Rashunda Jones of Purdue and Jalyn Brown from Arizona State are joining the Spartans
The Michigan State Women’s Basketball Team has added two new players via the transfer portal. The first addition is Rashunda Jones from Purdue, who is coming to play for a conference foe. And second is Jalyn Brown, who is leaving the beautiful year-round sunshine of Tempe, Arizona, and bringing her talents to the equally beautiful yet sometimes less sunshiny environs of East Lansing.
Both players are guards. Jones stands 5’8” and has played two seasons for the Boilermakers. Last year, she scored 9.8 PPG, second on the team, and led them at 3.8 APG. Brown will have just one year of college eligibility remaining after starting her career with a year at Louisville and then played the last two seasons for the Sun Devils. Last year, she led ASU with 18 PPG and also pulled down 4 RPG.
Interestingly, this is the second consecutive offseason that Coach Robyn Fralick has pulled a player from ASU. Last year, Jaddan Simmons was that player. Those two were teammates for the Sun Devils in the 2023-24 season. It would not be any stretch of the imagination to guess that Simmons gave Brown some encouragement in this decision.
Last week, I wrote an article trying to figure out what next year’s rotation could look like. With these two new additions to the MSU backcourt, we have more pieces. My initial sense is that Jalyn Brown will end up higher in the pecking order than Jones due to her size and scoring ability. The question is if she will win a starting spot. Returning starter Theryn Hallock is safe in the lineup, but can Brown beat out senior-to-be Emma Shumate or highly touted incoming freshman Jordan Ode?
It is too early to tell at this point. But the good news is that MSU suddenly has experienced depth in their backcourt for the ‘24-25 season. Before this week, they were looking at having a pair of players who did not play much last year and another incoming freshman as the second-string guards. Now there is a much more confidence-inspiring rotation. If Fralick goes back to the portal, it would probably be for some front court depth.