Point guard Caia Elisaldez was in the midst of planning her college visits after entering the transfer portal this spring when she came across a notification on her phone that proved pivotal in her thought process. Elisaldez, the Southern Conference Player of the Year at Chattanooga, saw that Iowa All-Big Ten freshman guard Addie Deal had signed with Wisconsin.
Elisaldez didn’t just know that Deal was a former five-star high school recruit and McDonald’s All-American. She had been teammates with Deal for one season at Mater Dei High School in California. And if a player of Deal’s caliber was pledged to Wisconsin, she figured there must be something about the Badgers worth exploring. She immediately texted Deal to learn more.
“Her and I were on the same wavelength of we really believe in what they’re doing,” Elisaldez said. “And as much as a lot of people would see it as a scary thing of, ‘Oh, the coaches have only been here for one year,’ or, ‘Oh, they didn’t have a winning record,’ neither of us saw it that way. We see it as we really believe in what they’re building.”
Elisaldez and Deal are part of an intriguing transfer portal class that has helped to create enthusiasm for Wisconsin’s women’s basketball program in Year 2 under head coach Robin Pingeton. Other portal additions include Iowa transfer guard Teagan Mallegni, a McFarland, Wis., native who once scored 62 points in a high school game and was the No. 64 national prospect in her class, according to ESPN. Forward Kadidia Toure, who most recently played at LIU and earned Northeast Conference Player of the Year honors, represents another critical pickup.
“I think that the talent we have coming in is kind of crazy,” Elisaldez said. “There’s 31 conferences, and to pull two player of the years and to get both of them on one team is kind of insane. And Addie and Teghan both did great. I’ve seen a lot of the highlights. All of them seem real long, real lengthy, real athletic.”
Wisconsin finished 16-18 overall in Pingeton’s first season. But that record wasn’t indicative of how much progress the Badgers made relative to recent history. Wisconsin beat multiple ranked teams in a season — No. 20 Michigan State and No. 24 Nebraska — for the first time since 2009. The Badgers won three consecutive games to reach the WBIT semifinals and finished with their most victories in a season since 2011. The last Wisconsin coach to perform better in Year 1 was Jane Albright during the 1994-95 season.
The growth Wisconsin demonstrated last season was something Elisaldez, Deal and Toure all said they took notice of as they did their research on which school might be the right fit for them. Toure said she also was considering Maryland, where she is from. Elisaldez visited San Diego and Wisconsin. She had visits lined up to Tennessee and Virginia Tech but canceled those plans and committed to the Badgers. Deal, meanwhile, was a highly sought-after transfer who said “quite a few” schools contacted her once she entered the portal.
“I think Wisconsin has every tool that they need to be great,” Deal said. “We’re finally piecing everything together. I think people are going to come out and watch. I’m so excited for this whole program.”
A variety of factors, including Year 1 progress, sold Wisconsin’s portal additions on joining the program. Elisaldez said she wanted to be a part of a coaching staff that cared about its players and was intent on building a strong culture. She said she talked to three players returning to the team on her visit that helped convince her the program was headed in the right direction: Laci Steele, Shay Bollin and Nikki Kerstein. The portal players connected with Pingeton’s vision and saw an exciting style of play that fit their games.
“I think what stood out to me was their level of interest in me and how dedicated they were to growing my game and growing myself outside of basketball, just as a person off the court,” Toure said. “I haven’t even run a sprint for her yet, but she already believes in me so much. That’s very empowering.”
Deal arrives with the biggest national name in the bunch. She was rated out of high school as the No. 18 overall recruit by ESPN and the No. 2 player in California. Deal averaged 5.1 points and 1.6 assists per game last season in 34 games for Iowa. She twice was named Big Ten freshman of the week and, in one of her best efforts, registered 20 points and five assists in a victory against No. 12 Ohio State.
Addie Deal is the first Wisconsin player in program history to have been a McDonald’s All-American. (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics)
Deal said Wisconsin’s up-tempo approach and willingness to shoot more 3-pointers appealed to her. Wisconsin ranked 46th nationally last season in 3-point attempts per game (24.3) and shattered the single-season school record for total 3s attempted with 826. The previous record was 676 attempts during the 2022-23 season.
Deal said she drove three hours with her family from Iowa City to visit Wisconsin and came away impressed after a basketball discussion and film breakdown that highlighted how much she could be utilized in Pingeton’s system. She said she wasn’t afraid to carve out her own path at a program that hasn’t been a traditional women’s basketball powerhouse.
“Just growing up, going through high school, you watch a bunch of the pros,” Deal said. “All of my favorite players, they kind of did this. Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Catilin Clark, they all went to a school that wasn’t necessarily like a UConn, so to say. And they made something great. They stuck with that program, and they created something great. I’m hoping that we can accomplish something like that at Wisconsin.”
Deal will reunite with Mallegni and room with her next season. Mallegni played for two seasons at Iowa and appeared in 15 games last season, which included a 10-point, four-assist performance against Wisconsin late in the regular season.
Elisaldez excelled during her junior season, starting all 31 games for Chattanooga and leading the Southern Conference in scoring (17 points) and assists per game (5.1). She scored a career-high 33 points in the WBIT first round and drilled a pair of free throws to win the game in the final seconds. Her 36.2 minutes played per game led the conference and ranked 15th nationally. Elisaldez said Pingeton liked her aggressiveness, basketball intelligence and ability to play with pace and get out in transition. Deal described Elisaldez as the fastest player she had ever played with.
“They’re looking for a point guard that’s able to score but also able to get into the paint,” Elisaldez said. “They said that they were a high 3-point shooting team but that there are some areas where they want to get better. Getting in the paint was one of those areas where they wanted to get better. I’m pretty good at that from what they said.”
Toure has played at James Madison, Arizona State and most recently LIU. She averaged 19.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season and led her conference in scoring, rebounding and double-doubles with 15. She’ll serve as a commanding post presence who also is capable of stretching bigger defenders to the perimeter.
“I feel like it’s a fresh start for me,” Toure said. “Just coming in, trying to just play as hard as I can and see where that takes me and takes the team. Hopefully it takes us far.”
Pingeton also has built a solid roster around her transfers. She added four freshmen, headlined by four-star Race Lake (Wis.) standout guard Adaline Sheplee, the highest-rated player to sign with the Badgers out of high school since 1997. Pingeton retained seven players, including returning leading scorer Kyrah Daniels, who withdrew from the transfer portal.
All those moves have Wisconsin players thinking about an even bigger breakthrough in Year 2.
“The players that we have coming back that were on the team last year all were great people, and you can tell they really bought into what coach P is emphasizing,” Elisaldez said. “It seems like we have a squad that’s really going to buy into everything and has a certain type of hunger. I don’t know if that’s right yet, but I feel like we do. I’m excited about it.”
(Top photo of Caia Elisaldez courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics)