WBB: 2025-2026 Badgers Ball Knower National Awards
Some of my preseason picks were laughable, while others were kind of ok!
No reasonable person is able to keep up with every conference and player in college basketball and even most of the unreasonable ones (many of whom I count as friends) can’t do it. However, I still like to try and keep a close eye on the national scene despite my focus being on the Big Ten and, more specifically, the Wisconsin Badgers.
I read plenty of articles, I watch plenty of games, I’m on the Burner Ball/Basket Under Review Discord a ton (easily the best place online to get women’s college basketball news), and so I presumably have a better grasp than most on who should be considered for these awards. That doesn’t mean that I won’t miss WILDLY (take a look at my preseason pick for Coach of the Year) from time to time, but I’d rather be the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again as Stone Cold Steve Austin or Teddy Roosevelt (can’t remember which) said once.
So, if you’re excited to read about the best players women’s hoops had to offer this season, gimme a HELL YEAH (that one I’m positive is Stone Cold’s) and read on!
2025-2026 Preseason All-America Picks
First Team
Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina
Madison Booker, Texas
Lauren Betts, UCLA
Sarah Strong, UConn
Mikayla Blakes, Vandebilt
Second Team
Audi Crooks, Iowa State
Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU
Syla Swords, Michigan
Khamil Pierre, NC State
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Third Team
Mikaylah Williams, LSU
Zoe Brooks, NC State
Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss
Olivia Miles, TCU
Serah Williams, UConn
2025-2026 Badgers Ball Knower All-America Teams
First Team
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame*
Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State
Madison Booker, Texas*
Sarah Strong, UConn*
Mikayla Blakes, Vandebilt*
Second Team
Audi Crooks, Iowa State*
Olivia Miles, TCU*
Lauren Betts, UCLA*
Kiki Rice, UCLA*
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Third Team
Khamil Pierre, NC State*
Avery Koenen, North Dakota State
Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss*
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina
Brooklyn Meyer, South Dakota State
Brooklyn Meyer (No. 31) takes it to the rack against Avery Koenen (No. 22) in the Summit League women’s basketball title game on Sunday. Photo courtesy: Landon Dierks / Mitchell Republic
2025-2026 Preseason Freshman All-America Picks
Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma
Jazzy Davidson, Southern Cal
Hailee Swain, Stanford
Sienna Betts, UCLA
Brynn McGaughy, Washington
2025-2026 Freshman All-America Picks
Cearah Parchment, Illinois
Lauren Whittaker, Gonzaga
Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma*
Jazzy Davidson, Southern Cal*
Aubrey Galvan, Vanderbilt
*was a preseason selection
2025-2026 Badgers Ball Knower National Awards
Preseason Player of the Year: Sarah Strong, UConn
BBK Player of the Year: Sarah Strong, UConn
Stats: 32 games played (31 starts); 26.5 mpg; 18.5 ppg; 7.6 rpg; 4.2 apg; 3.4 spg; 1.6 bpg; 1.8 topg; 60.0% FG/42.5% 3P/88.2% FT
Value metrics: 46.3 PER (1st nationally); 8.3 win shares (1st); 27.0 box plus/minus (1st); 7.5 PORPAGATU! (a disgusting 7th)
It honestly is kind of lame to just pick the best player from the undefeated, wire-to-wire, No. 1 team in the nation as the Player of the Year but…sometimes it just is that easy. Last year most people picked USC’s JuJu Watkins as POTY, but strong arguments were made for Paige Beuckers. The two years prior, Caitlin Clark won POTY but Iowa was never “the best” team in the nation those years. This year it’s Sarah Strong as the best player in the nation, playing for the UConn Huskies the best team in the nation.
Strong had an excellent freshman season last year and was a key driver to UConn’s national title, but it was clearly Beuckers’ team. This year Strong is top dog as the Huskies are once again a Final Four contender at worst. The roster is a little different, but Azzi Fudd, Ashlynn Shade, and KK Arnold are still around while a pair of Big Ten transfers (sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel and senior post Serah Williams), a freshman big (Blanca Quinonez), and a sophomore wing taking on a bigger role (Allie Ziebell) round out the rotation.
The straw that stirs the drink is Strong though. She is the best rebounder on the team, the best playmaker, the best defender, and she leads the team in scoring while shooting 60% from the field. She is incredible to watch play and I look forward to tuning into UConn’s games in the tourney to see her dissect the best teams the nation has to offer.
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Lauren Betts, UCLA
BBK Defensive Player of the Year: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Stats: 32 games played (32 starts); 36.1 mpg; 4.8 def. rpg; 5.4 spg; 0.3 bpg
Rate stats: 15.4% def. rebounding (73rd percentile); 7.1% steal rate (100th); 0.8% block rate (40th)
Value stats: 2.4 def. win shares (100th); 0.08 def. win shares/40 mins. (97th); 78.4 individual def. rating (97th); 8.0 def. box plus/minus (100th)
I wanted a little variety in these awards because, honestly, this one probably could’ve gone to Strong too but I’ve decided that the Huskies were just too good of a defensive team, even without Strong, to warrant individual consideration for awards. So, while the best defensive team in the nation is UConn, the best defensive player in the nation is Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.
The Fighting Irish were a very good defensive team this year and that was almost entirely due to the presence of Hidalgo. Take a look at these numbers:
Top Defenses in the Country by HHS Rating
UConn (5 players in top-100 of defensive win shares)
Texas (4)
South Carolina (3)
UCLA (1, had others ranked 103rd, 167th, 252nd, 265th)
Duke (2)
LSU (2)
West Virginia (3)
Michigan (zero, had players ranked 115th, 188th, 262nd, 282nd)
TCU (4)
North Carolina (1, had others ranked 219th, 379th)
Notre Dame, who ranked 19th nationally in team defensive efficiency per Her Hoops Stats, had Hidalgo in the top-100…and that’s it. Their next highest rated player was Cassandre Prosper at 417th! Every school in the top-10 had a minimum of three players rated higher Notre Dame’s second best defender. The junior guard was terrorizing ACC opponents as a one-woman wrecking crew.
What makes this all the more impressive is when you consider the offensive workload Hidalgo shouldered for the Irish. She averaged the 16th most minutes per game of any player in the nation and scored the third most points per game (25.2). Her usage rate of 34.4% was the 14th highest nationally and she ranked 5th in the country in offensive win shares. I’m exhausted just typing all of this out.
One final fun fact about Hidalgo: in her three years playing college basketball she has never finished below 4th in the country in steals per game and has finished 1st twice. She rules.
Preseason Freshman of the Year: Hailee Swain, Stanford
BBK Freshman of the Year: Lauren Whittaker, Gonzaga
Stats: 32 games played (32 starts); 26.3 mpg; 19.2 ppg; 10.2 rpg; 1.2 apg; 1.3 spg; 0.4 bpg; 2.6 topg; 55.8% FG/36.6% 3P/80.4% FT
Value metrics: 37.9 PER (6th nationally/1st for freshman); 5.3 win shares (21st/1st); 11.8 box plus/minus (52nd/3rd); 5.5 PORPAGATU! (55th/2nd)
Stanford’s Hailee Swain had an up-and-down freshman campaign, which is typical for most first year players, and ended up being named to the ACC All-Freshman Team by the coaches. A solid season for sure, but nowhere near what a national Freshman of the Year player usually does.
The list of accomplishments that Gonzaga’s Lauren Whittaker has earned is lengthy and her season isn’t even over yet! The West Coast Conference (WCC) announced their end of the year awards on March 3 and Whittaker was named:
WCC Player of the Year
WCC Freshman of the Year
(only the second player ever to win those two awards in the same year)
First Team All-WCC
WCC All-Freshman Team
She has been the WCC Freshman of the Week a conference-record 13 times and has also been named the USBWA National Freshman of the Week twice. She led the WCC in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage. She had 17 double-doubles (best in WCC; 12th nationally) which is four more than ALL OTHER FRESHMEN IN THE COUNTRY COMBINED!
The 6-foot-3 post player is a wrecking ball (complimentary) down low and finishes around, over, and through defenders with ease. She is a high usage (99th percentile)/high efficiency player (99th in PPP, 93rd in eFG%) on offense and is an above average defender too. While she isn’t a maestro running the offense from the paint, Whittaker doesn’t turn the ball over much and makes the right read when passing out of double-teams more often than not.
Depending on how her NCAA Tournament run goes, Whittaker could be on a lot of preseason All-America lists next year as a redshirt sophomore.
Preseason Top Transfer: Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina
BBK Top Transfer: Olivia Miles, TCU
Stats: 34 games played (34 starts); 35.1 mpg; 19.6 ppg; 6.9 rpg; 6.4 apg; 1.8 spg; 0.3 bpg; 3.8 topg; 48.7% FG/35.2% 3P/84.4% FT
Value metrics: 30.4 PER (48th nationally); 7.2 win shares (8th); 13.0 box plus/minus (28th); 7.3 PORPAGATU! (11th)
Changing my mind on this award is not due to Latson having a bad season with the Gamecocks. In fact, she had a very good season but she wasn’t as dominant as she had been in the past because, on a team as good as South Carolina, it wasn’t needed. She fit in smoothly with Dawn Staley’s well-oiled death machine but, if I had to pick, she might only be the fourth most valuable player on her team.
Another player who transferred after having a dominant season, but was counted on to continue her dominance due to a massive roster overhaul, is who I’m picking as this year’s top transfer. Former backcourt mate of my defensive player of the year and current star point guard for TCU, Olivia Miles come on down! With TCU’s top-four scorers from last year gone, including All-Big 12 point guard Hailey Van Lith, Miles had some big shoes to fill.
The fifth-year senior did not take long to acclimate to her new team, scoring 16 points, dishing out six assists, and pulling down eight rebounds in her first game with the Horned Frogs. She scored in double-digits in all 34 games she played, including a season-high 40 points in a win at Baylor. After a dominant career at Notre Dame, Miles may have saved her best performance for last and TCU is the fortunate recipient.
The 5-foot-10 Miles was, once again, an extremely valuable rebounder on the defensive end and one of the premier playmakers in the country while also being a terror on defense. Her free throw shooting has improved every season, peaking above 84% this year, and her three-point shooting has also seen the requisite uptick too. After shooting 24.9% from deep in her first two years she has shot 37.9% the last two years on higher volume too.
The Horned Frogs made it to the Elite 8 last March and if they match that this year, Olivia Miles will be the major reason why and that’s why she is my best transfer of the 2025-2026 season.
Preseason Coach of the Year: Kim Caldwell, Tennessee
BBK Coach of the Year: Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt
This may have been the worst prediction that anyone has made about college basketball in human history. Caldwell’s Vols started off the season losing to NC State but were then 14-4 overall and 5-1 in the SEC heading into February. Not bad, right?
Well, from Feb. 1 to March 1 the Vols went 2-8, ended the regular season on a six-game losing streak and, to top it off, lost their first game in the SEC Tournament too. They are now 16-13 overall (8-8 SEC) and SOMEHOW there are still bracket projections that have them making the NCAA Tournament! I mean, their metrics are still good, but at a certain point what actually happens on the scoreboard has to matter.
This doesn’t even take into account Caldwell pretty clearly losing control of the locker room and putting her team on blast publicly more than once. I don’t know…I’ll never trust Tennessee (in any sport!) again.
Staying not only in the conference, but in the state, does bring us to my choice for Coach of the Year. Shea Ralph’s Commodores played an exciting style of basketball, won their first 20 games of the season, and, despite also losing in the first round of the SEC Tournament, are in line for (at worst) a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Ralph’s recruitment of Mikayla Blakes (BBK First Team All-American) and Aubrey Galvan (BBK Freshman All-American) over the past two seasons has propelled Vandy to heights not seen in decades. This will be Vanderbilt’s third straight trip to the Big Dance (after going a decade without a bid) and their best chance at reaching the second weekend for the first time since 2008-09.
Vandy has a proud history in women’s hoops, but after five years of Stephanie White (no winning seasons) and Ralph’s first two seasons which were below .500, she has the ‘Dores back and looking dangerous.
2025-2026 Preseason Top-25
UConn Huskies
South Carolina Gamecocks
Texas Longhorns
LSU Tigers
UCLA Bruins
Tennessee Volunteers
Oklahoma Sooners
Duke Blue Devils
Michigan Wolverines
NC State Wolfpack
North Carolina Tar Heels
Michigan State Spartans
Iowa State Cyclones
Maryland Terrapins
Kansas State Wildcats
Vanderbilt Commodores
Washington Huskies
Baylor Bears
Ole Miss Rebels
TCU Horned Frogs
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Kentucky Wildcats
Louisville Cardinals
Southern Cal Trojans
Richmond Spiders
2025-2026 Post-Championship Week Top-25
(Teams in italics were unranked preseason)
UCLA Bruins (+4 from preseason)
UConn Huskies (-1)
Texas Longhorns (NAILED IT)
South Carolina Gamecocks (-2)
LSU Tigers (-1)
Iowa Hawkeyes
Michigan Wolverines (+2)
Duke Blue Devils (NAILED IT)
Vanderbilt Commodores (+7)
TCU Horned Frogs (+10)
Louisville Cardinals (+12)
West Virginia Mountaineers (also considered preseason)
Oklahoma Sooners (-6)
Ohio State Buckeyes (also considered preseason)
Maryland Terrapins (-1)
North Carolina Tar Heels (-5)
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Villanova Wildcats
Kentucky Wildcats (+3)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (also considered preseason)
Baylor Bears (-3)
Michigan State Spartans (-10)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (also considered preseason)
Washington Huskies (-7)
Ole Miss Rebels (-6)
Dropped out: Tennessee Volunteers (preseason 6th); NC State Wolfpack (10th); Iowa State Cyclones (13th); Kansas State Wildcats (15th); Oklahoma State Cowboys (21st); Southern Cal Trojans (24th); Richmond Spiders (25th)
I have been having an internal debate for the past, probably, six weeks about who should be the No. 1 team. Should it be the UConn Huskies who were my preseason No. 1 team and haven’t lost a game this year? Or, should it be the UCLA Bruins who have only lost one game this year and have laid waste to the Big Ten, a much better conference than UConn’s Big East, game after game?
After sticking with the Huskies all year I finally switched to the Bruins mostly because I have never seen a demolition like what occurred in the Big Ten Championship Game on Sunday. Playing against the second best team in the conference, UCLA looked like they were playing against middle schoolers! They are an insane Death Star of a team and I hope we get to see them play UConn and settle this on the court.
Man, I was really high on Tennessee coming into this year wasn’t I? What an idiot!