Do we have room/interest in a P4 post player ?

[RU Jeep]

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Ukrainian center Kate Koval is leaving LSU less than two weeks after the Tigers brought in a player from Russia.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Monday night that the 6-foot-5 Koval was leaving for "personal reasons," adding that the program will "respect her privacy on her decision."

"We had a long talk about it, and it was a hard decision for her," Mulkey said. "I know it is hard because she loves LSU. Kate is a great person. She has to do what she feels is right for her, and we fully support her in that. We all wish her the best."

Koval, who was born in Kyiv, played at LSU last season after spending her freshman year at Notre Dame. Her decision to leave LSU follows the recent signing of Anna Minaeva, a 6-5 post player who previously played professionally with MBA Moscow.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the two countries have been at war since.

Koval, a junior next season, averaged 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds for LSU last season and started in 17 games.

 

[RU Jeep]

LSU ties and no Russians that I am aware of on the Rutgers squad.

 

[RU0917]

Thought the same thing when I saw this story. Roster seems basically set and imagine this player would have interest from all over the country but figure Coach G has to at least look into it.

 

[Alec Crouthamel]

They do have a 15th roster spot available but from what I was told they plan on staying at 14.

The question with Koval is would she be eligible to play this year? The NCAA adopted pretty harsh penalties for “ghost transfers” (unenrolling from one school and re-enrolling in a new one without entering the transfer portal) so she can’t really enter at this stage.

DI Cabinet finalizes process for ghost transfer violations - NCAA.org

The DI Cabinet this week finalized the penalty process for cases in which schools circumvent transfer rules and add a transfer student-athlete who did not

www.ncaa.org

I believe she’ll need an NCAA waiver to be able to play at another school this year. I’ve asked multiple people across WCBB and the consensus is that nobody knows what’s going to happen with that.

 

[RU0917]

They do have a 15th roster spot available but from what I was told they plan on staying at 14.

Have to think that stance would change very quickly if it seemed like there was any shot to jump through all the NCAA hoops and get Koval on the roster.

Though honestly, maybe the ideal thing long term would be her taking a gap year and getting her for next year instead (though again, pretty much every program in the country would probably be interested). Front court rotation seems set for this year...though out of curiosity, I just looked at the roster on the official site and didn't see Diakhate on there. @Alec Crouthamel, is that anything? She played with the team in Peru right?

 

[Alec Crouthamel]

Have to think that stance would change very quickly if it seemed like there was any shot to jump through all the NCAA hoops and get Koval on the roster.

Though honestly, maybe the ideal thing long term would be her taking a gap year and getting her for next year instead (though again, pretty much every program in the country would probably be interested). Front court rotation seems set for this year...though out of curiosity, I just looked at the roster on the official site and didn't see Diakhate on there. @Alec Crouthamel, is that anything? She played with the team in Peru right?

I was told she’s dealing with some things away from basketball and the team is working on it for her availability. She did not play in Peru. It would definitely be a good match for Koval if a) Diakhate isn’t available and b) Koval actually gets a waiver to play this year, but we’ll have to wait and see how all of that plays out.

 

[RU0917]

Thanks Alec. Hope Diakhate can make it back because a Koval add seems unlikely for several reasons.

 

[RU Jeep]

They do have a 15th roster spot available but from what I was told they plan on staying at 14.

The question with Koval is would she be eligible to play this year? The NCAA adopted pretty harsh penalties for “ghost transfers” (unenrolling from one school and re-enrolling in a new one without entering the transfer portal) so she can’t really enter at this stage.

I believe she’ll need an NCAA waiver to be able to play at another school this year. I’ve asked multiple people across WCBB and the consensus is that nobody knows what’s going to happen with that.

When considering all the BS reasons that work, this one seems like a slam dunk winner to me.

 

[RU0917]

Thanks Alec. Hope Diakhate can make it back because a Koval add seems unlikely for several reasons.

Welp.

 

[RC1991]

She just released a statement about how it went down and she did indeed leave due to the Russian player being signed and the staff didn’t inform her until after the transfer portal closed. Typical Mulkey BS. She is seeking a waiver to be eligible this year. Yet to see if it will be granted.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7560096/2026/09/02/kate-koval-ukraine-russia-lsu-transfer/

 

[RU Jeep]

Assuming true...
- what a low class move by LSU
-100% she gets approved for waiver

Time for us to play with the big boys/girls. Get her to the banks and into the starting lineup.

 

[Alec Crouthamel]

I know the NCAA isn't exactly interested in operating under the court of public opinion, but this has to be a major layup to allow Koval to be immediately eligible.

For her sake I hope they take it.

 

[knightfan7]

I know the NCAA isn't exactly interested in operating under the court of public opinion, but this has to be a major layup to allow Koval to be immediately eligible.

For her sake I hope they take it.

The NCAA granted her a waiver today so she can play this season elsewhere.

 

[Alec Crouthamel]

The door has closed:

 

[RU Jeep]

Baylor aggressively goes after and gets an impact player.

We have an IN with her , but cant get it done.

More of the same....

 

[Alec Crouthamel]

Baylor aggressively goes after and gets an impact player.

We have an IN with her , but cant get it done.

More of the same....

From what I was told it seemed more like the timing didn't match up. Had she been available earlier in the summer they would have probably gone after her, but they'd already had Natassja Kolff and Sisi Eleko (the final two roster spots) mostly locked up by the time she left LSU.

Remains to be seen what will happen in terms of Eleko's spot on the team due to a stay being granted in the injunction that gave her another year.

 

[RU0917]

Baylor aggressively goes after and gets an impact player.

We have an IN with her , but cant get it done.

More of the same....

We don't know if Redus will work out yet, but from what we've seen so far and what we know of his background before RU, I'm pretty sure "he didn't recruit good players hard enough" will never be an issue.

 

[RU Jeep]

We don't know if Redus will work out yet, but from what we've seen so far and what we know of his background before RU, I'm pretty sure "he didn't recruit good players hard enough" will never be an issue.

I have no idea what happened or did not happen with this player, but I was thinking it was likely more of an administrative / money thing than a Redus effort thing.

I am hopeful for this coach and team and like what I have seen so far.

But if we went out and immediately grabbed an available SEC starting post player from the school where the President, AD and head coach all came from, it would have showed me that we were ready to take it up to the top level.