The portal has officially closed and most of the big-name players have landed at their new programs.
With all that player movement, teams are now coming into focus and the landscape has certainly changed for the 2026-27 season. Top-10 teams are no longer top anything. And some teams that were entirely outside of Top 25 projections appear to have burst onto the scene as contenders who could make deep March runs next season.
With all that movement, here’s a look at the winners and losers of the 2026 portal season.
No team made a more precipitous jump from irrelevance to contenders for a deep NCAA Tournament run than Oklahoma State with this portal haul. Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt’s team lost nine players to the portal and graduated another two, returning just Stailee Heard. The rising senior is a two-time All-Big 12 selection, but it’s hard to put together a competitive team (or a team at all) with just one player and three incoming freshmen.
Hoyt’s early transfer portal signings weren’t splashy, but they had a theme — elite 3-point shooters. Ellie Brueggemann (Lindenwood), Talexa Weeter (Division II Fort Hays State) and Nene Ndiaye (Rutgers) all shot better than 40 percent from long range last season. Hoyt then signed Florida transfer Liv McGill, the high-volume shooter who’s an asset in the paint and in transition. But what really elevated Oklahoma State’s ceiling was center Audi Crooks’ decision to sign with the Cowgirls. With Crooks operating in the middle, 3-point shooters spacing the floor and McGill working in between, the Cowgirls became an exciting team in the span of two weeks.
In: Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Liv McGill (Florida), Ellie Brueggemann (Lindenwood), Talexa Weeter (Division II Fort Hays State) and Nene Ndiaye (Rutgers), LA Sneed (Utah)
Out: Achol Akot (North Carolina), Amari Whiting (Iowa), Jadyn Wooten (TCU), Macey Huard (Washington), Faith Acker, Praise Egharevba, Tyla Heard, Lena Girardi (Utah), Favour Onoh
Officially a Cowgirl 🤠 @AudiCrooks pic.twitter.com/w2eF91uHWR
The Hawkeyes lost five players to the portal. Only freshman Addie Deal had played more than 15 minutes a game during the season, and her production can be replaced by the returning guards and incoming freshman McKenna Woliczko. Even so, coach Jan Jensen went into the portal to bring more depth and talent to the Iowa backcourt with the additions of Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Adding Carnegie is particularly promising because she and Chit Chat Wright — who started 31 games in 2025-26 — played together as freshmen at Georgia Tech. They logged more than 250 possessions together that season. The only Iowa guard combos who played at least 250 possessions together in 2025-26 were Wright and Taylor Stremlow and Wright and Kylie Feuerbach. Wright and Carnegie’s experiences together should help establish a baseline for a team heading into the 2026-27 season eager to rewrite its early March Madness exit.
Hannah Stuelke’s graduation will hurt — she started 96 games the past three seasons — but Ava Heiden can be the interior centerpiece as Iowa continues to fill out the rest of the floor with talented guards and wings.
In: Dani Carnegie (Georgia), Amari Whiting (Oklahoma State)
Out: Addie Deal (Wisconsin), Teagan Mallegni (Wisconsin), Callie Levin (Northern Iowa), Kennise Johnson, Emely Rodriguez
Louisville’s offense this season produced its highest scoring since 2013-14, and though the Cardinals lost three of their top eight players from their Elite Eight team — forward Laura Ziegler (graduation), guard Reyna Scott (graduation) and wing Anaya Hardy (transfer) — they’ve reloaded quite well with key transfer additions.
Coach Jeff Walz landed Carys Baker, an experienced 6-foot-2 forward from Virginia Tech who had 16 points and nine boards against Louisville this season, to bolster the inside with Elif Istanbulluoglu (6-3 forward) and incoming freshman Ayse Melek Demirer (6-5 forward). Baker’s ability to knock down 3s and chase down rebounds will be a difference-maker for Louisville. Bringing in Zam Jones from NC State was another significant intraconference win for the Cardinals, making this already-strong rising junior core of Tajianna Roberts, Imari Berry and Mackenly Randolph that much better.
In: Zam Jones (NC State), Carys Baker (Virginia Tech), Deniya Prawl (Tennessee)
Out: Anaya Hardy (Notre Dame), Skylar Jones (Baylor), Isla Juffermans (Charleston), Peyton Bradley (UAB)
After losing seven of their top eight rotational players, the Horned Frogs needed to hit the portal hard and bring in some talent to continue their Elite Eight streak. Coach Mark Campbell did that, bringing in a talented group to surround center Clara Silva — the rare multi-year player at TCU.
Oklahoma State’s Jadyn Wooten brings experience as a ball handler and distributor, while North Carolina’s Lanie Grant is an elite floor spacer (42 percent from range). Lara Somfai, who started 32 games for Stanford as a freshman, averaged 11 points and nine rebounds a game. Paired with Silva, Somfai should be able to elevate her game even more in her sophomore season at TCU.
In: Lanie Grant (North Carolina), Jadyn Wooten (Oklahoma State), Lara Somfai (Stanford), Bella Hines (LSU), Avery Hjelmstad (Utah)