BYU Star Shaylee Gonzales Enters Transfer Portal
Jun 2, 2022, 8:06 PM | Updated: Jun 6, 2022, 4:06 pm
BYU women's basketball guard Shaylee Gonzales earned WCC Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season. (Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
(Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
IRVING, Texas – BYU women’s basketball star Shaylee Gonzales has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Thank you Cougar Nation, #2 out🖤 pic.twitter.com/Ha5QsGXmIZ
— Shaylee Gonzales (@shayleegonzales) June 3, 2022
The two-time WCC Player of the Year has been a star for BYU since she arrived on campus in 2018. Last season, Gonzales led a nationally-ranked BYU squad in scoring with 18.3 points per game while also recording 5.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.3 steals.
Two-time WCC Player of the Year: Shaylee Gonzales
Gonzales has been part of the BYU women’s basketball roster for four seasons. One of those years she missed due to an ACL injury. For the other three, she has helped lead BYU to NCAA Tournament appearances in each. BYU has won two games in the NCAA Tournament since Gonzales joined the program.
Gonzales’ move into the Transfer Portal follows BYU hiring Amber Whiting as its new head coach. Whiting replaces BYU’s winningest coach in program history, Jeff Judkins, who led BYU women’s basketball for 21 years.
Whiting had Gonzales add her in a group text after her introductory Zoom call with BYU players concluded in May. The first-time college coach told reporters last month that having a relationship with BYU’s current players was important.
“Getting my girls to stay because they are my girls right now and you’ve got to recruit them because they didn’t commit to me. So, they are my number one priority right now,” Whiting said last month.
Gonzales was once dubbed BYU’s Donovan Mitchell
Athletes that enter the NCAA Transfer Portal have the opportunity to return to the original institution. But once they are in the portal, schools are able to contact a student-athlete immediately.
Judkins once compared Gonzales’s impact on BYU to that of Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell. With that much star power paired with a strong social media following that includes 84,000 followers on Instagram and over 200,000 fans on TikTok, there could be potential NIL opportunities for Gonzales if she moves forward with the portal process.
Gonzales has participated in off-season workouts in Phoenix with the Cavinder Twins, Haley and Hanna, who have reportedly earned close to $1 million in NIL. The Cavinder Twins recently entered the Transfer Portal from Fresno State and have since signed with the Miami Hurricanes.
Gonzales has two years of eligibility remaining in her collegiate career.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
