This is a total surprise.


"Lauren Betts, the No. 1 recruit of 2022, entered the transfer portal Friday, The Chronicle confirmed."


Lauren Betts, Stanford's No. 1 recruit in 2022, enters transfer portal (sfchronicle.com)

Do you think she didn't want to be second in line behind Brink? Would be funny if she transferred to Iowa to replace their graduating senior Big. No way she comes to Cal.

Could it be NIL considerations?

stu said:

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Could it be NIL considerations?

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Ya think?

Her sister is also being highly recruited. Maybe they will go a a package deal. I believe they are from Colorado.

2 additional players have entered the portal out of Stanford. I keep seeing people asking if Tara is retiring. Time will tell.

Junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu
Freshman guard Indya Nivar

Not surprised about Nivar. She was highly ranked and didn't see much of any time.

If Kiki leaves…I want to see Cal make a huge push for her.

After Indya Nivar, Lauren Betts transfer, Stanford roster is rattled (sfchronicle.com)

Two freshmen and a junior departing via the transfer portal is quite unusual. The only problem is that Stanford will continue to recruit highly touted players. If anything, they had too much talent last season. They had five post players and 2-3 got short changed in PT.

Everything has changed now. This NIL stuff appears to be huge. 900 players in the portal. I'm losing interest in D1 "college" ball now. Seems to have quickly become pro ball.

Amen. I departed professional sports for the purity of college and high school because of the utter greed and disdain for the fans that actually pay the salaries. Millionaires were going on strike and on a couple of occasions actually cancelled entire seasons. Now-the money motive at the college level is tearing up 100-year-old rivalries. The NIL element is becoming critical now and players no longer feel the life-long loyalties to their alma-mater. The transfer portal is now pushing high school recruiting into the back-round. A proven college player is more valuable to a college program than the potential of a star prep.

Society in general is becoming so corrupt (government and politics) and without moral values. Now our "escape" into sports is being ruined, too. Is this the rise and fall of the Roman Empire (United States)? I don't know what I'll do next... Even high school sports is being corrupted with the bigtime programs "recruiting" much of the top talent. Private schools are dominating public schools. Now they want trans-gender (biological males) athletes to compete in girls sports. Are they nuts?

I agree with much of what you write however I think the "trangender" athlete thing is way overblown...given we're only talking about a handful of athletes and the new Biden administration Title IX regs seems to allow for flexibility with where it makes sense-- "The proposed rule also recognizes that in some instances, particularly in competitive high school and college athletic environments, some schools may adopt policies that limit transgender students' participation." I'm good with this.

I have to say I also find it rather ironic certain parties are suddenly worried about protecting girls and women in sports when they couldn't give two cents about the issue previously. Mostly they use it as a cudgel to gin up outrage... I like what the Utah governor said about he when he vetoed a silly bill a while back: "Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few." Of course his veto was over-ridden and he ended up signing a worse piece of legislation, but I digress....sorry to veer OT.

I've seen sprints with trans gender athletes running against top female talent and it's no contest. I feel terrible for elite female track stars that do not win their league or place at the state meet because they are competing against biological males. I don't see how you can rationalize your thinking like that...It would be the same in swimming or any other athletic competition.

Ideally, one would like them to compete against other trans gender athletes but there are not enough of them to form leagues, etc. They either can't compete at all or must take advantage of biological females. If one thinks that it is unfair for them not to be able to compete perhaps you need to look at it from a girl's perspective. There's no fair solution that I can see at this time.

CalWSportsFan said:

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Everything has changed now. This NIL stuff appears to be huge. 900 players in the portal. I'm losing interest in D1 "college" ball now. Seems to have quickly become pro ball.

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I am losing interest too. However, I have enjoyed going to Cal WBB games since the 2009-2010 season. Before then, I was living in Mass. and watched the Pac-12 channel seeing Football and WBB games. I lived on the farm I grew up on and had Direcrt TV. Sometimes, I had to shovel the snow off the Disc!! I watched Pac-12 games all winter in 2001 in West Palm Beach Florida.(Comcast) I can't stay away from Haas, I love it there! I donated to the Bears Golden Way, and will attend the banquet. I want to show support for the Women's Program, especially, during these difficult years. The economical season ticket package for seniors has given me many enjoyable hours of watching basketball. Plus, i live close to Berkeley, and love being on a College Campus which reminds me of an East Coast University.

I've been watching Cal WBB since Gooch Foster was coaching but I too am wondering where this is going. I've been accustomed to 4-year players who expect and usually earn a degree. Now it seems like the better teams will be exchanging 1-year players as finances permit and the function of the colleges will be reduced to providing facilities and donors. If that's what the better players want then I won't object but I won't bother to follow it either. I'd be much more interested in the Ivy League.

What worries me is it may be dependent from one year to the next on who is willing to donate and how much. If the players were to unionize and bargain for a share of ticket sales and tv revenues, that would at least provide some stability. But this is likely going to be utter chaos.

Schroeder71 said:

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Amen. I departed professional sports for the purity of college and high school because of the utter greed and disdain for the fans that actually pay the salaries. Millionaires were going on strike and on a couple of occasions actually cancelled entire seasons. Now-the money motive at the college level is tearing up 100-year-old rivalries. The NIL element is becoming critical now and players no longer feel the life-long loyalties to their alma-mater. The transfer portal is now pushing high school recruiting into the back-round. A proven college player is more valuable to a college program than the potential of a star prep.

Society in general is becoming so corrupt (government and politics) and without moral values. Now our "escape" into sports is being ruined, too. Is this the rise and fall of the Roman Empire (United States)? I don't know what I'll do next... Even high school sports is being corrupted with the bigtime programs "recruiting" much of the top talent. Private schools are dominating public schools. Now they want trans-gender (biological males) athletes to compete in girls sports. Are they nuts?

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"Even high school sports is being corrupted with the bigtime programs "recruiting" much of the top talent."

Odd that you would write this after posting countless Mitty basketball updates.

graguna said:

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Schroeder71 said:

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Amen. I departed professional sports for the purity of college and high school because of the utter greed and disdain for the fans that actually pay the salaries. Millionaires were going on strike and on a couple of occasions actually cancelled entire seasons. Now-the money motive at the college level is tearing up 100-year-old rivalries. The NIL element is becoming critical now and players no longer feel the life-long loyalties to their alma-mater. The transfer portal is now pushing high school recruiting into the back-round. A proven college player is more valuable to a college program than the potential of a star prep.

Society in general is becoming so corrupt (government and politics) and without moral values. Now our "escape" into sports is being ruined, too. Is this the rise and fall of the Roman Empire (United States)? I don't know what I'll do next... Even high school sports is being corrupted with the bigtime programs "recruiting" much of the top talent. Private schools are dominating public schools. Now they want trans-gender (biological males) athletes to compete in girls sports. Are they nuts?

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"Even high school sports is being corrupted with the bigtime programs "recruiting" much of the top talent."

Odd that you would write this after posting countless Mitty basketball updates.

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lol

I was being honest that money and greed are permeating our society at every level of competitive sports. I was referencing Archbishop Mitty from my first hand observations as an example. GO BEARS!

Schroeder71 said:

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I've seen sprints with trans gender athletes running against top female talent and it's no contest. I feel terrible for elite female track stars that do not win their league or place at the state meet because they are competing against biological males. I don't see how you can rationalize your thinking like that...It would be the same in swimming or any other athletic competition.

Ideally, one would like them to compete against other trans gender athletes but there are not enough of them to form leagues, etc. They either can't compete at all or must take advantage of biological females. If one thinks that it is unfair for them not to be able to compete perhaps you need to look at it from a girl's perspective. There's no fair solution that I can see at this time.

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I have yet to see or hear of a transgender athlete playing girls' basketball, or any other high school team sport.

It's a non-issue, but a nice red flag to wave, as it encapsulates the anger and frustration of those who preferred things the way they were when the speaker was 21.

There are vastly more important issues in sports, and society. In terms of girls' high school sports, the real issues revolve around funding, community support, officiating, quality of coaching and equal access to practice and training facilities. Transgender athletes -- all five of them (I joke) -- do not impact the experience of 99.9% of high school female athletes.

Well said Clay. Thank you.

As per Raoul:

Stanford WBB transfer Lauren Betts, 6-7 FR center (Centennial, CO) has announced her commitment to UCLA.

Wow…that's a huge get for UCLA. I think most people had her going there.

Cori Close will have a nice squad to compete for the top of the PAC-12.

Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

SFCALBear72 said:

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annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

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She apparently prefers a different coach, like Daniels and Curry.

SFCALBear72 said:

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annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

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I think NIL might have something to do with it

HoopDreams said:

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SFCALBear72 said:

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annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

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I think NIL might have something to do with it

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Her mom made some posts on Twitter after she entered the portal and said it didn't have to do with NIL.

From what the mom said it seemed Lauren wasn't happy with how she was used as well as how she might be used next season. And not necessarily just PT either. Maybe development or lack there of.

I.E.Bear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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SFCALBear72 said:

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annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

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I think NIL might have something to do with it

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Her mom made some posts on Twitter after she entered the portal and said it didn't have to do with NIL.

From what the mom said it seemed Lauren wasn't happy with how she was used as well as how she might be used next season. And not necessarily just PT either. Maybe development or lack there of.

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At the Banquet tonight, this was a topic of discussion at my table.

One of the Cal Assistant coaches sat with us and commented on Lauren's motivation for transferring.
Apparently, Lauren thought she should be starting because she was the #1 Post player coming out of high school. The other is that she was not allowed to shoot 3-pointers. That wasn't her "role" as per the Stanford coaches.

SFCALBear72 said:

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I.E.Bear said:

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HoopDreams said:

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SFCALBear72 said:

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annarborbear said:

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Let's face it. It's a good school where female players know that they can win.

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And she didn't find that at Stanford?

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I think NIL might have something to do with it

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Her mom made some posts on Twitter after she entered the portal and said it didn't have to do with NIL.

From what the mom said it seemed Lauren wasn't happy with how she was used as well as how she might be used next season. And not necessarily just PT either. Maybe development or lack there of.

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At the Banquet tonight, this was a topic of discussion at my table.

One of the Cal Assistant coaches sat with us and commented on Lauren's motivation for transferring.
Apparently, Lauren thought she should be starting because she was the #1 Post player coming out of high school. The other is that she was not allowed to shoot 3-pointers. That wasn't her "role" as per the Stanford coaches.

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Thanks for a bit more insight. Her mom was being vague in her tweets, but that's pretty much what I gathered from it all.

Bessior, UCLA's 6'4" post had the second highest number of three-point shots on their team this year. So Close is willing to let a big person take those three-point shots if they can make them

I.E.Bear said:

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2 additional players have entered the portal out of Stanford. I keep seeing people asking if Tara is retiring. Time will tell.

Junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu
Freshman guard Indya Nivar

Not surprised about Nivar. She was highly ranked and didn't see much of any time.

If Kiki leaves…I want to see Cal make a huge push for her.

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Do we have salary cap space?

dimitrig said:

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I.E.Bear said:

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2 additional players have entered the portal out of Stanford. I keep seeing people asking if Tara is retiring. Time will tell.

Junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu
Freshman guard Indya Nivar

Not surprised about Nivar. She was highly ranked and didn't see much of any time.

If Kiki leaves…I want to see Cal make a huge push for her.

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Do we have salary cap space?

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We do.

There are only 10 players on the roster for this upcoming season and 3 of them don't actually get PT. We need at least 3 more players from the portal and 2 of those should be post players because we lack post defenders and rebounders.

Who's Kiki?

BearBint said:

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Who's Kiki?

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Iriafen. Stanford's 6'3" forward, but she's not in the portal. Just a comment when it was being speculated that more players would leave.