Shea Ralph and the Vanderbilt Women’s basketball team have officially landed their first transfer of the offseason, and it's a big one (pun intended). 6’6 center Aalyah Del Rosario is coming home to Tennessee after spending the last 2 years with Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers. She chose Vanderbilt over Virginia Tech in the portal.

Del Rosario was a McDonald's All-American and was rated as the number 7 player in the country by ESPN out of the Webb School in Tennessee. She also contributed to a USA gold medal in the U18 FIBA World Cup in 2022. Del Rosario is the 3rd McDonald's All-American Shea Ralph has landed in the portal.

Rosario was a depth piece for the elite LSU squads she was on, only playing in 28 games as a sophomore while averaging 2 points and 2 rebounds per game. She only played just over 6 minutes per game in the 2024-25 season. In her freshman campaign Rosario was used a bit more, as injuries paved a way into the rotation for her. That season she averaged 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 11 minutes per game. Del Rosario dealt with injuries before both her freshman and sophomore seasons with LSU, most recently having had a procedure on her ankle in October of 2024. These were thought to have hampered some of her development with LSU in the subsequent seasons. She is, however, not known to have any injuries coming out of the 2024-25 season and should get a full offseason with Vanderbilt.

While her stats certainly do not jump off the page, this transfer is all about roster fit. Vanderbilt’s struggles against bigger, more physical teams has been well documented the last few years. Simply put, any time they went against a team with a big center, they were unable to stop her offensively from either making easy layups or pulling down offensive boards. That is a thing of the past now, though. Del Rosario brings the size, strength, rebounding, and shot-blocking presence needed to transform the Commodores’ defense and make them competitive in the SEC. Just her physical presence is much needed and will be felt constantly throughout the years by opposing players.

Offensively, it is unlikely that Rosario will put up gaudy numbers this season, but that does not mean that she won’t have a large impact. First off, her ability to pull down offensive rebounds is elite, and will give the ‘Dores a bunch of second chance points they have missed out on the last few years. Next, her ability to help clear lanes is elite, and will significantly help both Khamil Pierre and Mikayla Blakes get some easy looks at the basket that were unavailable to them with Pierre and Oliver at the 5 and 4, respectively. Last, the fact that both Pierre and Blakes now have a true center with elite size and good hands means that they finally have a dump-off man. With Pierre and Blakes being two of the best in the country at driving to the basket and forcing help-side defense to come in support and adept passers (put some respect on Pierre’s distribution skills, by the way, they have taken massive strides over the last year), Rosario will be given a steady diet of dump-offs that she will be able to easily finish. Vanderbilt’s offense already was statistically elite last season, but this move makes it complete.

It also should not go unnoticed that Pierre will be able to move back to her natural position of power forward instead of playing out of position at the 5. She displayed a much-improved outside game last season and I expect that to only get better as she has time to develop it. Combine that improved outside game with her elite driving and finishing abilities as she returns to her natural position, and she becomes even scarier to face. In a similar vein, Justine Pissott will no longer be required to act as a pseudo-small ball center (despite being 6’5) and can return to a spot out on the wing. Pissott played well despite the unfamiliar position after re-entering the rotation late in the 2024-25 season and had a strong 23-24 campaign where she was played as a wing. This move back to the perimeter will likely be good for her both offensively and defensively.

The lone question mark with this transfer is how it will affect other players on the team. Most notably, how will Sacha Washington fit in with everything this year. Washington undoubtedly will have a big role in this upcoming season as she was one of the most consistent players on the team for years and is still the beating heart of the locker room. However, she plays like a true center while being undersized relative to Del Rosario and the average SEC big. Will we see Rosario and Washington split time evenly at center this season, or will we see Washington move to the 4 and add some outside skills in the offseason? Will neither of those things occur and a mystery third option be the result (history says this one is most likely)? The answer to this question likely will not be known until several games into the season, but if Shea Ralph and staff can figure out how to make the Washington-Del Rosario pairing a symbiotic one then this team only gets that much scarier for the rest of the SEC.

At the end of the day, Vanderbilt finally has a solution to what has been their biggest issue for multiple years running at this point. Aalyah Del Rosario will be a great piece both offensively and defensively and compliments the stars of this roster perfectly. She has elite talent and, if she can put it all together, game changing abilities on both the offensive and defensive end. Her arrival marks a real coming of age of Shea Ralph’s program, as she is now contending with the elite teams of WBB for players and building rosters fit to contend physically and mentally with the best of the best. I doubt that Ralph is done with the portal, either. It will be fun to follow the pieces added to this roster over the next few weeks and then to see them play on West End.