After top transfer target Raegan Beers committed to Oklahoma on Tuesday, the UConn women’s basketball team is running short on time and options if they still intend to add a post player this offseason.
Missing on Beers, a 6-foot-4 All-American out of Oregon State, was significant for the Huskies, especially because coach Geno Auriemma is famously picky when taking players out of the portal. The Huskies signed former Princeton guard Kaitlyn Chen on Wednesday, the program’s first transfer addition since Lou Lopez-Senechal from Fairfield in 2022.
“I picked UConn because of the environment,” Chen said in a release. “The coaches and players made me feel extremely welcome. I am super excited about this upcoming year. I believe this place will push me to become a better version of myself both on and off the court.”
The transfer portal closed Wednesday, meaning no new players can enter their names while retaining eligibility for the 2024-25 season, and the caliber of talent Auriemma will want is running thin. USC picked up two of the best players in the portal in Stanford forward Kiki Iriafen and Oregon State guard Talia von Oelhoffen, while standout Oregon forward Grace van Slooten landed at Ohio State alongside Kentucky forward Ajae Petty.
The Huskies only have one more scholarship open on next season’s roster with three incoming freshmen, but Ice Brady is UConn’s only returning forward that played a single minute in 2023-24. Brady had a breakout in the Big East Tournament, but she was inconsistent most of the season averaging 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds shooting 43.6% from the field and 24% from 3-point range in 17.4 minutes per game.
Ayanna Patterson and Jana El Alfy will both be back in 2024-25, but both are coming off of long-term injury recoveries that kept them out all of last season. El Alfy is entering her third year at UConn and has yet to play a college game after redshirting as an early enrollee in January 2023, then rupturing her Achilles at the FIBA U19 World Cup last July. Patterson averaged 10 minutes per game as a freshman but never played in 2023-24 before undergoing season-ending surgery for patellar tendonitis in December.
Janiah Barker, Texas A&M
Barker’s stock in the portal has been surprisingly low for a former No. 3 prospect in the country, even after her underwhelming sophomore campaign at Texas A&M. Barker was the Aggies’ No. 2 scorer averaging 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds on 47.9% shooting from the field, a stagnation from her freshman season when she averaged 12.7 points and 5.9 boards.
UConn already has Patterson and Brady, the No. 4 and 5 recruits from the Class of 2022, but Barker has more length than either at 6-4, plus a competent 3-point shot that makes her a threat from every level. Her numbers dipped in 2023-24 to 34.3% from beyond the arc, but she hit above 40% as a freshman. Barker’s biggest concern is consistency: She led Texas A&M in turnovers and struggled with foul trouble especially during SEC play. Her combination of size and athleticism gives her a sky-high ceiling, and a stronger base of experience might make her more reliable than a player like el Alfy or Patterson coming off of injury.
Maryam Dauda, Arkansas
Dauda fits the UConn profile on paper: A top 15 prospect in the Class of 2021, a former McDonald’s All-American and Naismith Player of the Year semifinalist, three years of experience in a Power 5 program. She redshirted her freshman season after tearing her ACL and meniscus as a senior in high school, but the 6-4 center played in all 35 games in 2022-23 and started all 33 last season.
Dauda had a breakout year for the Razorbacks in 2023-24, averaging 10.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. Her 74 total blocks ranked top 20 in the country, and adding a rim protector should be a priority for the Huskies after the team combined for 92 blocks last season.
Dauda’s offensive numbers aren’t flashy, but she was one of Arkansas’s more efficient scorers in an offensive system that demanded a high volume of shot attempts. She hit 45.5% from the field and was third on the team from 3-point range making 31.9%, giving her a high ceiling to develop with two more seasons of eligibility.
Liza Karlen, Marquette
Karlen may be a long shot, because she entered the portal soon after former Marquette coach Megan Duffy was hired at Virginia Tech. But Duffy’s hire became official almost a month ago, and Marquette’s other high-profile transfer Mackenzie Hare didn’t follow her former coach to Blacksburg. The 6-2 forward is a smaller than Barker or Dauda, but Auriemma has plenty of familiarity for the the former Golden Eagles Star after she earned first-team All-Big East honors in 2023-24. Karlen averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 rebounds last season shooting 49.7% from the field, and she was inconsistent but threatening from three hitting 35.7%.
Karlen is also from St. Paul, Minnesota, and a longtime friend of UConn star Paige Bueckers. Bueckers’ Hopkins team beat Karlen’s Stillwater in the semifinals of the Minnesota state basketball tournament in 2020, and the pair played on the same AAU team for their senior season. Karlen only has a year of eligibility left, and one last reunion with Bueckers would bring a key veteran presence UConn needs to stabilize its talented but volatile young roster.
