Power moves in Oxford
Maryland’s Shakira Austin is transferring to Ole Miss, the school announced Thursday.
On social media saying, “What’s understood, don’t need an explanation. Ain’t that right Coach Yo?”
For the Terps, Austin started in 26 of 30 games, averaging 12 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for a team that went 28-4 (16-2 Big Ten) and won both regular season and tournament championships.
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“I believe that in order to compete at this level, you have to have pros on your roster, and Shakira is that,” said head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin in a statement. “At 6’5 she can guard any position defensively, and offensively the variety of ways she will be able to score will be unmatched. The addition of Kira along with the rest of our signees has put us in a position to compete at a high level instantaneously.”
Under current NCAA rules, Austin must sit out the 2020-21 season due to transfer rules, but that may change soon. The NCAA is expected to vote in May to decide if it will allow players to transfer once and be eligible immediately.
Next season, Ole Miss will also have redshirts Donnetta Johnson (Georgia) and Andeija Puckett (Cincinnati) hitting the court along the No. 9 recruiting class in the nation (and No. 1 in the SEC) coming onto campus.
Last season, Ole Miss recorded a 7–23 (0-16 SEC) record, which is something that hasn’t been done since Alabama in 2006-07. But Coach Yo says the year was a part of her rebuild.
“To say we’re excited to have her would be an understatement. The city of Oxford will want to get behind this team now and for years to come.”
Three weeks ago, the sophomore entered the transfer portal. One week ago, Robinson, then an assistant at Maryland, announced he’d be taking on a similar role in Oxford.
Now, the 6’5 forward is headed to Oxford.
“I just believe in y’all, 100 percent,” she said in her announcement video, which featured snippets of a conference call with head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, Robinson and Armintie (Price) Herrington. “And I’m ready to make something shake.”
April 15 was the day schools could return to signing players to scholarships, so we saw a deluge of announcements across conferences.
In the SEC alone, Jazmine Massengill (Tennessee) and Robyn Benton (Auburn) transferred to Kentucky while Rutgers center Maori Davenport, a top recruit in 2019, signed with Georgia. Mississippi State’s Chloe Bibby announced her transfer to Maryland.
High Post Hoops is in the process of creating a SEC Transfer Tracker to keep you up to date on what players are departing, returning or arriving at each of the league’s 14 schools. (Editor’s note: It’ll help us, too!)
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