Women's transfer portal winners and losers: Oklahoma State and South Carolina come out on top, Texas flounders

It has been barely three weeks since the UCLA Bruins were crowned national champions of the 2025-26 women's college basketball season, and already the majority of the top programs in the nation have undergone roster makeovers. Well over 1,000 players entered the transfer portal, and although it closed less than a week ago, most of the top players have already found a new home. 

In the past month, we've seen Oklahoma State shock the world by landing the top two players in the portal, Dawn Staley work her magic again, Iowa State and Tennessee essentially have to start from scratch and Texas get dealt some surprising blows. While there are still moves to be made, it's time to take stock of the action so far.

Here is a closer look at the winners and losers of the transfer portal:

Winner: Oklahoma State 

Stailee Heard is the only Cowgirl returning from this past season, but coach Jacie Hoyt got her the best reinforcements available when Oklahoma State signed former Iowa State center Audi Crooks and former Florida point guard Liv McGill, the top two players in the transfer portal.

Those two new pieces put the program in a very good spot to succeed, and consequently, the Cowgirls became the No. 12 team in the CBS Sports way-too-early rankings.

Crooks is a valuable weapon in the paint due to her strength and elite footwork. This past season, she was the No. 2 leading scorer in the nation with 25.8 points per game, while shooting 64.9% from the field and nabbing 7.7 rebounds per contest. However, the most impressive part of her skillset is her efficiency -- early in her junior year, she was averaging over one point per minute. Meanwhile, McGill is an athletic playmaker who was No. 11 in scoring with 22.5 points per contest. Her defense is also an asset as she averaged 2.5 steals per game.

The Cowgirls have hardly been a perennial powerhouse in women's basketball, so it was surprising to see them land such big names. However, Hoyt has had the program on the upswing in recent years, and this month she landed the talent that should have the team firmly in contention for the Big 12 title next season.

Winner: South Carolina

While the Gamecocks did lose key players Raven Johnson, Ta'Niya Latson and Madina Okot to the WNBA, South Carolina was the only SEC program to not lose a single player to the transfer portal.

The Gamecocks just competed in their third consecutive national championship game, and Dawn Staley is doing everything she can to not just keep the momentum going bu also make sure the Gamecocks don't get blown out in the title game next time they get there. The team recently added former Texas guard Jordan Lee, who had a breakout sophomore season as Texas's second leading scorer with 13.2 points per game. Lee has an ability to shoot inside and outside the 3-point line and is also a strong defender, which is a necessary skill when playing for this South Carolina coaching staff. 

While not technically a transfer-portal victory, South Carolina was able to pick up five-star recruit Oliviyah Edwards, the No. 5 player in the 247Sports class of 2026 rankings. Edwards, also known as "Big Oh," had originally committed to Tennessee but requested a release from her national letter of intent earlier this month. On a related note…

Loser: Tennessee  

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Edwards was strongly considering committing to Tennessee again but ultimately decided to join the Gamecocks instead. This was just one of many losses the program took after the Lady Vols had the worst season in Tennessee women's basketball history. 

Head coach Kim Caldwell experienced a complete roster turnover, with every player who saw the court last season either graduating or entering the transfer portal. This includes star player Talaysia Cooper, who will be heading to Ole Miss.

Caldwell already started rebuilding with two incoming freshmen and eight players from the transfer portal – including former Maryland guard Kaylene Smikle. Still, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about what's happening in Knoxville. 

Winner: UCLA

The reigning national champions lost every single player who scored a point in the title game to graduation -- a record six seniors got drafted during the 2026 WNBA, including star center Lauren Betts, who will be playing with the Washington Mystics alongside UCLA teammate Angela Dugalić and UCLA assistant coach Michaela Onyenwere.

There is no way to immediately replace that much talent and experience, but the Bruins are off to a good start trying. First off, every player with eligibility remaining stayed put, making UCLA the only Big Ten team without a single player transferring out. Notably, Betts' younger sister, Sienna, will return for her sophomore season after being the only non-senior to get regular rotation minutes in her freshman campaign. Veteran forward Timea Gardiner, who sat out last season due to injury but was a key player in UCLA's 2025 Final Four run, will also be back.

Cori Close has landed some key pieces in the portal, too, getting three players in the top 25 of CBS Sports' transfer portal rankings, including No. 4 Addy Brown from Iowa State, No. 23 Elina Aarnisalo -- who actually started her career at UCLA, spent one year in North Carolina, and is now heading back to Los Angeles -- and No. 24 Donovyn Hunter from TCU. The Bruins also added former Arkansas guard Bonnie Deas.

Loser: Iowa State

The Cyclones had a lot of potential last season and tied the best start in program history with a 14-0 record. However, a string of injuries combined with a rough Big 12 schedule slowed that momentum in January, and Iowa State never fully recovered. After a disappointing first-round loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament, Iowa State had nine players enter the transfer portal, including starters Audi Crooks, Addy Brown, Kenzie Hare and Jada Williams.

Arianna Jackson is the only starter returning, and so far, the incoming talent doesn't come close to replacing what was lost. Only two of the five incoming transfers came from power conferences, Gift Ezekiel from Florida and Sienna Harvey from Washington, and neither of them averaged more than 11 minutes per contest. The other players transferring in are former Kent State guard Mya Babbitt, former Loyola-Chicago guard Alex-Anne Bessette and former La Salle guard Ashleigh Connor. All three of them were starters for their respective programs, but their schools did not compete in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. 

Winner: Virginia

In an unforeseen turn of events earlier this month, Virginia fired head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton just days after the Cavaliers reached their first Sweet 16 since 2000.

This led junior guard Kymora Johnson to the transfer portal, and, as one of the key pieces for Virginia's Cinderella run, she got a lot of attention from the top programs in the nation. She visited South Carolina two weeks ago, but ultimately decided to return to Virginia after talking to newly hired coach Aaron Roussell. 

This was a big win for the former Richmond coach, who left the Spiders on a high note with four straight 20-win seasons and three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Johnson averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game this past season. She registered a career-high 41 points against Winthrop in December, setting a new program record with 10 3-pointers in that game. She also set new Virginia single-season (103) and career (23) 3-point records through the 2025-26 campaign. In February, Johnson registered the program's second-ever triple-double with 20 pts, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Pittsburgh.

Loser: Texas

The Longhorns reached back-to-back Final Fours, but were thrown into rebuilding mode earlier this month in one of the more surprising transfer-portal sagas. The biggest departures were expected, as star point guard Rori Harmon and center Kyla Oldacre graduated. However, the team also saw starting guard Jordan Lee and starting forward Justice Carlton hit the portal, along with high-profile freshman Aaliyah Crump and senior Aaliyah Moore, who missed this past season due to an injury. 

Crump arrived in Texas as 247Sports' No. 5 player in the class of 2025 and was expected to play a key role, particularly as a 3-point shooter. However, she missed 15 games due to a stress fracture in her foot and ended her freshman year averaging under 18 minutes per game. Lee showed a lot of improvement from the previous season and became one of the most consistent offensive weapons for the Longhorns. Meanwhile, Carlton averaged 8.5 points on 53% shooting in under 20 minutes per game. She knew how to show up in big games as she had 15 points in the win over South Carolina during the SEC Tournament title game. 

But even though it has been a rough month for Vic Schaefer's squad, there is still reason to be optimistic about next season, given the Longhorns kept star player Madison Booker and their incoming class features four players ranked in the top 20 by 247Sports, including No. 12 Addison Bjorn, a forward with a guard-like skill set.

Winner: Ole Miss

At this point, we can always expect coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin to work her magic in the transfer portal. Ole Miss took a hit with its top three contributors heading to the WNBA, but McPhee-McCuin wasted no time rebuilding her roster. The Rebels have eight incoming transfers, including former Tennessee star Talaysia Cooper -- a versatile player who should be able to make an impact on both sides of the court right away. She will be joined by guard Jaida Civil, who also transferred from Tennessee.

Another strong addition was guard Jada Richard, who started 34 games during her sophomore year at LSU. She contributed in every area for the Tigers with 9.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while showing potential as a 3-point shooter. 

Coach Yo, who is a "self-proclaimed portalista," doesn't just get good players from the transfer portal; she also knows how to develop talent. Rachael Okokoh, a 6-foot-4 forward from Penn State, only averaged about five minutes per game during her freshman year in State College, but McPhee-McCuin believes she will have an immediate impact for the Rebels because "her best basketball is ahead of her."