How Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Transfers Fared in 2023-24

Players transferring into and out of a program has been around for a long time, but with the new transfer rules going into effect a few years ago saying that players didn’t have to sit out a year anymore, player movement is at an all-time high. Under Marisa Moseley, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team brought a grad transfer point guard in for her first two seasons at the helm in Madison.

Katie Nelson (Boston University, where she played under Moseley) and Avery LaBarbera (Holy Cross) were valuable, veteran players for the Badgers, but they are the only two Wisconsin women’s basketball has gotten out of the portal under Moseley. To say that they have had more needs that the portal could’ve met is probably an understatement. Wisconsin needed a backup post player and a backup point guard for this season and instead…brought in nobody.

My issues with this path of roster building aside, it’s important to note that this third season was Moseley’s best, both in terms of wins AND vibes. Could it have been better with a few transfers? I think so, but I suppose it could’ve also been worse. 

Anywho, that’s not what we are here to talk about! Four players transferred from Wisconsin after last season and it is an interesting exercise to see how they performed in their first season away from Madison. In alphabetical order those players are: Krystyna Ellew, Mary Ferrito, Savannah White, Maty Wilke.

Krystyna Ellew, junior, guard

• UIC Flames
• 18-15 overall, 10-10 Missouri Valley Conference
• 33 games (0 starts); 14.8 mpg; 4.4 ppg (35.5% FG, 27.3% 3P, 75.0% FT); 1.9 rpg; 0.4 apg; 0.4 spg; 1.0 turnovers per game
• Best game: 11/12/23; at Milwaukee; 11 points (4-of-8 FG, 2-of-5 3P), 5 rebounds (3 off.), 1 assist, 2 steals, 0 turnovers

Ellew was one of multiple options off the bench for the deep Flames this year. UIC had nine players average double-digit minutes and a tenth player averaged 9.9 mpg, and Ellew was squarely in the mix for playing time throughout the season. She presumably left Wisconsin for more playing time and while she got 5.8 minutes more than her sophomore season…she got 7.0 fewer than her freshman year at UW. Her role at UIC was probably similar to what it would’ve been at UW if I’m being honest.

Mary Ferrito, sophomore, guard

• UNCW Seahawks
• 5-25 overall, 3-15 Colonial Athletic Association
• 28 games (12 starts); 23.8 mpg; 4.5 ppg (32.3% FG, 0% 3P, 83.7% FT); 2.7 rpg; 1.9 apg; 0.3 spg; 0.1 bpg; 1.9 turnovers per game
• Best game: 2/4/24; vs. Hampton; 22 points (6-of-9 FG, 10-of-11 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers

Ferrito, a walk-on, left Wisconsin women’s basketball in search of more playing time and she certainly found it in Wilmington. After playing 12 minutes with the Badgers in her freshman season, she tallied 667 minutes last year and even started a dozen games for the Seahawks. She was the best free throw shooter on the team and had the second highest assist rate too. Transferring was definitely the right move for Ferrito’s career and she should be a key cog in UNCW’s team moving forward. Hopefully she works on her three-point shot (0-of-15 last year) in the offseason though!

Savannah White, sophomore, guard/forward

• Indiana State Sycamores
• 11-21 overall, 6-14 Missouri Valley Conference
• 31 games (2 starts); 17.7 mpg; 2.5 ppg (24.3% FG, 17.9% 3P, 70.8% FT); 3.4 rpg; 0.6 apg; 0.4 spg; 0.7 bpg; 1.0 turnovers per game
• Best game: 1/19/24; at Southern Illinois; 4 points (1-of-6 FG), 6 rebounds (1 offensive), 2 assists, 7 blocks, 2 turnovers

Standing at 6-foot-2, White always had intriguing size and she ended up with the 314th most blocks (23), out of 4,682 qualified players, in the nation this year. Her block rate of 4.4% put her at 273rd in the nation, which is a really solid number. Based on minutes per game, White was the first player off the bench for the Sycamores which she would not have been in Madison.

Maty Wilke, redshirt sophomore, guard

• Utah Utes
• 22-10 overall, 11-7 Pac-12
• 30 games (11 starts); 21.9 mpg; 8.0 ppg (39.9% FG, 37.6% 3P, 80.8% FT); 2.1 rpg; 1.6 apg; 1.5 spg; 0.2 bpg; 1.2 turnovers per game
• Best game: 2/11/24; vs. Oregon; 17 points (6-of-14 FG, 5-of-10 3P), 4 rebounds (1 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover

After a solid redshirt freshman season in Madison, Wilke was primed to form a potent inside-outside duo with Serah Williams but decided to transfer to Utah in the offseason. This was the one case of a Wisconsin women’s basketball player not leaving for more playing time (she probably would’ve averaged at least 10 more minutes per game at UW) but for a better fit.

Wilke, a native of Beaver Dam, Wis., was one of the top options off the bench for most of the season, but started the last 11 games of the year (so far, we’ll see if she starts in the NCAA Tournament too) as the Utes had to shuffle their lineup around all year due to injuries. Wilke fit right into a Utah roster that was ranked for most (all? I can’t be bothered to check) of the season (final regular season AP ranking of 20th) and battled in a stacked Pac-12 all year (six ranked teams in final AP poll, with Utah being the lowest).

I’m certain that Wilke’s individual stats would have been much higher at Wisconsin, but I’m also certain that Utah is the better team and Wilke clearly valued that over her individual numbers. She was still one of the better shooters from deep in the Pac-12 and she also had a steal rate of 3.6% which was 120th best in the country. Despite being further away from home, Wilke added to a strong contingent of upper Midwest talent (Gianna Kneepkens, Duluth, Minn.; Jenna Johnson, Medina, Minn.) in Salt Lake City and should only see her role grow next season.

Final Thoughts on the Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Transfers

While it is always disappointing to lose players in the transfer portal, I’d say that the only one of these four that Wisconsin women’s basketball really missed on the court this year was Wilke. The Badgers were a dreadful three-point shooting team (27.9%, 290th nationally) and a player like Wilke would’ve improved that number AND given Serah Williams more room to work around the basket with fewer triple teams.

Otherwise I think Wisconsin women’s basketball found replacements for the other three. Ellew’s role was filled by freshman D’Yanis Jimenez, Ferrito was a walk-on who wasn’t going to see much playing time at all in Madison, and White left the team halfway through last season so her absence had already been accounted for before she even transferred and Halle Douglass returning from her ACL injury would’ve pushed White down the depth chart too. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t, at the least, intrigued by White’s potential as a rim protector and rebounder, but we’ll see how the rest of her career turns out.

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