The 2025-26 women’s college basketball season is officially here!
Before you tune in to watch your favorite players and teams, catch up on all of Swish Appeal’s preseason coverage:
Conference previews
As the undisputed beasts of the Big East, defending-champion and No. 1-ranked UConn has bigger ambitions than more conference championship trophies. Another national title is the priority in Storrs. Edwin Garcia explained what needs to happen for the Huskies to go back-to-back.
Advertisement
In contrast, I wrote about how the competition will be fierce in the SEC, where No. 2-ranked South Carolina will fend off challenges from No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 8 Tennessee and maybe a few more teams.
No. 7 Duke is well positioned to establish themselves as the class of the ACC, unless Hannah Hidalgo executes an incredible carry job and overachieves with No. 15 Notre Dame. Beckett Harrison also has his eye on a retooled team in No. 9 NC State.
JuJu Watkins’ season-long absence for No. 18 USC robs the Big Ten of some—but not all—of its sizzle. As Edwin sees it, the Big Ten should belong to No. 3 UCLA, especially since the Bruins have even higher aspirations. Zack Ward, however, has hope that No. 10 Maryland can return to the promised land, 20 years after the Terrapins’ one and only national championship.
Zachary Draves provided another dispatch from the Big Ten, looking at how the Iowa faithful will bid farewell to the last vestiges of the Caitlin Clark era, as the No. 21 Hawkeyes’ four seniors, led by Hannah Stuelke, aim to continue the program’s winning ways.
Advertisement
Down in the Big 12, No. 17 TCU will try to prove that they are the conference’s overarching power, boosted by the arrival of one of the nation’s best playmakers in Olivia Miles.
I argued that other transfers could also significantly influence conference outcomes, as Jada Williams joins forces with Audi Crooks for No. 14 Iowa State and Taliah Scott slides into the scoring guard role for No. 16 Baylor.
Stars and standouts to watch
She’s just in her second season, but UConn’s Sarah Strong is not just the nation’s most exciting sophomore talent, as Edwin documented, but, from my perspective, quite possibly the best player in the nation.
Lauren Betts, however, will also have something to say about that. Although, as Edwin emphasized, the Bruins will need even more from Betts if they are to better Strong and the Huskies and (finally) win it all.
Advertisement
The Huskies, unsurprisingly, have imported another freshman ready to make her mark in Blanca Quiñonez. Edwin also identified USC’s Jazzy Davidson, Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez and LSU’s Grace Knox as instant-impact freshmen to be excited about.
With the transfer portal resulting in tons of top players putting on new threads, it won’t be surprising if, once again, a transfer swings the national title. I sorted through the flood of candidates, taking a closer look at the championship-changing cases of yet another Husky in Serah Williams, as well as MiLaysia Fulwiley at LSU and Gianna Kneepkens at UCLA.
Oluchi Okananwa also might have made a difference-making move from Duke to Maryland, where she, like Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes and Michigan’s Syla Swords, could be poised to blossom into a national superstar, according to Josh Felton.
And then, it was time get a little bit outlandish and offer up some bold predictions about the aforementioned Strong, Blakes and Chavez.
Advertisement
Ready for the next level
Who knows when we’ll know which team has the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft?
For now, fans of the lottery-bound Dallas Wings, Minnesota Lynx (thanks Chicago Sky!), Seattle Storm (thanks Los Angeles Sparks!), Washington Mystics and Sky (thanks Connecticut Sun!) can dream of adding top college prospects to their squad. Eric Nemchock highlighted the 10 players likely to dominate mock drafts before digging deeper into the pro potential of UCLA’s Kiki Rice and Ole Miss’ Cotie McMahon.
Beckett also examined what three projected lottery picks—Lauren Betts, Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles—need to prove to WNBA evaluators during their final college seasons.
Advertisement
At the same time, it’s also never to early to start thinking about what’s next. So, I considered which fans bases should already be excited about their 2026 recruiting classes.
