Girls basketball: One of state's top seniors flips from Butler to Indiana Wesleyan

Joslyn Bricker, one of Indiana's top 2026 girls basketball recruits, has flipped her commitment from NCAA Division I Butler to NAIA Indiana Wesleyan . While her announcement comes a day after the Bulldogs parted ways with women's basketball coach Austin Parkinson , the Warsaw standout told IndyStar Tuesday afternoon that the coaching change did not influence her decision, which was finalized over two weeks ago. Instead, her decision was largely influenced by the nomadic nature of the transfer portal.

"Two-and-a-half weeks ago, we started noticing some of the Butler players were entering the transfer portal and honestly, the ones leaving were the ones I was really looking forward to playing with," Bricker said. "They were a big reason I wanted to go there. They're great people and I wanted to be around them, to be teammates with them.

And I've always really valued the relationship side of it, so I really cared about that and who I would be playing with. " Following a conversation with one of the departing players, Bricker realized what she envisioned for her D-I basketball experience — one in which she could build lifelong relationships with her teammates and coaches — wasn't feasible in the current NCAA landscape with the transfer portal causing widespread roster turnover after each season. (There are currently over 1,000 players in the portal, which opened Monday.

) It's disappointing, Bricker said, and was difficult to accept. She had a good relationship with Parkinson and his staff and was "really excited about Butler as a school," which she branded her dream school growing up . Bricker committed to Butler last June , choosing Parkinson's Bulldogs over Belmont, Ball State, Penn and Florida Gulf Coast, among others.