I think this race is wide open again this year and actually will be fun and not toxic because Strong and Juju have both won it once and the existence of either takes the pressure off of both.

And then you have some really fun new NPOTY potential players in Balkes, Hildalgo who are both electric to watch.

And then you have some dark horses who could take big production leaps for their respective teams in Edwards and Booker and Cambridge who could really make it fun.

Anyone ESPN left out?

Tier 1
▪️JuJu Watkins
▪️Sarah Strong
▪️Hannah Hidalgo
▪️Mikayla Blakes

Tier 2
▪️Madison Booker

Tier 3
▪️Joyce Edwards
▪️Audi Crooks
▪️Jaloni Cambridge
▪️Olivia Olson

For the better part of two decades, Illinois women's basketball was basically a doormat in the Big Ten. Outside of some really successful years under Theresa Grentz in the late 1990s, the program spent much of the 2000s and 2010s struggling to stay competitive, let alone earn national recognition. By the time Shauna Green arrived in 2022, Illinois hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and was coming off a miserable 7–20 season with just one conference victory. What she's accomplished since then is pretty remarkable. Illinois has put together four consecutive winning seasons, made three NCAA Tournament appearances, won the 2024 WBIT championship, and become a nationally ranked program again. Now they're entering the 2026–27 season ranked No. 23 in the country. For a program that spent so many years near the bottom of the Big Ten, that's an enormous achievement. Green hasn't just made Illinois respectable again; she's completely changed the expectations surrounding women's basketball in Champaign Illinois.

#1 South Carolina 15

#2 UConn 9

#3 USC 12

#4 Duke 10

#5 Michigan 10

#6 Texas 11

#7 Louisville 8

#8 Vanderbilt 8

#9 LSU 9

#10 Iowa 10

#11 UCLA 13

#12 UNC 7

#13 Notre Dame 10

#14 UK 8

#15 TCU 4

#16 Washington 9

#17 Minnesota 8

#18 Ohio State 12

#19 Ole Miss 8

#20 Maryland 11

#21 Oklahoma 11

#22 Oklahoma State 5

#23 Illinois 8

#24 West Virgina 4

#25 NCSU 7

So excited to see the ladies play in person for the first time in decades!

You can watch on UCONN+

https://uconnhuskies.com/watch/live

The game is on B1G+ at 6 pm EST.

Bodes well for Hawk fans! This is gonna be an exciting season.

Here is my first cut of NCAA WBB roster data as of October 6, for as many teams in all three divisions as were available. You can search, browse and filter by name, team or other details and see some maps and charts:

https://sports-roster-data.github.io/womens-college-basketball/

All of the data is available for download as CSV files, too, and I'll be updating it through the first few weeks of the season. Comments and suggestions welcomed!

I watched the Syracuse v. UConn game a few night ago (played on Oct. 12). I think if Syracuse had come out and played ball (and, obviously, if some adjustments had been made early on 😭) I think it could have been a closer game for a longer period of time.

They spent too much time in the first half battling from a deficit and then ran out of gas, even with UConn's lulls. And then they didn't have the energy to combat UConn's machine, unfortunately.

So, this post was really just to say that I was impressed with them. And that Tyi Skinner foolishly wasn't on my radar before, but they are now! 👏🏾

Also ranked #77 with Ricals.

With her commitment this officially makes the 2027 class VT’s best ever, with 4 ESPN top 100/4 Rivals top 80 recruits, beating the 2024 class of Baker/Nelson/Strack/Suffren.

Columbia suspends coach Megan Griffith for 3 games after review of coaching behavior

As an Ivy League fan I kind of saw this coming from a mile away.

Apparently the player who initiated the University's external review wasn't supposed to be recruited D1, but got an offer, played for her, and there was a mismatch in styles and expectations. I guess we'll have to find out if more will come out on Coach Griffith... I'm conflicted, but I also take allegations like this seriously and think it's a fair punishment.

We break down LSU Women's Basketball Roster, the Transfers, the Returners and the New Recruits.. along with the Drama! #lsuwbb #davissportsreport #ncaawbb #lsuwomensbasketball #lsuwbbroster

ESPN projections of the top impact transfers

Will be real interesting to see how accurate this ends up being.

Iowa State exits are THREE of the top FIVE. It will be interesting to see how they each fare on other teams.

1. Audi Crooks ISU to OKST
   
2. Addy Brown ISU to UCLA
   
3. Dani Carnegie GA to Iowa
   
4. Jada Williams ISU to LSU
   
5. Talaysia Cooper Tenn to Ole Miss
   
6. Jordan Lee
   
7. Nunu Agara
   
8. Liv McGill
   
9. Mia Woolfolk
   
10. Aaliyah Crump
    
11. Zamareya Jones
    
12. Tilda Trygger
    
13. Jade Richard
    
14. Madison St. Rose
    
15. Kaylene Smikle
16. Lara Somfai
    
17. Skylar Forbes
    
18. Gracie Merkle
    
19. Jadyn Wooden
    
20. Kate Koval
    

Also considered: Elina Aarnisalo, North Carolina to UCLA; Achol Akot, Oklahoma State to North Carolina; Carys Baker, Virginia Tech to Louisville; Essence Cody, Alabama to Texas A&M; Lanie Grant, North Carolina to TCU; Kiyomi McMiller, Penn State to Florida; Zahirah Walton, George Mason to West Virginia.

The UCLA Bruins made history by winning their first-ever NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship in 2026—and then watched five superstars go in the first round of the WNBA Draft.

In this episode of Davis Sports Report, we break down how Coach Cori Close rebuilt the roster to defend the title. From key returning stars like Tamia Gardiner and Sienna Betts, to game-changing transfer portal additions like Addy Brown, Elina Aarnisalo, Bonnie Deas, and Donovyn Hunter, plus exciting international freshmen Lina Jerković and Somto Okafor—we evaluate all 12 players and discuss whether the Bruins have the firepower to go back-to-back. #ncaawbb #uclawbb #davissportsreport

I went to the Cal-UCLA exhibition today, and while I know this is a whole new roster, I think Cori Close definitely knows what she’s doing. Today they played the whole roster, and the contribution from the “bench” (which was really a bench in name only and not in minutes!) was spectacular. Every single player scored, and FIVE were in double figures! Lots of defensive hustle all around. Freshman Somto Okafor looks fantastic; and both Elina Aarnisalo and KK Branford look phenomenal to start the year—like they’re certainly in the right place!

Anyway… lots of media outlets and even Redditors have written off this team after the championship run, and I wouldn’t be so hasty! Of course they have lots of kinks to sort out still, but for a team that’s only just learning how to play together, they look great. And you’ve gotta love Close’s commitment to TEAM basketball!

If anyone wants a bootleg game thread for the UCLA exhibition game tonight against Cal here it is.

These will be the starters as per the UCLA WBB Instagram page:

Elina Aarnisalo

Donovyn Hunter

Bonnie Deas

Timea Gardiner

Sienna Betts

ESPN ranks the incoming freshman on what they think their impact will be. They don't fully specify their definition of impact but say

"Impact for these freshmen can be defined in several ways. Some of these players will have an opportunity to contribute immediately because of roster needs; others will need more time to carve out roles alongside established stars."

Their list:

1. Kate Harpring UNC

2. Saniyah Hall USC

3. McKenna Woliczko Iowa

4. Sara Okeke USC

5. Olivia Vukosa UConn

6. Jacy Abii ND

7. Jerzy Robinson SC

8. Bella Flemings Duke

9. Savvy Swords Kentucky

10. Addison Bjorn Texas

This is a really great podcast focused on Big Ten Women's basketball done by Austin Render (Indiana PBP and Dalton Shetler (MSU broadcaster). They started it a few years ago to lift the profile of Big Ten wbb. They usually do a pretty good, though not quite perfect ;), job of checking their biases.

This epiaode discusses their preseason rankings and awards across the B1G so it seemed of interest here. https://www.youtube.com/live/fbJ1kEq8F5w

Their preseason work overall is incredible. They do a set of episodes with a discussion of each team and interview most teams' coaches. One or two per episode. They've done around ten teams so far. I really enjoyed the Big Ten season a lot more last year after watching these, because I felt like I knew and liked all the players and coaches of every team.

Aside: Kelly Graves is always a fun interview. He's on a quest to coach a game in every state. Lol. Hence some of Oregon's non-conference games are in New England.

You can watch it on YouTube or listen to it on your preferred podcast player. The link to this episode is in the upper right if you click on the pic. Their overall podcast home is here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFaZcfFxHzs-Es3XwbwIOy7ZS4naJf1tt

Spoiler alert:
It's definitely worth a watch but in case you don't have time-- they both agree with their top 3 but differ in 4th and 5th:

1. USC
   
2. Michigan
   
3. Iowa
   
4. Illinois/Minnesota
   
5. Maryland/UCLA