Arizona State women’s basketball has a transfer headliner in Ruby Whitehorn, but just importantly depth in a portal class that could elevate ASU into the national top 25 in Molly Miller’s second season as coach.

Whitehorn committing to ASU last semester after her departure from Tennessee before the start of the 2025-26 season “started a domino effect,” Miller says. “That’s a player that will be on WNBA draft boards. Other players want to play with her.”

Four to be exact, who combined with Whitehorn form the fourth-rated 2026-27 transfer class as judged by USA Today in May. That was five months ago, but nothing has happened since to diminish enthusiasm for a quintet that could shoot up the charts like Ruby & the Romantics soared to No. 1 with the “Our Day Will Come” in 1963.

Even the central message of that 63-year-old love song — Our day will come and we’ll have everything – rings true for Whitehorn and Rashunda Jones, now at their third college, and Madison Morson, Ayanna-Sarai Darrington and Ella Ryan, at their second stop.

They saw ASU improve from 29 combined wins in three seasons pre-Miller to 24 wins in her first season and believe even better times are ahead with a staff aspiring much higher than last season’s NCAA Tournament First Four round exit.

“We’ve become a school of choice,” Miller says. “I have a responsibility to bring in good apples. So that’s my priority, to bring in good human beings to complement what we’re maybe lacking in terms of a basketball skill set.

“So we plugged in shooters, we have some slashers, we got some size. We were able to be really particular and strategic in the portal. So we are deeper and probably more skilled this year.”

This story from July details Whitehorn’s back story. She is a lock to be a starter and likely to be joined in an entirely new starting back court by Jones and Morson. Ryan and Darrington figure to get ample minutes off the bench.

Here is more on those following the lead of Whitehorn, who enrolled at ASU last semester and practiced while sitting out games. If they need any added incentive, none are included among ESPN’s preseason list of 20 impact transfers or even seven others also considered.

Rashunda Jones

Jones prefers her nickname Spider to her given first name although it wasn’t always that way.

Steven Reynolds, her coach at Washington High School in South Bend, Ind., told the 5-8 point guard she was fast and long like a spider. “No you’re not,” calling me that, Jones insisted without success. “Now everyone calls me that. That’s just my brand and a part of who I am now.”

She’s even conducted Spider basketball camps for girls including one in August back home in Indiana.

“I’m trying to get into the influencer world more so,” says Jones, an interest that fits with ASU’s new degree in content creation. “Just putting myself out there, letting people in to know who I am not just as a basketball player but as a person.”

First, though, about the basketball piece.

After winning a high school 3A title in 2022, Jones played her first two college seasons at Purdue, where she the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2023-24. She was a full-time starter at Michigan State last season, averaging 11.7 points and 3.2 assists for an NCAA second-round team.

Recent ASU players Jaddan Simmons and Jalyn Brown transferred to Michigan State and now the Sun Devils pick up Jones coming from the Spartans.

Miller was the “make or break it” reason Jones chose ASU for her senior season. “I gave her a call, and I knew immediately I’m going there. My heart was where she was at.” She committed without visiting ASU, canceling a visit to Indiana.

“I always think a head coach and point guard should be on the same page. I think me and Molly have found that. We see the same things.”

Miller on Jones: “Her and I are lockstep. They call her Spider for a reason. She’s all over the place with her ability to defend. But her ability to run a team is phenomenal. I need that mouthpiece on the floor. Her IQ is really big. She’ll take coaching and feedback. It’s a dream for a coach to be able to coach someone like her. We’re going to be connected. It’ll be fun to see how we work and bounce ideas off each other.”

Madison Morson

Morson, playing for Central Michigan, was Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 then MAC Player of the Year in 2025-26.

She averaged 20.1 points as a sophomore and is tied for 10th among Division I leading returning scorers. Perhaps most importantly for ASU, which shot a collective 29.6 percent from 3-point last season, Morson made 39.2 percent of her 3-point tries.

“It’s still DI basketball, but it’s a whole different world at the Power 4 level,” Morson allows. “I am really excited though. It feels like AAU again. I know I will score for sure. That’s not up for debate.”

The 5-8 Morson was all-state twice while at Salem High School in Canton, Mich., a fruitful recruiting area for ASU associate head coach Daniel Barber.

ASU “came first with definitive answers to my questions,” Morson says of her transfer. “They weren’t budging on anything. It felt like they knew what they wanted. They knew what I could provide for them and vice versa.

“Of course I considered other schools because I didn’t want to immediately pick anybody too quickly. But they were my favorites from the jump and ended up being the best decision I could make.”

Miller on Morson: “Madi is good. I think she’s going to surprise a lot of the Big 12. She’ll be the best player on the court often. She is steady as they come, she does what you ask, she can hit the 3. She’s patient, a good decision maker. I’m really excited for our fans to watch her.”

Ella Ryan

If Arizona State fans know of Quinnipiac, it’s because the Bobcats beat ASU hockey 2-1 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Payback of sorts will come if Ryan, after one season at the small private school in Hamden, Conn., shoots the same way for ASU, among the nation’s largest public universities.

Ryan’s 41.1 percent 3-point shooting as a freshman at Quinnipiac, backing up her career scoring record (2, 321 points) at Brentwood (Tenn.) High School, made her an attractive portal target.

She was on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference all-rookie team at Quinnipiac, where she started with her older sister Sydney, a transfer from Furman. They helped the Bobcats reach the WBIT second round against Stanford, which ASU plays Dec. 17.

Sydney graduating and a coaching change at Quinnipiac due to retirement made it easier for Ella to transfer.

“I was a little bit nervous,” Ryan says. “It’s a big change coming across the United States to be somewhere I’ve never been before with a new team. But once I started to see the ball go in, all that went away and I realized how much fun it is here with these girls and the staff. It just started to come naturally to me.”

The 5-8 Ryan had multiple DI offers out of high school and committed to Quinnipiac while her sister still was at Furman. “I had a gut feeling about it,” she says. “I entered the portal very afraid. I had no idea if anyone would know who I was. I was just a random person from Tennessee and Connecticut.

“When coach Molly called me, I just lit up. I never thought basketball would take me to the Power 4 level. Again, I had that same gut feeling,” on her visit to ASU. “This feels right.”

Miller on Ryan: “The good news is shooting transcends levels. She is still shooting at a high clip and she’s playing with some athletes that can get her the ball and find her. There’s an advantage to when you’re a specialist at this level. Then she’s going to be able to grow in her defensive and passing capabilities. I always tell shooters, I don’t want you to be a one-trick pony because your super power is a shot fake.”

Ayanna-Sarai Darrington

Of ASU’s eight incoming players (transfers and freshmen), 6-2 Darrington is the only front court addition.

That’s because Miller has four returning posts including starters McKinna Brackens and Heloisa Carrera. Brackens was All-Big 12 third team last season, won a gold medal on the U.S. U23 World Cup team in September and is among 10 players on the All-Big 12 preseason team for the coming season.

Not to say that Darrington, All-Mid-American Conference second team as a sophomore at Central Michigan, isn’t a welcome addition. She averaged 7.3 rebounds in both seasons at Central Michigan and twice pulled down 21 boards.

“That’s a lot of my game,” she says. “And offensive rebounds because not a lot of people do that. I really have to key in on that. That makes me valuable. I can anticipate and see the ball wherever it’s going. That helps us a lot and will push us further into the season.”

Morson and Darrington made their ASU visit together but made separate decisions to join the Sun Devils. Both believe they will benefit from playing with major college talent that will keep defenses honest against them.

“I was getting box-and-1 last year,” says Darrington, who still averaged 14.9 points. “Now I can kick it out and I know they’re going to make the shot. It takes the stress off. You don’t have to do it by yourself. If they get me, they can’t get everybody else. If they get Madi, they won’t be able to get me. People have to pick and choose where they want to battle. That’s very much a load off.”

Miller on Darrington and Morson: “When you bring two people from the same school, you’re like are they just going to gravitate toward each other. But they’ve been very willing and open to make friends and be accessible. The fact they worked together and know what each other does, maybe that unlocks it for the other members of the team quicker. They’ve been a great addition. They’re all in.”

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