Starter for MSU Women's Hoops Planning To Enter Transfer Portal

One key part of the Michigan State women's basketball team is exiting via the transfer portal.

On Saturday night, On3's Talia Goodman reported that starting MSU center Ines Sotelo is planning to enter the transfer portal once it officially opens on April 6. Sotelo started 20 of the 23 games she appeared in this season, averaging 6.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. She will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Sotelo is the third Spartan who has already announced plans to enter the transfer portal. Reports or announcements came down on Friday that Michigan State would be losing sophomore Juliann Woodard and freshman Jordan Ode.

This is the biggest loss thus far, though. Sotelo brought a lot of size to MSU's frontcourt, standing at 6-foot-3. The Spartans are also losing starting power forward Grace VanSlooten, the team's leading scorer, due to the exhaustion of her eligibility.

More on Sotelo

Sotelo, native to Ourense, Spain, comes from a very accomplished athletic family. Both her mother and her father have competed in the Olympics before as javelin throwers. Sotelo's sister, Lucia, also currently plays at VCU.

The potential of Sotelo is pretty clear when you watch her play. She moves relatively well for someone her height, often being the tallest person on the court.

What will be big for Sotelo is honing in on her jump shot. She has a pretty unusual shooting form, often looking like she's pushing the ball with two hands rather than shooting it. That's resulted in a 20.6% three-point mark this past season, with her also only standing at 59.4% from the charity stripe.

The scheduled arrival of five-star center Lilly Williams could very well be a factor here. Only one person can start at the center, after all. Williams stands at 6-foot-5 and is a McDonald's All-American. Coming in from nearby Howell, Williams being an immediate starter at Michigan State feels like the current expectation.

MSU's Thin Recruiting Class

MSU's current roster situation is definitely interesting. Williams is the only incoming 2026 high school recruit, and Michigan State has three different players (Theryn Hallock, Isaline Alexander, Jalyn Brown) who may or may not have a final year of eligibility they'd like to pursue. Whether those players will be back or not is not yet public knowledge.

Pretty much no matter what, though, it will be a busy offseason in the portal for the Spartans. Head coach Robyn Fralick has done well in this arena, identifying players like VanSlooten (Oregon), Rashunda Jones (Purdue), Brown (Arizona State), and Emma Shumate (Ohio State), who were all players that made positive impacts on Michigan State's recent 23-9 campaign.