blackie said:
The question, however, is how many good players that can change the direction of a program want nothing more than to sit on the bench and collect a ring. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. And if they are......do you really want them on your team?
I suspect we lost Jordan Oliver, for example, because she never got her real chance because we just kept bringing in someone from the portal to take the place she or someone like her believed they should have had and expected to fit into when they were recruited. Amazing we didn't lose Andrews. If you have too large a roster size there have to be plenty of these types of players around that would love to move on. With parity now, going to UConn or SC or Stanford or anywhere else doesn't guarantee a ring. So do you want to play or sit and collect dust when you could be developed into a all-conference or more player somewhere else. Likely this is why the portal has grown so much.
Most of the time when players transfer it is usually to a lower tier team and not always lateral or higher. There are some exceptions like 6'7" Cardoso to SC (from Syracuse). This usually insures they will get playing time.
I was surprised JO transferred to Duke because she has 2 other players in her position that she would be competing with time for, namely Nyah Green and Celeste Taylor.
JO may have lost patience under the old CKM system in which you knew you were not going to get much time until your Junior year. I think JO believed she was better than the wait and that is why she may have transferred. Unfortunately, she tore her Achilles early in the year and was out this past season.