Transfers are the new NCAA norm. Here’s why some women’s basketball players stayed put instead.
After her freshman season, Harmoni Turner was flooded with offers. The Harvard guard – and former five-star recruit – averaged 15.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.5 steals per game in her first Ivy League campaign, and major programs took notice. The SEC was particularly keen on getting Turner out of Cambridge and into the country’s premier conference.
That was during the 2021-22 season, just as the new NIL rules were put into place. That, combined with transfer rules allowing players to see the court instantly without a redshirt season, changed the landscape of college basketball. Since then, switching programs season after season has become the norm, with an estimated 1,400 women’s basketball players entering the transfer portal after the 2024 season. But despite the ease of transferring, and the perks that often come with it, there are still players like Turner who have made a permanent home at their schools.
“The numbers these SEC schools were throwing at me were crazy,” Turner said of her NIL offers. “But having a Harvard degree is important to me. Plus, I love my team. Like, I really love my team. So, I don’t regret turning down the money at all.”
Turner is one of many mid-major stars who have chosen to remain at their respective programs instead of making the jump to high-major basketball. Building and maintaining a program in this era of college basketball is a challenge, but doing it at the mid-major level is even more difficult. Recruits like Turner, who opt to stick it out instead of looking for greener pastures, make a difference.
“College athletics right now are kind of leaning in the direction of money, glitz and glamour, limelight and all of that,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said. “I think there is something so meaningful in a player like Harmoni staying put when she could have gone really anywhere.”
With an excess of opportunities available for players at all times, small programs have to provide something different in order to draw attention. For Moore and Harvard, the chance to earn an Ivy League education can serve as a draw for players. Other schools have to build brands that are desirable in other ways.
“Some of those schools have huge resources and all kinds of money to spend on players,” South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnson said. “We’re not going to win that bidding war. We’re not going to win that dollar amount war. So we have to have some different things that differentiate our program.”
Johnson has built a mid-major powerhouse at South Dakota State. When he took over the program in 2000, it was still a Division II school. Since the Jackrabbits moved to Division I in 2004 and became eligible for the postseason in 2009, they have won the Summit League 12 times to earn automatic NCAA Tournament bids. This season, South Dakota State went undefeated in conference play and won its conference tournament for the third consecutive year. Those are the kind of numbers Johnson shares with potential recruits. Winning, he says, is one of the things that makes South Dakota State stand out.
“I think our players are choosing South Dakota State for a variety of reasons,” he said. “Maybe they want more balance in their lives, maybe they want a different fit, a different team dynamic. Or maybe they want a chance to win. There’s a lot of power five schools that win, but there are a lot that don’t win. We’ve had success over the years.”
For Larchwood, Iowa-native Brooklyn Meyer, the decision to come to South Dakota State was an easy one. The decision to stay was even easier. The 2023-24 Summit League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year grew up just an hour away from campus, on the Iowa and South Dakota border. She was already aware of the program’s success, and South Dakota State was the first school to reach out to her, and later, the first to offer her a scholarship.
Johnson says establishing relationships when players are freshman or sophomores is crucial. Big-name schools can jump in late and still have a shot, but in order to compete, South Dakota State has to see the potential before anyone else does. Sometimes that means it takes players until their junior or senior years in college to really develop. But Meyer was ready to compete from the jump. She turned down Power Five offers to go to South Dakota State.
She has already played in two NCAA Tournaments with the Jackrabbits, with another on the horizon, and Meyer has won the top individual awards for her conference, but she’s not even entertaining the idea of moving on to another program.
“Every case is different, and everyone needs to do what is best for them,” Meyer said. “But for me, I love my teammates, I love the community here and that’s something I don’t want to give up. I haven’t explored the idea of leaving at all.”
Drake’s Katie Dinnebier feels the same way. The senior guard made a name for herself on a national stage early in her career, when she scored 24 points in an overtime loss to Caitlin Clark and Iowa to start her sophomore season. Dinnebier has had plenty of other impressive performances against high-major teams, including 40 points this season against Iowa and 39 against Iowa State. She’s also eighth in the nation in scoring, with 22.7 points per game.
Dinnebier is matter of fact about why she likes playing at Drake: “I like winning championships,” she said with a laugh. The Bulldogs won the Missouri Valley conference tournament in 2023 and 2024, and Dinnebier will play for another, starting on Friday.
She’s also from West Des Moines, which is a mere 9.8 miles away from Des Moines, where Drake is located. Playing in front of her friends and family is just one of the ways Dinnebier continues to find joy in basketball, something that was a priority for her when choosing a school.
“College basketball nowadays is a business,” she said. “But I don’t feel that way at Drake. Obviously we still work hard, but we are more like a family. That’s what has kept me here, and that’s what makes Drake special.”
Turner, Meyer and Dinnebier all benefit from NIL at their respective schools. They each have deals with local companies, but none of them want that to be the only thing that influences the decisions of young recruits, or more experienced players who are considering entering the portal.
“People tend to think bigger is better, but I’m getting my school paid for, I’m in my hometown and I love the culture of my program,” Dinnebier said. “Don’t get me wrong, NIL is great because we don’t have time for jobs or internships, we don’t have time to make our own money. And for some people, transferring is the right move. But there is also a specialness of committing to a school and staying there.”
