Well, she's on her way to the Big Ten!

Kiki Iriafen, off breakout year at Stanford, to join USC - ESPN

Does this mean Lindsey can recruit?

I'm thinking Juju Watkins was more of the recruiter. Kiki is also from Los Angeles.

#1 player in the country followed by #1 recruiting class followed by #1 portal transfer.

And a much higher pay scale than the WNBA.

Strangely, this may be a combination of factors. Last year Gottlieb had 3 players enrolled in the SC MBA program and 1 in law school, including former Cal/Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes. I don't really see how this happens at Haas or Berkeley Law or for that matter Furd GSB or SLS. Just too difficult to get that many payers into these programs and to matriculate. But my guess is Kiki after 3 plus years on the Farm is a grad transfer and headed to one of these SC grad programs. The other thing is it appears that players seem to think Gottlieb can coach as SC has progressed under her coaching deep into the NCAAs. Also, maybe she can recruit.

You have to wonder if Furd doesn't suffer some roster losses until Pate Kate proves herself.

Kaitlyn Chen of Princeton to UConn. The top players are looking for a good combination of NIL and winning programs.

In reply to wifeisafurd

wifeisafurd said:

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Strangely, this may be a combination of factors. Last year Gottlieb had 3 players enrolled in the SC MBA program and 1 in law school, including former Cal/Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes. I don't really see how this happens at Haas or Berkeley Law or for that matter Furd GSB or SLS. Just too difficult to get that many payers into these programs and to matriculate. But my guess is Kiki after 3 plus years on the Farm is a grad transfer and headed to one of these SC grad programs. The other thing is it appears that players seem to think Gottlieb can coach as SC has progressed under her coaching deep into the NCAAs. Also, maybe she can recruit.

You have to wonder if Furd doesn't suffer some roster losses until Pate Kate proves herself.

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USC has actually established.a number of grad certificate programs. There is one on Entrepreneurship which several of their grad transfers have completed, But it is not the same as an MBA program.

When the Covid exemption soon expires, we are also going to see far fewer grad transfer players in the future. It will be back to four years of eligibility.

In reply to wifeisafurd

wifeisafurd said:

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You have to wonder if Furd doesn't suffer some roster losses until Pate Kate proves herself.

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It's not just the coach. It's a lot easier to transfer out of Stanford than into Stanford. Maybe they'll fix that, maybe they won't.

I called Kiki to USC earlier but it didn't take a crystal ball to figure that one out

USC will be in the Final Four again and even the NC game. Don't know who they will play so can't predict who wins the crown but SC basketball was a sleeping giant and will be a blue blood for years joining UConn, South Carolina, etc

With JuJu Watkins handling the ball most of the time, I was kind of surprised that Kiki would opt for USC. If they jell-they will likely be at the top of the Big Ten next season.

In reply to Schroeder71

Schroeder71 said:

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With JuJu Watkins handling the ball most of the time, I was kind of surprised that Kiki would opt for USC. If they jell-they will likely be at the top of the Big Ten next season.

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I don't think that Watkins is all about herself. The only other scorer USC had last year was Forbes. Watkins took 33% of the teams's shots and Forbes took 25%. In the games I saw, Watkins also had to make her own plays often as the clock was running out. In the end, she only made 40% from the field, So my guess is that she will be very happy to be surrounded by other scoring options and easier opportunities for herself along with better opportunities for a national championship.

In reply to annarborbear

annarborbear said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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Strangely, this may be a combination of factors. Last year Gottlieb had 3 players enrolled in the SC MBA program and 1 in law school, including former Cal/Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes. I don't really see how this happens at Haas or Berkeley Law or for that matter Furd GSB or SLS. Just too difficult to get that many payers into these programs and to matriculate. But my guess is Kiki after 3 plus years on the Farm is a grad transfer and headed to one of these SC grad programs. The other thing is it appears that players seem to think Gottlieb can coach as SC has progressed under her coaching deep into the NCAAs. Also, maybe she can recruit.

You have to wonder if Furd doesn't suffer some roster losses until Pate Kate proves herself.

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USC has actually established.a number of grad certificate programs. There is one on Entrepreneurship which several of their grad transfers have completed, But it is not the same as an MBA program.

When the Covid exemption soon expires, we are also going to see far fewer grad transfer players in the future. It will be back to four years of eligibility.

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actually we are both wrong. It is not a MBA, and also is not a grad certificate. SC gives a separate masters degree in entrepreneurship and innovation, through the graduate business school, that is 2 years of courses at the Marshall Graduate Business School. You can look it up on the Marshall school website. It is not a certificate. Marshall does have certicate programs, and this is not one of them.

The SC women's basketball website makes quite clear, the women are getting a masters degree, not a certificate. This is a huge advantage over a certificate degree. In looking at the basketball website, four members of the SC roster are getting that Masters degree from the Business School. The player getting the Masters is Law is in interesting subject area, where you looking at being in legal management or consulting (such as litigation expertise) is issued by Gould (the SC Law School). Gould also offers certificates, but those appear to be for existing lawyers seeking an expertise, such as media and entertainment.

With five of 12 roster spots last year going to Masters Degrees from Marshall and Gould, Lindsey is selling
Masters degrees. Looking at the majors of some of the players have, they are not very typical. (e.g., American Pop Culture). Wonder if Lyons can get old school Cal into being a little bit more relevant with its majors and degrees.

I thought I had read the opposite and that it is more of an on-line program. But in any event, most of today's grad transfers are using their Covid fifth year exemptions which are about to disappear. Once those exemptions are gone, we will be going back to seeing an occasional grad transfer who has an extra redshirt year from injury, but that will be about it. This has been a unique phenomenon.

In reply to annarborbear Also Ivy transfers who can't play in the Ivy as grads.

In reply to stu

stu said:

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Also Ivy transfers who can't play in the Ivy as grads.

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There also won't be many of those any more. Very few will graduate in three years and then use their fourth year some place else. It will be back to the pre-2020 world, however with NIL being enough incentive for a select few to try to graduate in three.

In reply to annarborbear Lately I'm hearing more about people graduating in 3 years. Is it related to AP courses in high school? Back in my day college credits were earned only in college - no AP, no life experience.

In reply to annarborbear

annarborbear said:

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Kaitlyn Chen of Princeton to UConn. The top players are looking for a good combination of NIL and winning programs.

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One and the same?

In reply to mbBear

mbBear said:

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annarborbear said:

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Kaitlyn Chen of Princeton to UConn. The top players are looking for a good combination of NIL and winning programs.

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One and the same?

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The rich are definitely getting richer in this new collegiate world, both players and schools.

Interesting that a number of the non-P4 conferences are now talking about forming their own collegiate division and holding their own combined championship playoffs. They know that they will now be left out without the NIL that the P4 winning programs can produce. For us, I think that could be a lot more interesting some day instead of settling for the WBIT at great expense.

Quote:

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It's not just the coach. It's a lot easier to transfer out of Stanford than into Stanford. Maybe they'll fix that, maybe they won't.

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Let's hope they don't.

In reply to annarborbear

annarborbear said:

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I thought I had read the opposite and that it is more of an on-line program. But in any event, most of today's grad transfers are using their Covid fifth year exemptions which are about to disappear. Once those exemptions are gone, we will be going back to seeing an occasional grad transfer who has an extra redshirt year from injury, but that will be about it. This has been a unique phenomenon.

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Valid point, but I'm not so sure the impact is so drastic, especially in football where there is much more early enrollment. But a decent student taking classes in summer and on line courses over the last year break can graduate in 3 years. You may get a stellar example of that with Cal next year, though that grad may take his game to the NFL.