paige Bueckers and UConn have been searching for their national title. They fell short last year, losing in the Final Four to Iowa. This year, they got Kaitlyn Chen, a guard from Princeton, to join Bueckers in the backcourt and help take some of the offensive initiation responsibility off of her.

Chen averaged 15.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists last year as a member of the Tigers. If she can replicate that kind of production at UConn, Bueckers might very well accomplish her goal and win a national title before heading to the WNBA.

Lucy Olsen (Iowa)

Caitlin Clark is gone. Kate Martin is also in the WNBA, and Iowa is expected to plummet out of the national spotlight. But hat’s not the idea the Hawkeyes have in mind. They’re bringing in Lucy Olsen to be the star and usher in a new era of Iowa basketball.

Obviously, Olsen will not be a player of Clark’s caliber, but she is a phenomenal scorer who averaged 23.3 points last season. Only Watkins and Clark averaged more points than her in Division I. With Olsen as the system, Iowa has a chance of making the transition from the Clark era as smooth as possible.

Hailey Van Lith (TCU)

Personally, I feel Hailey Van Lith gets a bad rap.

She’s known for her reverse Jordan shrug against Caitlin Clark in last season’s NCAA Tournament game between LSU and Iowa. But, I mean, it’s Clark. She did that against just about everybody. Yes, the fact that it happened during the Elite Eight in a rematch of the 2023 national championship game brought more attention to it, but Van Lith’s reputation as a player took too much of a hit. She’s a great guard. This summer, she represented Team USA in 3×3 basketball, helping America win bronze.

Now that she’s at TCU, I’m interested in seeing how well she plays in a new situation. I think she’ll prove those who think of her as just a poor defender with mediocre offense wrong, and make the Horned Frogs a fun team to watch.