We're set for another year of the Big Ten being extremely competitive, with nine teams opening the season the AP Top 25. That includes three in the top 10, with another sitting at No. 11. But how do these teams all stack up against each other heading into the season?
Well, let's discuss that. Here's how the Big Ten looks heading into the 2026-27 women's college basketball season.
1. USC
No surprise here. The Trojans get JuJu Watkins back from her torn ACL and will pair her in the backcourt with Jazzy Davidson. It might take a few games for the two to figure out how to play together, but it will all come together. Kennedy Smith is a great third option and top recruit Saniyah Hall should give the team a huge scoring boost off the bench. If there's one concern here, it's that the team is really shallow in the frontcourt, but if Sara Okeke develops quickly, USC will be just fine there.
2. Michigan
The duo of Syla Swords and Olivia Olson returns for another season. The two have been instrumental in turning Michigan into one of the Big Ten's best teams and they'll like ensure that the Wolverines fight for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The one thing to wonder, though, is if Michigan has a ceiling that lands just slightly below "true championship contender." The team only added one transfer (Stanford guard Courtney Odgen) and incoming freshmen Fope Ayo and Devin Cosgriff aren't expected to play huge roles, so taking the next leap requires either Swords or Olson to make a leap to the next level. Otherwise, this team is just at the top of the second tier of good teams in the nation and won't break through to the top tier.
3. Iowa
It was tempting to put Iowa at No. 2 in the power rankings simply because the ceiling is so high. Center Ava Heiden showed last season that she can dominate on the interior, and then the team added Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie, who should excel as the lead backcourt scoring option. The addition of Amari Whiting from Oklahoma State is verym very underrated, and incoming freshman McKenna Woliczko could make an immediate impact on the wing. There's a ton of talent here, and as long as the loss of Hannah Stuelke doesn't impact the Hawkeyes too much, this team could make an Elite Eight run.Â
4. UCLA
The defending national champions look nothing like the defending national champions, as the team lost its entire rotation to the WNBA, essentially. Head coach Cori Close has done a great job bringing in new talent, though, headlined by former Iowa State wing Addy Brown, Arkansas guard Bonnie Deas and TCU guard Donovyn Hunter. So much, though, depends on the development of Sienna Betts, who the Bruins are counting on to be the answer inside after her sister Lauren's graduation. UCLA probably has the widest range of outcomes of any ranked Big Ten team because of all the moving parts.Â
5. Ohio State
People seem to be low on Ohio State this season. In the AP Top 25 poll, for example, the Buckeyes come in at No. 18, below six other Big Ten programs. You'll notice, though, that I have them at No. 5 here in the power rankings. Why? Because I'm a huge believer in Jaloni Cambridge. Last season, Cambridge averaged 23.2 points per game for the Buckeyes, and she did it on a very respectable 49.4 percent shooting mark. Cambridge also added 4.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Let me put this as clear as I can: Cambridge will end this season as the best player in the Big Ten not named JuJu Watkins. The lack of incoming transfer players means that a lot will be put on Cambridge's shoulders with Chance Gray graduated, but she should be up for the task.
6. Washington
Washington should be in good shape this season. Head coach Tina Langley is one of the nation's most underrated coaches, and she returns two very important players who helped the team find success last season in Sayvia Sellers and Avery Howel. Two players who averaged 10-plus points per game last season join the roster via the transfer portal in Colorado State guard Brooke Carlson and NC State big Tilda Trygger, whose size will make her a crucial part of this team's approach. Langley has a history with building rosters with a lot of size upfront and finding success with them, as she used center Nancy Mulkey really effectively when she was at Rice.
7. Illinois
Illinois this season is going to look a lot like Illinois last season, as head coach Shauna Green returns all the starters from last season's team. Literally between transfers out and graduates, the highest scorer not returning is Naomi Benson, who averaged 0.7 points per game. Berry Wallace will be the key scoring threat here, but Ceara Parchment will play a large role as well. If JuCo transfer Ona Riopedre can adjust to the Big Ten effectively, this team could make a deep NCAA Tournament run due to its cohesiveness in an era where so many teams look radically different every season.
8. Maryland
this is lower than you usually expect a Brenda Frese-coached program to land in the rankings, and I'm fully prepared to be wrong about this. The thing is, Maryland is going to be heavily reliant on freshmen this season, and there's just always a wider range of outcomes when two of your most important players are first-year guards. Beyond that, the Terps lost Kaylene Smikle to Tennessee, and her contributions won't be easy to replace, just like Yarden Garzon and Saylor Poffenbarger will be tough to replace. Stanford transfer Nunu Agara will need to make a quick impact, and Oluchi Okananwa will likely need to take another leap. The talent is here, but it might take a bit to come together.
9. Minnesota
After making the Sweet 16 last season, Minnesota returns a roster with a lot of familiar faces, though the loss of Tori McKinney to a knee injury definitely hurts. The big question for the Golden Gophers is how Penn State transfer Gracie Merkle will look at center. Last season, she averaged 19.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game for the Nittany Lions, and if she can anchor the frontcourt this season, Minnesota will have a good shot to get back to the Sweet 16, even if there's a lot of production that the team needs to replace, including graduates Amaya Battle and Sophie Hart.
10. Nebraska
Nebraska has a high floor this season with Britt Prince back, but the big question is how high the team's ceiling is. Losing Jessica Peatrie in the portal will hurt and the team didn't really add much talent this offseason. A lot is going to come down to how Natalie Potts looks after missing all of last season. Potts was really good as a freshman in 2023-24, averaging 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, but she's played in just five games since. If Nebraska is getting a lot of interior production from Potts this season, the Huskers should be in line for a strong overall performance. If they don't, the team is still looking at an NCAA Tournament appearance, but will struggle to make it past the first weekend.
11. Michigan State
Defense -- and specifically the ability to get steals -- will be the story of Michigan State this season. Kennedy Blair is an impactful two-way guard, and having a healthy Theryn Hallock beside her will be huge for the Spartans. Unfortunately, losing Grave VanSlooten is going to be tough to overcome, so it's hard to really see this team performing better than it did last season, especially without any huge portal additions. Will 6-foot-6 freshman Lilly Williams be able to make an immediate impact? That might be the one thing that would raise this team's ceiling enough for it to be a real threat.
12. Oregon
The days of Oregon being elite are behind us, and it's become clear how big of a role former assistant coach (and current TCU head coach) Mark Campbell played in recruiting the best era of Ducks basketball. Still, Kelly Graves has a solid roster here, headlined by Katie Fiso and Ehis Etute, last season's leading scorers. Losing Elisa Mevius and Mia Jacobs will hurt, though, and much will depend on how Belmont transfer Hilary Fuller plays. She averaged 14.0 points per game last season, but the jump to the Big Ten is a tough one. Minnesota transfer Mallory Heyer has a chance to be a huge addition as well, though se didn't play at all last season, so there could be some rust there.
13. Indiana
Indiana's really fallen from grace over the past few seasons. There should be good things on the horizon thanks to a strong freshman class, but that will likely still take some time. Two seasons from now, the trio of Addison Nyemchek, Gigi Battle and Ashlinn James could lead this team to a deep tournament run. For now, this is a chance for those players to get their feet wet while learning from Lenee Beaumont and Zania Socka-Nguemen. In these rankings, Indiana is the first team I'd bet against making the NCAA Tournament, but there's something to build with here and the team should get wins against the league's other struggling teams.
14. Wisconsin
It was an offseason of change for the Badgers, who lost four players to graduation and another four to the portal. Kyrah Daniels is the only returning player who you could call a reliable scorer, so Robin Pingeton's team is going to need to find production somewhere. Iowa transfer Addie Deal has struggled to live up to her pre-college expectations, but a change of scenery could help. Caia Elisaldez and Kadidia Toure were both really good at Chattanooga and Long Island, respectively, but the difference in competition with the step up to the Big Ten is going to be tough. The best-case scenario here is sneaking into the NCAA Tournament, but it requires a lot of things to go right without much margin for error.
15. Purdue
There is, IMO, a fairly sizable drop from Indiana and Wisconsin -- two flawed but intriguing teams-- to the bottom four in the Big Ten, and these last four teams are all pretty far away from competing. Purdue leads this group after adding one of the best mid-major transfers in the nation in Hannah Wickstrom, but this is basically a really solid mid-major roster that has to play in one of the nation's top conferences. UNT transfer Aysia Proctor is intriguing. Kyndall Hunter -- who was a high school teammate of former Texas guard Rori Harmon -- could finally put it all together. But overall, it's just tough to see the depth being here for this team to really do much.
16. Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights hired LSU assistant Gary Redus II to rebuild this program, but it won't be an easy process. Zachara Perkins and Imani Lester are solid returnees and adding Tennessee guard Mia Pauldo is huge, but there's really only one thing that can save Rutgers from the Big Ten basement, which is for Howard transfer Zennia Thomas to immediately show that she can be a lead scoring threat at this level of competition. That's definitely not impossible, but it also won't be easy. This team should be competitive most nights, but the wins might be pretty far apart.
17. Northwestern
Northwestern hiring former Princeton head coach Carla Berube was a great move, and it's going to pay off one day down the line. The problem for the immediate future is just that this program was left in really rough shape. The addition of former Boston College guard Lily Carmody gives the team a strong foundation, though it will be tough to replace Grace Sullivan's scoring. The Wildcats should play hard every night with Berube calling the shots, but the talent just largely isn't here for the team to win many conference games.
18. Penn State
Firing Carolyn Kieger and hiring Tanisha Wright is a great move for the Nittany Lions. This is a program that's been floundering and that now might have some hope for the future. Unfortunately for Penn State fans, Wright starts her tenure with a pretty rough roster. Kiyomi McMiller and Gracie Merkle are both gone via the portal, and the team didn't bring in any scorers who reach their level. Just one incoming transfer -- Nevada's Skylar Durley -- averaged double-digit points last season. Wright will have this team playing hard, but a winless Big Ten conference record isn't out of the question at all.
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