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. 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
