The transfer portal’s impact on the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team this offseason may end up being more about players coming than going.
Guard Nia Johnson has opted to enter the portal and will not return to the Lobos next season. She may be the lone departure.
UNM coach Mike Bradbury has completed exit meetings with his players and said he expects to have a lot of familiar faces on next season’s team.
“Other than Nia, they all said they’re coming back,” Bradbury said. “I like the group we have returning, so it’s definitely good news.”
Johnson, who transferred to UNM from UNLV prior to last season, played a limited role with the Lobos. She appeared in 19 games, averaging 11 minutes, 4.2 points and 1.2 rebounds per contest. Johnson averaged 6.5 points in UNM’s two WNIT games, seeing additional time after twins LaTascya and LaTora Duff left the team before the tournament.
Without Johnson, UNM has nine returning players on its roster, including freshmen Hannah Robbins and Natalia Chavez, who took redshirt seasons in 2022-23. Freshman Brooke Berry, who transferred out at midseason and later committed to Montana State, is the only other UNM player listed on the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Bradbury’s roster figures to be considerably younger next season as the Duff twins and Shaiquel McGruder exhausted their eligibility as fifth-year seniors. Senior starter Amaya Brown could return if she receives an NCAA waiver for a fifth season but her status remains undetermined, Bradbury said.
For the time being, UNM’s 2023-24 roster includes two seniors (Kath van Bennekom and Hulda Joaquim), three juniors (Aniyah Augmon, Viané Cumber and Paula Reus), two sophomores (Jaelyn Bates and redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Curtis) and four freshmen (redshirts Robbins, Chavez and true freshmen Gianna McManaman and Paris Lauro).
The Lobos also received a recent verbal commitment from Odessa Junior College guard Nahawa Diarra Berthe, who would be a sophomore next season. Bradbury said he plans to add two or three players during the spring signing period, and some or all of them could come via the transfer portal.
“We are hoping to sign at least a couple of veteran players,” he said. “We’re hoping to add at least one post.”
Bradbury and his staff have been recruiting since UNM was eliminated by Washington in round two of the WNIT, concluding a 21-13 season. The NCAA’s spring signing period begins April 17.
