On April 6, three Oregon women’s basketball players revealed that they had entered the transfer portal and would be departing Kelly Graves’ team. Chance Grey, Grace VanSlooten, and Kennedy Basham will no longer be Ducks.
Last season was one of the worst in Oregon women’s basketball history. However, some of the promise shown by young players was impressive and offered fans optimism.
Chance Gray, Kennedy Basham, and Grace VanSlooten were among the rising stars.
Basham struggled to establish her feet in Eugene for the bulk of her two seasons with the Ducks. However, as the 2023-24 season proceeded, she began to settle in and became an effective shooter for Oregon.
Basham averaged 11.5 points in her last four regular-season games with the Ducks and was promoted to starter before the team’s blowout defeat to Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament.
In 2021, VanSlooten was one of the most highly recruited female basketball players out of high school. With 46 offers, she could have gone anywhere, but on October 7, 2021, VanSlooten announced her move to Eugene.
In her two years with the Ducks, she averaged 14.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. VanSlooten became an anchor for the Oregon squad, which was struggling to compete with the likes of Maite Cazorla and Sabrina Ionescu.
The departure of these three players is a significant blow to head coach Kelly Graves’ roster. As Oregon heads to the Big Ten and Graves badly needs to put together a winning season, he best hope the transfer portal treats him well in return.
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