UNC Basketball: Checking in on the Tar Heel women

When the transfer portal first opened, North Carolina Tar Heels women’s basketball got hit pretty hard, as Paulina Paris, Ali Zelaya, Anya Poole, Teonni Key, RyLee Grays, and — most newsworthy — Deja Kelly all entered the portal. While not all of those players were starters and playing 25+ minutes per game, that is a big chunk of depth. Initially, Kelly left the door open to possibly returning, but she has instead opted to go to Oregon for her final season of college basketball.

Now that we’re a couple weeks on from the big glut of departures, let’s check in on where the Tar Heels stand going into next season.

As far as key players from last year’s squad returning, UNC did get some very good news on that front. Both Alyssa Utsby and Lexi Donarski — starters and key players announced that they will both return for a fifth and final year. The two were Carolina’s second and third leading scorers behind Kelly, and that’s a combined 23 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game back in the fold.

With all the outgoing transfers, the Heels had some open scholarships to work with, and they have been making some moves on that front. Not long after the portal opened, they added Grace Townsend from Richmond. A guard, Townsend was an All-Atlantic 10 player last year, scoring 13.4 points and dishing 5.2 assists per game, helping the Spiders to NCAA Tournament #10 seed and their first appearance in general since 2005.

Then on Monday, Trayanna Crisp was announced as the second portal addition. Crisp — also a guard — comes from Arizona State, where she put up 12.1 points and knocked down more than a three per game, while making 28 starts for the Sun Devils last season. Both Townsend and Crisp should help deepen a backcourt that got decimated by injuries last season.

Besides those two, UNC will be getting additions in the form of Ciera Toomey and Laila Hull, who both injury redshirted last year, in what would’ve been their first year at UNC. Toomey in particular could be a big add, as she was ranked by ESPN as the #4 overall players in the class of 2023, in the midst of some players who have already had sizeable impacts at their school. Meanwhile in this year’s recruiting class, Carolina are getting three players, including five-stars Blanca Thomas and Lanie Grant, both ranked as top 60 recruits by ESPN.

After all the additions, UNC are reportedly one below the limit, so they still could look to add another piece in the coming days and weeks.

With Carolina’s roster in its current form, they’re currently at #17 in ESPN’s way to early rankings, and a #5 seed in their early bracketology projections. All those departures certainly had a chance to really mess with UNC next season, but Courtney Banghart and company appear to have them in a pretty solid place going into next year.