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The UConn Huskies are beginning the 2025–26 ladies’s faculty basketball season proper again the place they completed final spring — on prime of the game.
The defending nationwide champions have been voted No. 1 in The Related Press preseason High 25 ballot launched Tuesday, incomes 27 of 31 first-place votes. South Carolina, the crew UConn defeated for the nationwide title, was ranked second and obtained the remaining 4 prime votes. UCLA, Texas, and LSU rounded out the highest 5.
UConn Reloads for One other Run
Even after shedding Paige Bueckers to the WNBA, UConn stays the gold customary underneath 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 sort of competitor,” Auriemma stated. “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 function 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 among the best younger gamers within the nation after averaging double figures and main the crew with 8.9 rebounds per sport.
“We realized from the most effective final yr,” Robust stated. “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 strain that comes with main the top-ranked crew.
“This crew doesn’t need to dwell in Paige’s shadow; we need to honor it by being the most effective model of us,” Fudd stated.
Energy within the Paint
The Huskies’ frontcourt appears to be like imposing due to Wisconsin switch Serah Williams, who averaged 19.2 factors and 9.8 rebounds final season and was named First-Staff All–Huge Ten. She joins Robust to kind what ESPN known as “the ultimate piece that makes UConn the favourite to repeat.”
Auriemma’s depth is equally robust, 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 development and maturity over dominance.
“Hopefully it’s a little bit little bit of a confidence builder and never, ‘Oh my god!’” he stated. “We discuss how we’re not out right here to show that we’re defending nationwide champions or that we’ve got to beat everyone by 40. We don’t need to get caught in that entice.”
UConn Ladies’s Basketball debuts as No. 1 general within the AP High 25 rankings.
➡️ https://t.co/QaJCBcoHFh pic.twitter.com/fhpWvfOe7p
— UConn Huskies | UConnReport.com (@UConnOn3) October 14, 2025
Acquainted Faces on the High
The highest 4 groups — UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, and Texas — mirror final season’s closing rankings. It marks the primary time within the 50-year historical past of the ladies’s AP ballot that the identical 4 applications have opened a brand new season in similar 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 prime 10. The Huge Ten follows with six faculties within the ballot, together with Michigan at No. 13, whereas the ACC and Huge 12 have 5 and 4, respectively.
Historic Firsts for Vanderbilt and Richmond
Two applications made notable historical past on this yr’s ballot. Vanderbilt, ranked No. 19, is showing within the preseason High 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 crew to crack the High 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 lots about the place this system is true now,” Richmond coach Aaron Roussell stated. “I don’t assume it was ever a purpose — we simply needed 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 in opposition to Louisville, Ohio State, and Michigan in November. Auriemma is aware of that the problem of staying on the prime requires greater than expertise.
“It’s acquired to come back with nice management and it’s acquired to come back with a little bit little bit of luck and other people rising to the event,” he stated. “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 appears to be like like.
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