“Vanderbilt has been kind of in the center of women’s college basketball news this summer, of course, after the shocking departure of Khamil Pierre from the program,” Leite explained. “And it wasn’t that just she transferred, because people transfer all the time, but [her depature] was [announced] after the transfer portal [had closed] … Vanderbilt put out a statement that she was no longer with the program, and kind of made it seem like something happened to prompt this whole move. And then Pierre later announced that she had committed to NC State and Wes Moore’s program, which is a huge pickup for them, and is fantastic. But there was all this … circumventing she had to do to make sure she would be able to play.”
Kaloi, who was recently at Vanderbilt, elaborated further: “[Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph] very politely declined to elaborate or comment, but I think it’s interesting, because I think you go back to the SEC snub when Khamil didn’t get honors, and Coach Ralph defended her on social media. And then … two months later, Khamil says, ‘I’m staying at Vanderbilt. Don’t worry, I’m here.’ And then you had Coach Ralph’s statement at the end of June, which was very carefully worded, andI ultimately think this is going to work out for everybody. I love NC State. They were one of my favorites for the tournament this season. I think Khamil’s style of play is going to be really aggressive and really exciting for them. And Vanderbilt … Vanderbilt has Sacha Washington coming back. She’s was amazing for them. You know, she had the blood clot injury, so we’ll see what level she’s at. They’ve got Aaliyah Del Rosario who can step into that kind of Khamil spot as well … Khamil was a great perimeter defender, and she was [Mikayla Blakes]’s go-to … but I think both programs will ultimately benefit from this.”
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Then, they went on to discuss recent updates regarding Caitlin Clark‘s injury, and how it affected the recent WNBA All-Star festivities in Indianapolis:
“It’s just kind of been a wild few weeks for the Fever with hosting All-Star but then also kind of the damper of this Caitlin Clark injury,” Leite said. “She re-aggravated her groin injury on July 15, and then they had a back-to-back, so then she sat out on July 16. Then it was announced she couldn’t play any of the All-Star game or any of their activities. So she didn’t do the three-point contest, she didn’t play in the game, and then the Fever were back Tuesday, which felt like such like a quick turnaround, but they traveled to New York to play on Tuesday, and she did travel with the team, but she did not play in Tuesday’s game. [Stephanie White], the head coach of the Indiana Fever, did announce that she had seen doctors in New York, but she hadn’t really gotten the update on what was going on. And then the Fever ended up losing that game to the New York Liberty, 98-84 bringing them to 12-12 in the season. And as of this morning, they sit in seventh place in the WNBA standings. Unfortunately for the Indiana Fever faithful, she is out again tonight … against the Las Vegas Aces, and the team didn’t hold shoot-around this morning, so there isn’t really updates on how she’s doing … It’s a lot. The the biggest thing to note, though, is that Caitlin Clark is still out, and this game against the Las Vegas Aces … is really important to their standing, so it is disappointing.”
“The priority should be really getting to the bottom of the injury,” Kaloi said “And I’ll say to the Fever, they’ve had some amazing games without her on the floor. They’re fun to watch because you just never know exactly what might happen, which I understand it can be a positive and a negative. Yeah, I’m pretty sure Coach White would also say, ‘Yeah, that’s a problem, but we’ll see.’ I’d love to see them in the mix with the playoffs, they’re such a fun team to watch, but I really want her for the long term, to be locked in. And whatever that means for this season is what that means for this season.”
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Tune in to hear more from Leite and Kaloi about the NCAA transfer portal, previews of Thursday night’s slate of WNBA games and more. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
