High Impact Up-Transfers: The Versatility of Elle Evans

The transfer portal is fascinating to me. There’s so much going on and I think people would genuinely be surprised how many staffs are just as in the dark as the average fan with respect to knowledge on some players. Everyone knows about the P5 (it’ll be 2029 before I’m used to P4) transfers who find a new spot, whether it be at the Power level still or transferring down.

We had over 1,000 players enter the portal this past season. The first player (Aliyah Matharu, Florida) just entered the transfer portal for this season. It is so easy for things to go under the radar, and I hate that, because there are so many players that can go under noticed or under valued because they don’t have the same cache if they’re not coming from a Power program with multiple stars attached to their name out of high school.

In a new series I’ll be doing the next couple days/weeks, I want to dive into some players that transferred up from a low/mid major to a bigger program. It’s easy to see how a Power program player finds success transferring down. I think where I find the most joy as a scout is when a program brings in a player that they clearly focused on the fit and potential with. You don’t just “bring in talent” and hope it works to build a successful team: analyze the player, determine their strengths and weaknesses, and look at how they might translate to your system.

The Kansas Jayhawks are in reload mode, looking to build around star forward S’Mya Nichols after a wildly successful Senior class graduates. Transfer forward Elle Evans, formerly of North Dakota State, is a player I’m incredibly excited about transitioning to the Power level, and someone I anticipate making a strong impact for Kansas.

Size & Shooting

Kansas worked in some really high level stuff last year offensively, utilizing forward S’Mya Nichols as an initiator and point forward to attack mismatches. With her combination of size, strength, vision, scoring ability, and a solid shooting stroke, she was a nightmare for most teams to defend.

They’d work her as a screener, use her guards to flip the defense and screen for her, or let her run ball screens with Taiyanna Jackson to attack space traditionally. Jackson is graduated, which makes it even more essential to lean into that inverted offense.

Evans brings so much of what’s essential in doing so, however (as does Jordan Webster, a fellow transfer to KU I plan to write on as well). To flip a defense, you need the offensive players to make the defense care, particularly off the ball.

A legit 6’3, Evans moves like a wing, and was amongst the most efficient players in the country, made even more noteworthy considering how many of her shots are away from the basket. 378 players in Division 1 took 200 or more jump shots last season, and Evans finished 10th in efficiency on them per Synergy Sports (1.2 points per shot, or 60% effective field goal percentage).

To break it down further:

• 47.3% on catch and shoot 3-pointers (129 attempts)

• 40% on off the dribble 3’s (35 attempts)

• 42.7% on off the dribble 2’s (82 attempts)

• 51.3% (!!!!) when unguarded (78 attempts)

Evans is top tier shooter, point blank. It’s rare already to find players who can shoot at this clip off movement, on self-created attempts, and off the catch. To do that while being big enough to play the 4 is pretty incredible!

Playmaking Versatility

A big part of what makes Evans so intriguing and impactful is her court vision and ability to use it. While I wouldn’t project Evans being someone who initiates the offense for Kansas, she’s a very strong secondary creator.

She shines as a connective playmaker, helping the ball flow through actions without thinking. She’s a quality outlet passer in transition who puts good velocity and accuracy on the ball, and she’s fantastic with post entry and using her height to unlock easier angles.

With her shooting, she’ll most likely be stationed on the opposite side of actions to put pressure on a defense. She spent a great deal of time last year running secondary ball screens, something she showed some good ability to do and attack how tightly defenses had to focus on her off the ball.

I’ll be curious to see how she continues growing in her ability to get fully downhill, absorb contact, and play through physicality. She’s shown a good mid-range game with a growing floater/runner, and there’s room to keep getting stronger as an at-rim finisher: she shot just shy of 47% at the rim on half-court looks this past season (filtering out transition attempts).

That translates to Evans’ defense as well, where I’d say she has some really strong skills as an off-ball defender, particularly in making plays backline. However, she can struggle a bit with strong drivers and isn’t someone I’d consider to be routinely capable of guarding posts.

That’s not the end all be all, but in looking at continuing to unlock lineup versatility and variations both ways, it’ll be worth tracking.

This Kansas program isn’t looking to take a step backwards, and with their transfer additions, particularly Evans, they’re better stationed to remain competitive in the Big 12 than many might realize! They play a beautiful style of basketball, and they stayed committed to their ethos as a team in how they added pieces to this roster, and I can’t wait to watch it play out.

Updates

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Check out the initial 2025 WNBA Draft Board, I will have 2026 dropping on Friday.

Speaking of the Big 12, Jamie Steyer Johnson and I just dropped a Big 12 preview over on my Youtube channel. Check it out!

Continuing on the Big 12 train, I’ll have my Film Room with Kansas State guard Serena Sundell dropping on Thursday, so get excited for that! A ton of great ones on the way and they’ve all been incredibly fun and worthwhile.

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