Teams that made the tournament won't know anything yet, but there are already reports about four Toledo players in the transfer portal:

Mali Morgan-Elliott, a sophomore, started at the four in her freshman year and at the five this year. Morgan-Elliott would not have started on a team that had some inside presence, but she will be missed nonetheless.

Jala Johnson was the back-up point guard this year, her sophomore season, but she was clearly overmatched.

Cassie Colon was a junior college transfer who saw no meaningful minutes.

Tatyana Davis will be repeating her senior season elsewhere. She was one of the Rockets' first players off the bench the last couple years. She was explosive and could score, but she was inconsistent and made a ton of mistakes that drove our coach crazy. Davis left the team with a few games remaining in the season.

Any news from other teams?

From wbbblog, I see these other MAC players:

UB: Sophia Ojhammar 5'9 FR & Jessika Schiffer 5'9 SO
EMU: Terrysha Banner 5'4 JR
Kent: Linsey Marchese 6'4 JR
Miami: Monique Esbrand 5'9 SR
Ohio: Edecia Beck 5'9 JR
WMU: Ashley Konkle 6'2 SO

(03-24-2021 07:06 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  From wbbblog, I see these other MAC players:

UB: Sophia Ojhammar 5'9 FR & Jessika Schiffer 5'9 SO
EMU: Terrysha Banner 5'4 JR
Kent: Linsey Marchese 6'4 JR
Miami: Monique Esbrand 5'9 SR
Ohio: Edecia Beck 5'9 JR
WMU: Ashley Konkle 6'2 SO

Schiffer is a good, productive player at this level. I would think the rest of them might be transferring down to a level where they can play. Esbrand quit mid season when she was dropped from the rotation.

Oshlyn Brown is in the portal. Biggest name this year so far. In the past top MAC players all seem to end up at Ohio State, so will be interesting to see where she lands.

Also NIU's Riley Blackwell 6'1 SR and Alexis Legan 5'9 SO

As expected, CMU's Micaela Kelly declared for the WNBA draft.

Also from CMU, JR G Sophia Karasinski is in the portal.

Some more names in the portal including:

BSU Maliah Howard-Bass SR G
BSU Essence Booker JR G (Already announced she is going back west to UNLV)

BG Angela Perry SR C
BG Macy Spielman FR G (dad is Chris)

Also, interestingly a couple former MAC players transferring again:

Former KSU G Aisiah Dingle, after 1 year at Stony Brook
Former NIU G Gaby Nikatinaite, after 1/2 a year at George Washington

Ohio is now returning Cece Hooks for a 5th season. She had declared for the WNBA draft, but is now coming back for another season...

https://twitter.com/ohiowbasketball/stat...74562?s=21

BG' SO G Olivia Trice
EMU JR G Jenna Annacchiarico

both in the portal

Oshlyn Brown, Ball State grad transfer, is going to Rutgers

Two more UB players in the portal:
JR C Zena Elias
JR F Keowa Walters

BSU's JR F Ella Skeens has transfered to the University of the Rio Grande. That's an interesting landing spot.
WMU's Ashley Konkle has committed to Hillsdale

BTW, Syracuse had 12 of their players enter the portal. Count your blessings.

EMU's Annecchiarico is headed to Charleston.
UT's Jaela Johnson to Bellarmine

The Syracuse story is a head scratcher. They had a decent team, and lost to UConn in the 2nd round of the NCAAs. Coach is staying who has been there for a decade or more. Next year's signing class supposed to be one of the best in the country. And yet 12 players transferring, and 1 turning pro. Now, 4 of those transfers would have used up their eligibility in a normal year anyway, but that's still 8 more leaving by choice. Hard to figure.

Lots of players transferring (from P5 schools) who were starters or other significant contributors. Mostly they seem to be just switching to other P5 schools, almost like trade deadline in the pros. At least a couple coaches have been quoted that there appears to be tampering going on behind the scenes, which is not surprising to imagine when some of those players announce their new school within a couple days of putting their names in the portal. I mean, how could there even be time to find out there was a spot there for them, unless they already knew beforehand, let alone to determine if that's the right school for them. I saw at least one P5 coach openly announce he is looking to sign a transfer with certain skills. Seems a little shady. Also, lots of players transferring for the 2nd (or even third) time, which doesn't seem conducive to getting a good education they can use going forward. This is the future, it seems.

Well, the latest story out of Detroit Mercy makes the Syracuse situation look perfectly normal. After the parents of every single player sent a letter to UDM accusing 1st year coach AnneMarie Gilbert of violating NCAA rules, encouraging players to ignore their academics, harassing and bullying players, the school decided to do nothing. So, the logical thing happened next and most of the players decided to transfer. It's been reported that all but 1 player has entered the transfer portal. MAC fans may remember Gilbert as the former EMU coach, who resigned after being found in violation of NCAA rules. Apparently not much has changed. But, it gets stranger.

It's now being reported that the last remaining player - former WMU Bronco, Maxine Moore - has been kicked off the team by the university, because well, for no reason other than they want to clean the slate of all traces of the former team for coach Gilbert. Moore is a rising senior and wants to stay and graduate from UDM, but although administration has decided she can stay and remain on scholarship, they won't let her play basketball. What the what? I wonder if she has cause for a Title IX lawsuit. If that is the way a school treats their students, I hope MAC schools stop scheduling Detroit until the current staff and administration are gone. No reason to reward that kind of behavior.

While I am here, this is the list of transfers as I know them today (old/new schools in parens):

Akron
OUT -> none
IN <- Annika Corcoran, 5'6 SO (Detroit)

Ball State
OUT -> Essence Booker 5'8 JR (UNLV), Oshlyn Brown, 6'1 CvSR (Rutgers), Maliah Howard-Bass 5'9 CvSR (?), Krystal Rice 5'8 JR (Rochester, NAIA), Ella Skeens 5'11 JR (URio Grande, NAIA)
IN <- Jazmyn Turner 6'2 (Wabash CC, Juco), Skyla Knight 5'8 (Butler CC, Juco), Makenna Burch 5'8 (NE Ok A&M, Juco)

BGSU
OUT -> Angela Perry 6'2 CvSR (?), Macy Spielman 5'10 FR (?), Olivia Trice 5'10 SO (?)
IN <- Morgan Sharps 5'10 SO (Xavier)

Buffalo
OUT -> Zena Elias 6'3 JR (South Alabama), Sophia Ojhammar 5'9 FR (?), Jessika Schiffer 5'9 SO (?), Keowa Walters 6'3 JR (VCU)
IN <- Dominque Camp 5'9 SO (Troy), Nia Jordan 6'1 (Labette CC, Juco)

Central Michigan
OUT -> Sophia Karasinski 5'9 JR (?)
IN <- none

Eastern Michigan
OUT -> Jenna Annecchiarico 5'5 JR (Charleston), Terrysha Banner 5'5 JR (?)
IN <- Danneille Rainey 5'10 CvSR (Florida), Treasure Thompson 6'2 FR (LSU)

Kent State
OUT -> Linsey Marchese 6'4 JR (?)
IN <- Abby Ogle 5'8 JR (WVU)

Miami
OUT -> Monique Esbrand 5'9 CvSR (?)
IN <- none

Northern Illinois
OUT -> Riley Blackwell 6'1 CvSR (Loyola Chicago), Alexis Legan 5'9 SO (?)
IN <- Nia Ahart 5'7 CvSR (Colgate)

Ohio
OUT -> Edecia Beck 5'9 JR (?)
IN <- none

Toledo
OUT -> Cassie Colon 5'9 JR (?), Tatyana Davis 5'7 CvSR (?), Jaela Johnson 5'5 SO (Bellarmine), Mali Morgan-Elliott 5'11 SO (Stetson)
IN <- Nan Garcia 6'0 FR (Penn State), Jayda Jansen 5'9 JR (Maryville DII), Hannah Noveroske 6'5 SO (Indiana)

Western Michigan
OUT -> Ashley Konkle 6'2 SO (Hillsdale, DII)
IN <- none

BSU lost the most, although Brown would have been done in a normal year anyway. But Booker and Howard-Bass were also contributors.
Buffalo lost 3 bench players who all contributed.
Toledo lost one contributor in Morgan-Elliott, but she was likely slip a little down the depth chart the coming season anyway.

EMU got a decent guard in Rainey to replace Annecchiarico. She scored 8 pts/g at FL. Thompson was very highly recruited out of HS, but only played a total of 15 minutes as a FR @ LSU, so a bit of an unknown still.
Toledo got taller, and added highly recruited wing Garcia from PSU who can play both inside and outside. Jansen scored 19 pts/game at Maryville, shot 39% from 3, and was conference defensive POY.
BSU signed 3 very productive JUCO players who all scored double figures - Turner was 2nd team All American, and Knight Honorable Mention.

What remains to be seen is, which seniors return for their 5th years? Ones definitely returning that I have heard:
Parker (BGSU), Hemphill (Buffalo), Castro (NIU), Hooks (OU), Burris (OU), Jacobson (WMU). Anyone else?

Thanks, northcoast. Really appreciate the detailed information. Toledo should be improved over last year with the changes that you mentioned, plus a freshman post player who likely will be able to contribute right away.

Buffalo's Schiffer ends up at Rider, and Ojhammar goes juco to East Florida St.

Ball State on the other hand, adds another transfer in 6'0 JR/GRAD Chyna Latimer from Delaware.

Morgan Sharps, who is transferring from X to BG was originally a Miami signee who transferred after our coach left for Marquette. Sharps is a 3-point specialist and was a co-star in high school with Kent's Shumate.