10 people who will define women’s college basketball this season

The 2025-26 women's college basketball season starts on Monday, and after a long wait, it isn't coming a moment too soon.

With Paige Bueckers now in the WNBA and USC superstar Juju Watkins announcing she would miss the entire 2025-26 season due to the injury she suffered during the NCAA tournament, some new stars will need to emerge. 

The good news is that there are plenty of candidates. UConn and UCLA are among the teams to beat, although South Carolina, LSU and Texas should also be in the mix.

As far as the individuals who will have the biggest impact on the 2025-26 women's college basketball season, here are 10 people who will define what happens during another highly anticipated season.

Sarah Strong, UConn

When asking who's next in women's college basketball, we don't have to look any further than the defending national champs.

Outside of Bueckers, nobody had a bigger impact on UConn's national title run than freshman Sarah Strong. She averaged 19 points and 11.7 rebounds during the postseason. The 6-foot-2 rising sophomore also averaged 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals and made 2.2 3-pointers per game while shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc.

Lauren Betts of UCLA might be the best player in the country, but Sarah Strong is the most exciting. 

She's got next.

Lauren Betts, UCLA 

The Bruins reached the Final Four last season Betts was a big reason why. 

The 6-7 force could easily be the National Player of the Year in 2025-26 after she averaged 20.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks last season. The center made 64.8 percent of her field-goal attempts. She's also grabbed over 100 offensive rebounds in each of the past two seasons.

In the paint, she's the most dominant player in women's college basketball.

Kim Mulkey, LSU head coach

There isn't anybody more interesting in the women's college basketball than Mulkey. All she does is win and dress glamorously. 

It's been two years since the LSU Tigers won the national championship, or even reached the Final Four. 

Armed with the top recruiting class in women's college basketball, a key transfer from South Carolina, MiLaysia Fulwiley and some returning All-Americans, the Tigers are a top 5 team.

And with one of the greatest winners the game has ever seen still on the bench, sleep on the Tigers at your own risk. 

Skim Milkey, insider 

College basketball has Trilly Donovan. Well, women's college basketball has Skim Milkey.

If you don't follow the account on X, as a women's college basketball fan, you should. 

Skim Milkey isn't a real person. It's a fake name, but behind it is a real women's hoops insider, with in-depth analysis, insight and recruiting info.

There are some great follows out there, but if you love women's college basketball, Skim Milkey has to be one of them. 

Kiki Rice, UCLA

One of the biggest stars in the game, on and off the court, Rice could be the most well-known women's college basketball player this season.

During her sophomore season, she was featured on an ESPN documentary with Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. She was a First-Team All-Big Ten selection last season, just like her teammate Betts, after averaging 12.8 points, 5.2 assists,and 4.8 rebounds.

Rice has improved as a three-point shooter from 21 percent as a freshman to 36 percent last season and is one of the premier playmakers in the sport. 

The senior was the first athlete to sign an NIL deal with Jordan Brand and has her own shoe collection amid numerous other sponsorships. Her aunt is Susan Rice, and her cousin is Allan Houston. She's also dating NBA player Cason Wallace. 

Rice is a star, no question. But she's got unfinished business on the court. 

Geno Auriemma, UConn

Auriemma has 1,250 wins in women's college basketball as UConn head coach. The Huskies won their 12th national title last April, in what was Auriemma's 24th Final Four.

What's scary is that UConn, the preseason No. 1, is loaded again. The Huskies might have the best player this once again season, but they certainly have the best coach, which is why many are predicting a 13th national championship this season for Geno, the GOAT. 

Ta'Niya Latson, South Carolina

One team gunning to knock off UConn is South Carolina. 

The Gamecocks lost in the national championship game, but despite some departures, have reloaded in their own right, thanks to the addition of Latson, the nation's leading scorer in 2024-25.

Latson, a 5-foot-8 guard, averaged 25.2 points for Florida State last season. She also averaged 4.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 4.6 rebounds per game. 

The dynamic guard even shot 34.3 percent from beyond the arc, and under the tutelage of Dawn Staley, she could be Player of the Year. 

Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

The junior for the Fighting Irish is often compared to Caitlin Clark. She matched the former Iowa superstar's totals of 1,500 points and 300 assists in under 70 games. She also led women's college basketball in steals as a freshman with 4.6 per game. Last season, she averaged 3.7.

Hidalgo scored 23.8 points per game last season and shot 40 percent from three-point range. She's not as prolific from deep as Clark, but she's probably the best two-way player in women's college basketball. 

Syla Swords, Michigan 

The youngest Olympian in women's basketball history in Canada burst onto the scene as a freshman for the Wolverines, helping them reach the second round of the NCAA tournament.

She was one of three freshmen starters for Michigan, which has never reached the Final Four. In three games against top-2 teams last season (South Carolina, USC, UCLA), Swords averaged 27.6 points per game. She scored 27 on the Gamecocks in her first career game. 

After averaging 16 points and 6.2 rebounds as a freshman, it feels like Swords might be the most underrated player in all of women's college basketball. 

If you don't know her name, you will soon enough. 

Flau'jae Johnson, LSU 

The former national champion might have the best hair in college basketball, now that Juju is out for the season, but she's much more than that.

Like Rice, Johnson is one of the biggest brands in the sport. She was an All-American last season with an average of 18.6 points per game, is deadly from three-point range (.383) and has the marketing skills to match. 

Like her head coach, Johnson is tenacious. If the Tigers make a Final Four run in 2025-26, Flau'jae will have played a big part.