After a single season with the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten, former five-star recruit Addie Deal is joining the transfer portal, looking for a new school to call home. Deal was considered the ninth-best prospect in the nation and the best recruit out of California for the class of 2025.
Here are some programs that could attract the services of the Iowa star recruit.
Top 5 Potential Landing Spots for Iowa’s Addie Deal
#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame demonstrated this season that it can be one of the powers in women’s college basketball. Niele Ivey took the Fighting Irish to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, and with a 25-11 record, it was the 22nd-ranked team in the nation. A couple of moves, and it can become a Final Four contender. Might that move be to add a former five-star recruit like Addie Deal?
#4 Nebraska Cornhuskers
Could the Nebraska Cornhuskers be an option? This would keep Addie Deal in the Big Ten and allow her to contend for the conference tournament, something she wouldn’t be able to do at South Bend. The Cornhuskers are interesting because they’re needy enough to give her a starting role right away, but not as hopeless as to make it a Sisyphean task. Nebraska ended its season 19-13, but it had a terrible 7-11 record in the Big Ten.
#3 Stanford Cardinal
This would be a move to the ACC, which has an unexpected caveat that has to be taken into account. Athletically, the Cardinals are currently a middle-of-the-road program who had a recent history of success under Tara VanDerveer, including a national championship in 2020-21.
However, since her retirement, the program hasn’t been the same under Kate Paye. But there’s another factor that could move Deal to Stanford. It’s no secret that Stanford is one of the top schools in the nation, academically. A Stanford degree opens doors. Getting it for free as a student-athlete is not a bad deal. After all, there’s a life after an athletic career. She’s also a California Native.
#2 USC Trojans
After a hopeful 2024-25 season, which saw them become Big Ten regular-season champions and reach the Elite Eight round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the Trojans had a mediocre 18-14 overall record (9-9 Big Ten), mainly due to the absence of JuJu Watkins. It would do wonders for the Trojans to have more depth in their roster, to fill in the gap left by unavailable star players. Addie Deal, anyone?
#1 UCLA Bruins
Both the Bruins and Trojans make sense for Deal, as she’s a native of Santa Ana, California. However, the move to the Bruins could be even more logical. At USC, she would fight with JuJu Watkins for playing time.
Both Kike Rice and Gabriela Jaquez are leaving the Bruins as seniors, which opens up an opportunity for Deal. And the Bruins look even better athletically than USC, having won the Big Ten Tournament last season and this year. They also won the regular-season Big Ten title this season, and they reached the Final Four stage last season, and they’re currently alive in the Final Four of this year’s Big Dance.
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