By R.L. Bynum

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Playing during the second weekend of the NCAA tournament means double duty for coaches who must navigate the transfer portal while still preparing their teams for the Sweet 16.

The women’s basketball transfer portal opened Tuesday, and with 90 players having entered in the first three days, there’s plenty of talent out there to recruit. Florida State star Ta’Niya Latson is reportedly about to add her name.

“No one wants it in Elite Eight,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart on Thursday, ahead of her No. 3-seed Tar Heels’ regional semifinal game at 2:30 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN) against No. 2-seed Duke. “No one wants it in the first round of the tournament or the season, but our season is so long that there’s really not a lot of other choices.”

While it’s inconvenient, Banghart understands why the portal opens so early. If it was a lot later, she says players wouldn’t have time to make visits and choose a school before summer school starts. That would be particularly bad for players who need those classes to become eligible.

“The timing is tricky no matter when you put it because summer school starts up in a lot of places in early May,” Banghart said.

On the men’s side at Carolina, Coach Hubert Davis already had his postseason individual player meetings days after the season ended, and two players — Elliot Cadeau and Jalen Washington — have already entered the portal.

With UNC’s women’s season still going — they hope until April 6 — those discussions likely haven’t happened yet. In past seasons, though, the departures were no surprise to anybody in the program. In the last offseason, six players transferred, including Deja Kelly, who finished her career at Oregon.

Whenever players don’t receive a lot of playing time, there’s always a chance they will transfer. Although they could very well return, playing time has been scarce for redshirt freshman Laila Hull (nine points in 177 minutes) and freshman Jordan Zubich (26 points in 102½ minutes.)

“You always look at your own roster first and figure out what you think you’re going to have and what you are going to keep and all that,” Banghart said. “Then you look at what you have coming in and how many spots you have and all that. So, you certainly need to monitor the names. But if there’s some that are monitoring it so closely and reaching out to everybody, that’s not us. That’s just not our style.”

Carolina will lose three starters — graduate students Alyssa Ustby and Lexi Donarski and senior Maria Gakdeng — as well as reserve graduate guard Grace Townsend.

The Tar Heels have three incoming freshmen: five-star wings Nyla Brooks and Taliyah Henderson and four-star forward Taissa Queiroz, the latter who enrolled in January and has been practicing with the team and is in Birmingham.

Duke coach Kara Lawson likely has her own roster concerns, but she suggested those can wait.

“I haven’t done anything at the portal,” she said. “I’m sure my assistants are doing that, but as far as me personally, I haven’t. I haven’t done anything. I’ve just been focused on the game.”

Banghart said that her approach is more targeted as she tries to find the right fit.

“Usually things done in haste are not always the most thoughtful things done,” Banghart said. “We are monitoring it to the point of knowing who is available that we think can help us, and we’re going to do that in due time. But we get to promote that we’re still playing basketball. So, we don’t have as much time as everybody else.”

UNC is among the six schools heavily involved with 5–9 freshman Quinnipiac guard Gal Raviv, according to On3.com’s Talia Goodman. She averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Other schools interested in her are Iowa State, Miami, Nebraska, Clemson and Oregon, but Goodman suggested the favorites are UNC, Iowa State and Miami.

Year	No.	Players	Pos.	Height
Freshman	5	Liza Astakhova (LEE-zah uh-STAH-koh-vuh)	W	6–2
Freshman	7	Nyla Brooks	W	6–1
		Brooks brings dazzling skills, confidence to UNC
Freshman	3	Taliyah Henderson	W	6–1
		Long wait, journey for 5-star freshman Henderson after second knee surgery nearly over
Freshman	26	Taissa Queiroz	G	6–1
		Queiroz came to USA from Brazil to chase her dreams
Sophomore	17	Elina Aarnisalo (EH-lee-nah AHR-nee-sah-loh)	G	5–10
		Aarnisalo brings flash, IQ and pro experience to backcourt
Sophomore	0	Lanie Grant	G	5–9
Sophomore	34	Blanca Thomas	C	6–5
Sophomore	1	Jordan Zubich	G	5–11
RS sophomore	21	Ciera Toomey	F	6–4
RS sophomore	4	Laila Hull	W	6–1
Junior	10	Reniya Kelly	PG	5–7
Junior	15	Sydney Barker	PG	5–6
Senior	2	Nyla Harris	F	6–2
		It was hard for Harris to say ‘no’ to UNC again
Senior	24	Indya Nivar	G	5–10

Class of 2025

Player	Rating	ESPN rank	Position	Height	Hometown
Nyla Brooks	Five star	No. 13	Wing	6–2	Alexandria, Va.
Taliyah Henderson	Five star	No. 27	Wing	6–1	Vail, Ariz.
Taissa Queiroz	Four star	No. 77	Guard	6–1	Santa Rosa, Calif.
Liza Astakhova	—	—	Wing	6–1	Moscow, Russia

Date	Day/month	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
30	Thursday	L, 91–82	No. 3 South Carolina in Atlanta	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 90–42	vs. N.C. Central	1–0
6	Thursday	W, 71–37	vs. Elon	2–0
			WBCA Challenge Las Vegas
13	Thursday	L, 78–60	vs. No. 4 UCLA	2–1
15	Saturday	W, 82–68	vs. Fairfield	3–1
			———————————
20	Thursday	W, 85–50	at N.C. A&T	4–1
23	Sunday	W, 94–48	vs. UNCG	5–1
			Cancun Challenge Cancun, Mexico
27	Thursday	W, 83–48	vs. South Dakota St.	6–1
28	Friday	W, 85–73	vs. Kansas State	7–1
29	Saturday	W, 80–63	vs. Columbia	8–1
	December		ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge
4	Thursday	W, 79–64	at No. 2 Texas	8–2
			———————————
7	Sunday	W, 82–40	vs. Boston Univ.	9–2
14	Sunday	L, 76–66, OT	vs. No. 16 Louisville	9–3, 0–1 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 84–34	vs. UNCW	10–3
21	Sunday	Noon	vs. Charleston Southern	ACCN Extra
29	Monday	8 p.m.	at Boston College	ACCN
	January
1	Thursday	Noon	vs. California	ACCN
4	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Stanford	ESPN
11	Sunday	1 p.m.	at No. 20 Notre Dame	ESPN
15	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Miami	ACCN Extra
18	Sunday	2 p.m.	at Florida State	The CW
22	Thursday	8 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
25	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	The CW
	February
2	Monday	6 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN2
5	Thursday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ACCN
8	Sunday	2 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
12	Thursday	6 p.m.	vs. SMU	ACCN
15	Sunday	1 p.m.	at Duke	ABC
19	Thursday	6 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	ACCN
22	Sunday	Noon	vs. Pittsburgh	ACCN
26	Thursday	7 p.m.	at Virginia	ACCN Extra
	March
1	Sunday	Noon	vs. Duke	ESPN
			ACC tournament
4–8	Wed.-Sun		Gas South Arena, Duluth, Ga.
			NCAA tournament
20–24	Fri.-Mon.		First, second rounds
27–30	Fri.-Mon.		Regionals Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
	April
3, 5	Fri., Sun		Final Four Phoenix