In a new episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, Howard Megdal welcomed Maryland head coach Brenda Frese to discuss what’s keeping her busy in the offseason, from the transfer portal to an upcoming foreign tour.
Frese and her staff signed seven transfers this spring:
- Guards Saylor Poffenbarger (UConn/Arkansas), Kaylene Smikle (Rutgers) and Sarah Te-Biasu (VCU)
- Guard/forward Mir McLean (UConn/Virginia)
- Forwards Christina Dalce (Villanova), Amari DeBerry (UConn) and Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu (Gulf Coast State College)
Frese explained why she recruited this group of players and how she and her staff worked to bring them to Maryland:
“As a staff, we were really intentional. We kind of knew what weaknesses we had, kind of what we needed within our roster, the depth that we needed to be able to provide. Obviously, we needed size; that was a big area as well as getting an additional point guard. …
“And then you have to have some luck. … We tried to get forwards and post players [last year] and there just weren’t that many available, where all of a sudden this offseason there were and in conferences that we were able to have some connections with players and players that wanted to stay here on the East Coast.”
The Terps will also welcome three freshmen for the 2024-25 season, giving them 10 newcomers in all. They will get some extra practice time ahead of a foreign tour to Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia this summer — an opportunity the NCAA allows teams to pursue every four years. Frese discussed the benefits of her team taking a tour this summer:
“That is invaluable to be able to have those 10 [extra] practices and be able to take your team over and get some games under your belt. And [it] couldn’t have worked out [better]. I never thought we’d have this many new players coming in and here we are. So the timing is absolutely perfect to be able to have this summer and the access we’re going to be able to have.”
Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about women’s college basketball, the WNBA, basketball history and much more!