The UConn Huskies are beginning the 2025–26 girls’s school basketball season proper again the place they completed final spring — on high of the game.
The defending nationwide champions had been voted No. 1 in The Related Press preseason Prime 25 ballot launched Tuesday, incomes 27 of 31 first-place votes. South Carolina, the workforce UConn defeated for the nationwide title, was ranked second and acquired the remaining 4 high votes. UCLA, Texas, and LSU rounded out the highest 5.
UConn Reloads for One other Run
Even after dropping Paige Bueckers to the WNBA, UConn stays the gold customary below Corridor of Fame coach Geno Auriemma. That is the thirteenth time since 1995 that the Huskies have opened the season atop the AP ballot — and their first since 2017.
“Paige was a once-in-a-generation form of competitor,” Auriemma mentioned. “You don’t substitute her — you evolve previous her affect. Azzi and Sarah perceive what it takes now.”
Graduate guard Azzi Fudd steps into the management position Bueckers as soon as held, anchoring a lineup that also carries championship DNA. Sophomore ahead Sarah Robust, final season’s WBCA Freshman of the Yr, returns as top-of-the-line younger gamers within the nation after averaging double figures and main the workforce with 8.9 rebounds per recreation.
“We realized from the most effective final yr,” Robust mentioned. “The work doesn’t change — the expectations keep the identical. We’re defending one thing particular.”
Fudd, who Auriemma has described as “the voice and instance Paige left behind,” welcomes the stress that comes with main the top-ranked workforce.
“This workforce doesn’t need to reside in Paige’s shadow; we need to honor it by being the most effective model of us,” Fudd mentioned.
Energy within the Paint
The Huskies’ frontcourt seems imposing because of Wisconsin switch Serah Williams, who averaged 19.2 factors and 9.8 rebounds final season and was named First-Staff All–Large Ten. She joins Robust to kind what ESPN referred to as “the ultimate piece that makes UConn the favourite to repeat.”
Auriemma’s depth is equally sturdy, that includes guards KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade, plus versatile reserves Jana El Alfy and Kayleigh Heckel, a switch from USC. UConn additionally landed a top-10 recruiting class highlighted by 6-foot-2 Ecuadorian ahead Blanca Quiñonez and 5-foot-9 guard Kelis Fischer.
Auriemma described the yr forward as “a reset with championship requirements intact,” emphasizing progress and maturity over dominance.
“Hopefully it’s just a little little bit of a confidence builder and never, ‘Oh my god!’” he mentioned. “We speak about how we’re not out right here to show that we’re defending nationwide champions or that we’ve to beat all people by 40. We don’t need to get caught in that lure.”
UConn Ladies’s Basketball debuts as No. 1 general within the AP Prime 25 rankings.
➡️ https://t.co/QaJCBcoHFh pic.twitter.com/fhpWvfOe7p
— UConn Huskies | UConnReport.com (@UConnOn3) October 14, 2025
Acquainted Faces on the Prime
The highest 4 groups — UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, and Texas — mirror final season’s ultimate rankings. It marks the primary time within the 50-year historical past of the ladies’s AP ballot that the identical 4 packages have opened a brand new season in an identical order to the ultimate ballot from the earlier yr.
The SEC as soon as once more dominates the panorama with eight ranked groups, 5 of that are within the high 10. The Large Ten follows with six faculties within the ballot, together with Michigan at No. 13, whereas the ACC and Large 12 have 5 and 4, respectively.
Historic Firsts for Vanderbilt and Richmond
Two packages made notable historical past on this yr’s ballot. Vanderbilt, ranked No. 19, is showing within the preseason Prime 25 for the primary time since 2012. Sophomore sensation Mikayla Blakes returns after averaging 23.3 factors and twice surpassing the 50-point mark as a freshman.
Richmond, tied at No. 24, earned its first rating in class historical past and have become the primary Atlantic-10 workforce to crack the Prime 25 since 2015. The Spiders return senior leaders Maggie Doogan and Rachel Ullstrom, and added Tierra Simon from Saint Louis to bolster the frontcourt.
“It says quite a bit about the place this system is correct now,” Richmond coach Aaron Roussell mentioned. “I don’t assume it was ever a aim — we simply wished to maintain placing this program on the map.”
Azzi is already cookin’ from deep 👩🍳🔥#NCAAWBB x 🎥 NBC Sports activities Boston / @UConnWBB pic.twitter.com/ivosh5kOtr
— NCAA March Insanity (@MarchMadnessWBB) October 13, 2025
The Reigning Normal
UConn’s pursuit of one other nationwide title begins with a brutal early schedule, that includes matchups towards Louisville, Ohio State, and Michigan in November. Auriemma is aware of that the problem of staying on the high requires greater than expertise.
“It’s obtained to come back with nice management and it’s obtained to come back with just a little little bit of luck and other people rising to the event,” he mentioned. “These 4 occasions that we didn’t win, we didn’t get fortunate or we didn’t keep wholesome.”
With Fudd’s management, Robust’s dominance, and Williams’ arrival, the Huskies enter the season because the clear benchmark for girls’s basketball — not simply defending a title, however redefining what sustained excellence seems like.
