In Reply to: Iwuala Named in TRO Allowing School Return Despite Pro Signing posted by MANTIS9 on September 04, 2026 at 14:05:12
under the ruling, if you exhausted your eligibility in four years, then you can return to your former team for a 5th year. And, maybe you can enter the portal. It would be interesting to see what players that affects.
For kicks, I watched an LSU v. Mississippi game from last year to see how Koval and Iwaula matched up.
Koval barely played until the 4th quarter. I think that LSU runs so much, that they were saving her legs for the 4th.
Regarding Iwaula, one game isn't much to go on, but here's what I saw. She's not a big factor on D. Not super strong in the post, not real quick. On O, LSU started off doubling and tripling her. When she tried to shoot into that, she was too small to get a clean shot off. But, mostly, she kicked it back out to players who were left open. That worked pretty well for Mississippi. As the game progressed, Iwaula started taking shots from a little further out. She's got great, what I would call, old man game. Good footwork when she's not double/tripled, and a very soft touch from like 4-5 feet, with shots from all kinds of arm angles. She did some damage with her scoring. Then, in the 4th, LSU brought in Koval. Koval totally shut Iwaula down. LSU no longer had to double Iwaula - Koval took her on her own. They either couldn't, or chose not to, feed Iwaula. And, Mississippi's offense completely died. Got discombobulated. LSU outscored Mississippi by something like 20 in the 4th.
Iwaula got, I think, 8 rebs. But, they weren't rip the ball out of the sky boards. They were 4-5 foot rebounds where she outworked/outmuscled the opponents. Koval had a couple of rip the ball out of the sky boards.
So, based on one game, I think that if the 5th years can't transfer, Koval would be a fantastic pickup. She would give us some intimidation and physicality in the post. She's a very efficient scorer, and looks like a good to very good post defender. That would be great. And, she'd probably be ok coming off the bench.
If the courts decide it's a 5th year free for all, then Iwaula would be a good pick up. She can really score when she's a little bit away from the basket. She would be another hustle rebounder, like Brown, and that guard from Arkansas.
But, if it's a fifth year free for all, who knows who's available. Reagan Beers? Serah Williams? Like, if the Sun is ok with CLW playing in NZ in the offseason, there are probably teams that are ok with their bench players playing NCAA in the offseason?
If we can pick someone up, I'd like a low post defender (that has the other tools too), but Iwaula would certainly be a very good addition. But, again, she'd want to start. Who sits? If I were Timea, I'd be pissed.