"It will be fun" - Flau'jae Johnson excited to team up with Notre Dame transfer Kate Koval after LSU commitment

LSU star Flau'jae Johnson was eligible for the WNBA Draft this year since she will turn 22 years old, but she opted to remain in college basketball for an extra year. Johnson's Tigers were eliminated from the 2025 NCAA Tournament by the UCLA Bruins and coach Kim Mulkey has wasted no time in refreshing the team by acquiring former Notre Dame forward Kate Koval from the transfer portal.

During Thursday's segment of the "Best of Both Worlds" podcast, Johnson shared her excitement at Koval joining the Tigers (21:55).

"Really excited about that landing," Flau'jae Johnson said. "Y'all already know. Post player is important to everything we do. I do know her, we've met. She came to LSU but she ended up going to Notre Dame. But you know how that goes. Sometimes you've got to get your feet wet.

"I'm excited for her to be coming back. I'm always excited to play with new people. I'm always excited to see what their mentality is, how they cope, how they live. It will be fun. But, Kate's a bucket, so, we're gonna have a nice presence in the paint starting with her."

Kate Koval averaged 5.3 points on 45.1% shooting from the floor, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Fighting Irish this past season.

Flau'jae Johnson reveals surprise at portal movement

It has been a busy off-season in college basketball so far and there have been plenty of surprise portal moves. Perhaps the most surprising move has been Olivia Miles opting against declaring for the WNBA Draft and instead entering the transfer portal from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and joining the TCU Horned Frogs.

During Thursday's segment of the "Best of Both Worlds" podcast, the charismatic Flau'jae Johnson revealed her surprise at some of the moves made by top players after the season ended (20:36).

"I've seen a lot of crazy stuff," Flau'jae Johnson said. "A lot of top players in the portal. People committing really quick and really early. I was surprised at the whole dang near whole Notre Dame team leaving. That was crazy. I was like, 'Why is everybody leaving?

Johnson further pinpointed the surprising nature of Miles' transfer decision due to the setup that Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey had with Miles partnering with Wooden Award finalist Hannah Hidalgo.

" Where is y'all going?' Nobody's talking about that, I wanna know what's going on 'cause I would not have expected Olivia Miles to get gone bro," Johnson said. "They was a cold trio. Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, Neal Ivey. Eitherway, a lot of people are transferring so I ain't expect her to go to TCU though. That was crazy. TCU must have thrown that bag because, back-to-back top transfers, I like it."

Olivia Miles' move to TCU has supercharged an emerging basketball power and Flau'jae Johnson opting to remain at LSU will make for an interesting 2025-2026 season with college basketball retaining its top stars.