Big Ten Women’s Basketball Preview – Part 2

Nebraska

24-25 record: 21-12 (10-8 Big-10/T-8th place)

Head coach Amy Williams will be in her tenth season leading the Huskers. Last season, Nebraska maintained the positive momentum that the program has built, and stayed in the middle of the standings despite the addition of the former Pac-12 schools.

The Huskers spent most of the non-conference slate ranked in the top-25, until they lost to then-#17 Georgia Tech. That began three losses in a row to ranked teams (since their first two conference games were against UCLA and USC). Their best win, and their only ranked win, was against #12 Maryland on the road. In the Big Ten tournament, Nebraska lost to UCLA in the quarterfinals. They were a 10-seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the first round to 7-seed Louisville. On the whole, it was a very successful season for Nebraska.

The best scorer for the Huskers was 6-3 Sr. Alexis Markowski, who started all games and scored 16.3 PPG. She doesn’t return, but Nebraska does bring back their other starters: 5-11 So. G Britt Prince, 6-0 Jr. G Logan Nissley, 5-8 Sr, G Callin Hake, and 6-2 Jr. F Jessica Petrie.

Along with Markowski, three other players graduated. The only player of significance in the group was 5-9 Sr. G Alberte Rimal, who played in all 33 games and started six of them.

Nebraska has a good core group and brought in a few veteran transfers to round out the roster. They include:

6-0 R-Sr. G Hailey Weaver (Northwestern). She played three seasons with the Wildcats and then sat out last season to focus on her education.
6-3 Sr. F Eliza Maupin (Kansas State). Played in 33 games and started twice last season.
6-0 Jr. G Emily Fisher (Maryland). Bench player in 19 games last season, 11 MPG, 1.7 PPG.

This season’s team is solid and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to return to the 2026 NCAA tournament.

Iowa

24-25 record: 23-11 (10-8 Big-10/T-8th place)

This will be Jan Jenson’s second season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. Last season, she continued Iowa’s streak in the NCAA tournament with their seventh in a row. The Hawkeyes were a 6-seed, and reached the second round with a loss against #3 Oklahoma. In the non-conference portion of the season, they did not win against any ranked teams in losing to #15 Tennessee. Their best win was against #5 USC.

Four of Iowa’s six main starters were seniors. Two graduated and a third, 6-0 G Kylie Feurbach, returns as a graduate. Also returning are Sr. 6-2 F Hannah Stuelke, who is the only returning player that averaged double-digit PPG last season. Also returning is 5-9 St. G Taylor McCabe. Not returning is 5-10 G Lucy Olsen, who led Iowa in points, PPG, and assists.

The Hawkeyes will be relying on returning starters and the roster behind those starters. They only brought in two players from the portal:

6-0 So. G Emely Rodriguez (UCF)
5-4 So. G Chazadi ‘Chit-Chat’ Wright (Georgia Tech)

Iowa is still fully under the shadow of Caitlin Clark. They will need to improve their season record and try to get into at least the Sweet Sixteen if they’re going to break free even the tiniest bit from that shadow.

Indiana

24-25 record: 20-13 (10-8 Big-10/T-8th place)

Hoosiers head coach Teri Moren picked up her 10th 20-win season in a row in 2024-25, but it was a step back from going 26-6 in 23-24. In their non-conference slate, Indiana beat #18 Baylor and lost to #15 North Carolina. Their best conference win was against Ohio State. They went a couple of rounds into the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament, where they lost to a USC both times (Southern California and South Carolina).

The Hoosiers had a combination of experienced players and bit players enter the portal. They lost their best shooter, 6-3 So. G Yarden Garzon, who started all 33 games last year., to Maryland Jr. 6-3 F Lily Meister. Meister played in 33 games and started in 17 games, but chose to transfer to Kansas. The other portal entrants were Lexus Bergesser (Colorado State), Sharnecce Currie-Jelks (Murray State), Julianna LaMendola (Grand Canyon), and Henna Sandvik (Wyoming).

All in all, through graduation or the portal, Indiana lost five of their six primary starters.

With the exodus of so many players, Indiana had to rely heavily upon the portal, and brought in:

5-10 So. G Chloe Spreen (Alabama)
5-9 So. G Phoenix Stotjin (Arkansas)
6-3 So. F Zania Sock-Ngueman (UCLA)
6-3 Jr. F Edessa Noyan (Virginia)
5-7 Sr. G Jerni Kiaku (Duquesne)

Last season, I had felt that Indiana would be up toward the top in the Big Ten standings. They had a good squad with a lot of veteran leadership. That did not happen, and falling to eighth place fell quite short of their expectations. 2025=26 will put a different, much younger team on the court. Seven of the roster of 13 are sophomores. There are only four upperclassmen. The Hoosiers can potentially get a fairly large lineup on the floor, as they have six players that are 6-3 or taller. The task for coach Moren will be to nurture these youngsters while at the same time improve on last season.

Michigan State

24-25 record: 22-10 (11-7 Big-10/T-5th place)

Head coach Robyn Fralick is entering her third season leading the Spartans. Last season resulted in virtually an identical record to her first season. They lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Iowa, and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to NC State, after defeating Harvard in the first round.

In their non-conference schedule, MSU dropped their only ranked matchup against #20 Alabama. They did not have wins over any B1G teams ranked higher than them.

MSU relied principally on their five starters, three of whom were seniors and will not be returning. Their leading scorer and rebounder, Grace VanSlooten, does return. Also coming back is 5-10 Sr. G Theryn Hallock. Hallock and VanSlooten were two of the three players who averaged double-digit PPG during the season. After them, however, the rest of the team averaged PPG that were nearly half that amount, with most averaging much lower.

The Spartans brought a few players in from the portal, including:

6-1 Sr. G Jaylyn Brown (Arizona State)
6-2 Sr. F Marah Dykstra (Montana State)
5-8 Jr. G Rashunda Jones (Purdue)
5-7 Jr. PG Sara Sambolic (from Slovenia)

All teams like to talk about progress and placing better in their conference as well as in tournament play. MSU is no different; however – like all the other teams around and behind them – they just don’t have the tools to seriously take on the likes of Ohio State, Maryland, UCLA, and USC. MSU will just have to be happy to tread water where they are and continue to play in the postseason.

#25 Michigan

24-25 record: 23-11 (11-7 Big-10/T-5th place)

Kim Barnes Arico is entering her 14th season with the Wolverines. She has led her team to postseason play every year and last season was no different. Michigan’s best win during the season was a victory over Maryland in the Big Ten tournament; otherwise, they had no wins over teams that were ranked at the end of the season. Michigan reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, losing to #10 Notre Dame. The Wolverines ended the season in the top-25 at #25.

Michigan had five starters who started and played nearly every game of the season. They were led by a pair of outstanding freshmen: 6-1 G Olivia Olson (shot 46.6%, 38.3% from distance, 5.3 RPG, 16.3 PPG) and 6-0 G Syla Swords (shot 42.9%, 35.7% from distance, 6.2 RPG, 16.0 PPG). Two other starters were seniors; 6-3 G Jordan Hoobs and 6-1 G Greta Kampschroeder. The final starter was another freshman, 5-10 G Mila Holloway.

The other players didn’t see nearly the minutes that these five did. The player next up in terms of minutes, and their tallest player, was 6-5 Jr. Yulia Grabovskaia, who transferred to Washington at the end of the season. Surprisingly, she was the only player to enter the portal. Outside of Hobbs and Kampschroeder (who graduated), the only other senior was a graduate, 6-2 F Ally VanTimmerman. AVT missed her junior season due to injury, and will be back this season as a rare second-season graduate student.

With this relative stability in the roster, Michigan selected modestly from the portal to fill their roster:

6-2 So. G Kendall Dudley (UCLA)
6-3 Jr. F Ashley Sofilkanich (Bucknell)

With a good core of starters returning, as well as most of the bench, I like Michigan’s chances to move up in the Big Ten rankings this coming season.

Illinois

24-25 record: 22-10 (11-7 Big-10/T-5th place)

Before head coach Shauna Green took the Illini to the NCAA tournament in her first season (2022-23), Illinois had not been to The Dance in 20 years. Since then, Illinois has been WBIT champions and made it to the NCAA tournament twice, including last season. So far, she has turned around a program that was camping in the bottom of the B1G standings.

Their best wins last season were against #22 Florida State and #12 Maryland. Although they lost in their opening match against Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament, in the NCAA tourney they defeated (#23 at the time) Creighton before losing to #4 Texas in the second round.

The three main starters in terms of minutes and production for Illinois were seniors. Presumably returning starters will be 6-1 So. F Berry Wallace and 5-9 Jr. G Jasmine Brown-Hagger.

Incoming transfers include:

5-11 Jr. G Maddie Webber (Villanova)
5-11 Gr. G Gisela Segura (LIU)

The Fighting Illini are very young this season, with only one (Gr.) senior and three juniors. The rest of the roster of 15 are sophomores and freshmen. There is height and potential in this group, and we’ll see who can track and keep Illinois WBB in the postseason.

#19 Ohio State

24-25 record: 26-7 (13-5 Big-10/T-3rd place)

Head coach Kevin McGuff’s season last year was nearly identical in record and result to their 2023-24 season. They did not play any ranked teams in their non-conference schedule and defeated those opponents. OSU split regular season matches against Maryland and defeated every other team below them except Indiana and a curious loss against Penn State.

OSU lost in the semifinals of the B1G tournament against UCLA, and entered the NCAA tournament as a 4-seed. They won in the opening round against Montana State, but lost in the Round of 32 against #5-seed Tennessee.

Two of their five starters were seniors. Presumably returning are 5-9 Sr. G Chance Gray, 5-7 So. G Jaloni Cambridge, and 6-0 Sr. F Cotie McMahon.

I say “presumably” because while there are a couple of players that entered the transfer portal at the end of last season, there is no immediate news of transfers into the program and the Buckeyes have not posted a 2025-26 roster. That makes it nigh impossible to give any kind of preview of this coming season any semblance of justice.

#12 Maryland

24-25 record: 25-8 (13-5 Big-10/T-3rd place)

Brenda Frese will be in her 24th season leading the Terrapins. Maryland has seen postseason play in all but her first season, and last year was no exception. The Terrapins played well in their non-conference schedule, even beating #7 Duke in the third game of the season. Later on, they did lose to #4 Texas, and were not able to defeat USC or UCLA. They lost to Michigan in their opening game of the Big Ten tournament, but were able to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament, losing a close contest to South Carolina.

Maryland played mainly six players as starters, and will keep half of those as the others have graduated. Back in 25-26 are: 6-0 Sr. G Kaylene Smikle (points leader with 592 points and 17.9 PPG, 2nd in rebounds), 5-10 Sr. G Bri McDaniel, and 6-2 R-sr. G Saylor Poffenbarger. The Terps did lose some significant scoring and rebounding production from the departing seniors.

Maryland brought in the following players from the portal:

6-3 Sr. F Yarden Garzon (indiana)
5-10 Jr. G Oluchi Okananwa (Duke)

The Terrapins held on to all three freshman recruits from last season and added five more this season. They may have lost some pieces, but the Terrapins are a team that reloads and they should be vying for the top of the Big Ten again this coming season.

#3 UCLA

24-25 record: 34-3 (16-2 Big-10/2nd place)

Head coach Cori Close is entering her 15th season with the Bruins. She has taken them to the postseason for the past 10 seasons straight, including advancing to the Final Four last season. UCLA rolled over everyone in their first season in the Big Ten, and their only regular season losses were to Southern California. Their third loss was in the Final Four to eventual national champion UConn.

The Bruins will be scary good again this coming season. They only lost one of their six main starters. Stars Lauren Betts and KiKi Riace are back. Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalić, and Timea Gardiner are back. I won’t list the six players that entered the portal, and you can’t blame them because they have little chance of starting.

A couple of players that did not play last season will be returning: 5-10 Sr. G Charlisse Leger-Walker (medical redshirt, torn ACL), and 6-4 So. C Amanda Muse (non-medical redshirt). Three freshmen enter this season: 6-0 G Christina Karamouzi, 6-3 F Lena Bilić, and 6-4 F Sienna Betts.

The expectation is that UCLA will be at the top of the B1G – and the NCAA – again this coming season.

#5 USC

24-25 record: 31-5 (17-1 Big-10/1st place)

USC (along with UCLA) was on a roll last season. Like UCLA, USC picked up a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Heck, these teams could meet in the Final Four!

But then, disaster struck in their second-round match against Mississippi State. They won the game handily, but lost star JuJu Watkins to a torn ACL.

That injury will impact USC this season, because there is virtually no chance that Watkins plays this year. The Trojans will not have their most important star, but they are going to be missing other pieces as well.

6-3 Gr. F Kiki Iriafen will be gone. 5-11 Gr. G Talia von Oelhoffen is gone. 6-4 Sr. C/F Rayah Marshall is gone. The only regular starter that will be back in 25-26 is 6-1 So. G Kennedy Smith.

USC had to look to the portal for help, and to that end they have brought in:

6-5 Jr. F Yakiya Milton (Auburn)
5-11 Sr. G Kara Dunn (Georgia Tech)
5-4 Sr. G Londynn Jones (UCLA)
6-3 So. F Dayana Mendes (Washington State)

The Trojans have picked up a 5-star recruit from Oregon, 6-1 G Jazzy Davidson. They are hoping that Davidson can immediately have an impact in the same way that Watkins did as a freshman.

The fact of the matter with USC is, however, that they have likely lost more than they can replace. While they will be very good in 25-26, they are not in the same position that UCLA is in, and will very likely drop from the top of the rankings.

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Big Ten Women’s Basketball Preview – Part 2

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