Jeff Walz, Louisville make shortlist for transfer guard Kiki Jefferson

Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jeff Walz has had his hands full this offseason since the departure of eleven players from the program. Six of them left due to graduation, and five of them left via the transfer portal–most notably junior guard Hailey Van Lith.

But, he has already been hard at work as he has landed commitments from Georgia Tech’s Eylia Love, California’s Jayda Curry, and Cal State Bakersfield’s Hennie van Schaik. Now, the most recent athlete he is pursuing is James Madison University’s, Kiki Jefferson.

Kiki Jefferson is a 6-foot-1 guard who has played in 116 career games and scored 1,838 career points for a career average of 15.8 points per game. Standing at 6-foot-1, Jefferson immediately creates mismatch problems at the guard position for opposing teams.

Per a report yesterday by Insider Exposure, Jefferson was on a visit last night to the University of Louisville and her shortlist of schools includes only two programs: Louisville and North Carolina.

These two ACC foes have been in multiple conversations together recently in that former Louisville forward Jae’Lyn Withers transferred to North Carolina and once five-star forward Mackenzie Mgbako was back on the market, after de-committing from Duke, Louisville and North Carolina were reportedly both to be in on him.

Now, the two programs are vying for Kiki Jefferson’s services. Jefferson was named the 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year and the 2023 Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player, so her resume speaks for itself.

She would be fun to watch in Jeff Walz’s system because of her size and scoring ability. And she would have the opportunity to make an immediate impact after Hailey van Lith, Mykasa Robinson, and Chrislyn Carr are now gone from the backcourt.