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PROVO — The biggest surprise of the BYU basketball offseason hit the women's game over the weekend.
BYU star forward Lauren Gustin entered her name into the NCAA transfer portal over the weekend as a graduate transfer, but does that mean the walking double-double's days in Provo are done?
As one can expect, head coach Amber Whiting hopes not, after speaking with her (former?) star on the phone for "a while" as she made the decision.
Gustin is listed as a graduate transfer, scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree in April from BYU, which gives her the option of a free transfer without sitting for a year to play her final season of basketball.
It's an opportunity, but not a guarantee she is leaving, Whiting explained Tuesday morning on BYUtv's Sports Nation. Or at least, she hopes it isn't, as she laid out her pitch to keep the program's all-time single-season rebounder (she broke Tina Gunn Robinson's record that stood for nearly four decades this past year) on campus.
"It's hard, because I know what she means to me," Whiting said. "But I hope she does go explore those looks, and I hope she remembers what we're building here and she remembers the relationship we have, and she remembers what she means to us here. That will hopefully keep her, because I really want her back and I want her with us.
"She was the one who was so excited to get in the Big 12 and to do this, so I really hope she remembers that and she comes back."
When asked if she would return to BYU to utilize an extra season of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Gustin said she was "planning to" return to BYU next year.
She even commented after coming just 12 rebounds short of setting an NCAA record for most boards in a season that "there's always next year."
Likely one of the most sought-after players in the portal, Gustin told BYUtv's Dave McCann on Monday after she had made her announcement on Instagram that a departure was not definite, but "just looking around."
The reigning West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America honorable mention averaged a team-high 16.1 points and 16.7 rebounds for the 16-17 Cougars last year.
If she returned, she would join a monster recruiting class at BYU that includes four Gatorade girls basketball players of the year from Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah, while adding an experienced backbone who averaged more rebounds per game than anyone in the nation — including Angel Reese, the Maryland transfer who won a national title with LSU while averaging 15.4 rebounds per game.
Whiting, who has used the portal herself in her short Division I career that includes bringing in Gabi Bosquez last year from Arizona State and Jennah Isai from Oregon prior to the winter semester, admitted that the transfer portal has changed college basketball. But transfers have always been a part of the game.
More impactful, perhaps, have been new regulations around name, image and likeness rights — or more specifically, the lack thereof — that allow college athletes to seek outside endorsements without losing their eligibility.
Combine the two, and an offseason bidding war has commenced that marks college sports' version of free agency.
"NIL has changed the college landscape, for sure," Whiting told BYUtv. "But my job, and I'm hoping that I get my players to understand that, is that I will develop them and they will have a great experience. I hope that they want to play here, and they want to play for us. ... BYU will never change the way that we operate as far as how special it is here. There are certain things that set us apart. My goal is to get them on campus and when they come as recruits, they can feel this is home and how special this place is."
That's the pitch that Whiting makes to every recruit, but also to transfer prospects like Gustin, who joins a group in the portal that also includes Amanda Barcello and redshirt Sophia Lee. Alyssa Blanck, the former BYU redshirt who starred at Olympus High, recently announced on Instagram that she was transferring to Utah.
As Gustin entered the portal, she followed Utah coach Lynne Roberts on Instagram, as well as Colorado coach JR Payne, who previously coached at Southern Utah and recruited Gustin out of Salem Hills, and Iowa State's Billy Fennelly.
Multiple sources confirmed to KSL.com that Gustin had already planned a visit to Utah. She also listed "do not contact" on her entry in the portal, a source confirmed following the report from Her Hoop Stats, likely meaning she either has an idea of her transfer or wants to better streamline her transfer recruitment.
Regardless, the portal is a reality in college basketball, as well as NIL. And until the NCAA can pass and enforce a new set of standards, every school will be dealing with the new reality — not just BYU.
"Some of the best players in the nation have left their teams," Whiting said. "I'm hoping with all these changes that players realize how important it is to stay loyal and to build something where they're at. ... But somewhere along the lines, I think the NCAA has to pull back the reins a little bit. It's changing everything."
