Michael VoepelCloseMichael VoepelESPN Senior WriterMichael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.Follow on XCharlie CremeCloseCharlie CremeESPN.comCharlie Creme projects the women’s NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN.com.Jan 13, 2026, 09:00 AM ET
play0:18Jazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the stealJazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the steal
play0:17Aaliyah Chavez knocks down a tough jumperAaliyah Chavez scores the tough two for Oklahoma over the Kentucky defense.
play1:24Highlight: Tonie Morgan, No. 6 Kentucky slide past No. 5 OklahomaMorgan puts up 22 points, including two 3-pointers, as Clara Strack records a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to give the Wildcats a 63-57 win over the Sooners.
play1:05Olivia Miles notches triple-double as TCU routs BYUOlivia Miles had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to lead No. 8 TCU to a 72-48 victory over BYU.
Ralph says Blakes elevates undefeated No. 7 Vanderbilt to a new level (2:42)Shea Ralph discusses how Mikayla Blakes is an elite competitor and in prime position to be player of the year, driven by a relentless will to win. (2:42)
Jazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the stealJazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the steal
Aaliyah Chavez knocks down a tough jumperAaliyah Chavez scores the tough two for Oklahoma over the Kentucky defense.
Highlight: Tonie Morgan, No. 6 Kentucky slide past No. 5 OklahomaMorgan puts up 22 points, including two 3-pointers, as Clara Strack records a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to give the Wildcats a 63-57 win over the Sooners.
Morgan puts up 22 points, including two 3-pointers, as Clara Strack records a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to give the Wildcats a 63-57 win over the Sooners.
Olivia Miles notches triple-double as TCU routs BYUOlivia Miles had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to lead No. 8 TCU to a 72-48 victory over BYU.
Olivia Miles had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to lead No. 8 TCU to a 72-48 victory over BYU.
Can anyone overtake Sarah Strong in the national player of the year race?
What are the biggest challenges to UConn’s hopes of a repeat?
Which players make our midseason All-America teams?
Despite losing guard Paige Bueckers from last season’s national championship team, UConn has kept rolling in typical Huskies fashion.
A little more than midway through the 2025-26 regular season in women’s college basketball, UConn and sophomore Sarah Strong remain the favorites to win the NCAA title and national player of the year award — just as they were before the season tipped off in early November.
As great as Bueckers was at UConn, the Huskies are still lethal. The star combination of Strong and guard Azzi Fudd leads a deep squad that has a good chance at the program’s seventh perfect season.
UConn’s top challengers are much the same as last year: Texas, South Carolina and UCLA, which have one loss each. They made up the 2025 Final Four in Tampa and could do the same this year in Phoenix.
Still, this season has held some surprises — good and bad. And after two weeks of upsets, several conference races should be exciting all the way to March. Plus, no matter how strong UConn looks, the other contenders aren’t conceding anything. Here is what we’ve seen so far and our midseason All-America teams.
Charlie Creme: Strong is the overwhelming front-runner and betting against the best player on the nation’s best team that does not have an obvious weakness would not be wise. Still, while the gap is large, the race isn’t over. Strong won’t be easy to catch — she had 18 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals in 26 minutes against Creighton on Sunday — but the other contenders — chiefly, Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes and Texas’ Madison Booker — have opportunities to elevate their profiles.
Jazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the steal
Jazzy Davidson makes a great defensive play for the steal
UConn forward Blanca Quiñonez also deserves mention as the Huskies’ third-leading scorer (10.6 PPG), but with the team’s depth she isn’t likely to put up numbers this season that will overtake Davidson or Chavez.
They have been as good as advertised. The 6-foot-1 Davidson leads the Trojans in scoring (16.4), rebounds (6.9), steals (1.8) and blocks (2.6). In a year without injured star JuJu Watkins, Davidson has been carrying USC. The Trojans aren’t the powerhouse they were the past two seasons, when they made the Elite Eight. At 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, they have work to do to guarantee a finish in the top half of the league.
Chavez is the point guard the Sooners have been waiting for, one who can run their offense at the speed they always want to play. The 5-10 Chavez leads Oklahoma in scoring (19.2) and assists (4.2) and is the team’s leading 3-point shooter with 49. The Sooners (14-3, 2-2), got off to a good start in SEC play but are coming off consecutive losses.
Aaliyah Chavez scores the tough two for Oklahoma over the Kentucky defense.
Voepel: We’ve done this many times the past few decades: try to figure out how the Huskies could stumble when they don’t appear to have real weaknesses. So here goes: Let’s look at the only close call UConn has had this season, a 72-69 victory over Michigan on Nov. 21.
That game started like a lot of Huskies blowouts. UConn led 22-5 after the first quarter and was up by 18 at halftime. Then the Wolverines changed the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Huskies 18-4 as Michigan’s zone defense limited UConn to two layups.
Then missed shots and turnovers frustrated the Huskies for the last 6-plus minutes of the third quarter, and Michigan closed the gap. It took Fudd’s 3-pointer with 8:21 left in the game to wake up UConn’s offense. Still, the Wolverines’ confidence was high by then and the game stayed close until the end. Fudd was the difference-maker, finishing with 31 points, including seven 3-pointers.
Can a team during the NCAA tournament clog up UConn’s offense enough to hang with the Huskies? The Wolverines at least provided some kind of blueprint.
Highlight: Tonie Morgan, No. 6 Kentucky slide past No. 5 Oklahoma
Voepel: Three teams have been particularly good surprises. And Texas Tech has been the biggest surprise of all. The 18-0 Lady Raiders were picked to finish 13th in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll but currently lead the league at 5-0. Texas Tech, one of three Division I teams that are still undefeated, is seeking its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2013.
In the SEC, Vanderbilt is also undefeated. Despite losing two of its top three scorers — Khamil Pierre and Iyana Moore — to transfers, Vanderbilt has soared behind Blakes. The Commodores have not advanced past the early rounds of the NCAA tournament since 2009, but that could change this season.
The ACC had four teams in the AP preseason top 15. Duke was considered a Final Four contender. NC State had similar aspirations. Louisville is now the only ACC program in the top 16 in Tuesday’s Bracketology projection. It’s possible the conference doesn’t have any member hosting first- and second-round NCAA tournament games.
Because of the nonconference struggles, it will be difficult for the NCAA tournament selection committee to determine what a meaningful conference win is. The Blue Devils and Cardinals are 6-0 in the ACC, but it’s hard to know what that means when their most significant result in the first two months was Louisville’s two-point loss to South Carolina. Notre Dame just knocked off North Carolina on Sunday, but that came 10 days after losing to a Georgia Tech team that is still below .500 overall.
Olivia Miles notches triple-double as TCU routs BYU
There was minimal debate on which players to include outside of which center should get first-team honors. While it was difficult to put the nation’s leading scorer, Crooks, on the second team, Lauren Betts’ ability to impact a game with her offense, rebounding, rim protection and passing won out.
Lauren Betts, C, UCLA Mikayla Blakes, G, Vanderbilt Madison Booker, F, Texas Olivia Miles, G, TCU Sarah Strong, F, UConn
Audi Crooks, C, Iowa State Joyce Edwards, F, South Carolina Azzi Fudd, G, UConn Rori Harmon, G, Texas Hannah Hidalgo, G, Notre Dame
The Commodores are 17-0, equaling the program’s best start to a season, and Blakes is the country’s second-leading scorer. If Vanderbilt shocks the basketball world and wins the SEC or even finishes in the top two, Blakes would be the catalyst for that, and it would also mean showcase wins over the South Carolina Gamecocks or Texas. The Commodores have already beaten LSU, demonstrating they are capable of big things. Blakes had 32 of the team’s 65 points in that win. If she is that impactful every night against a regular dose of the nation’s best teams in the SEC, Blakes will have to be considered a legitimate candidate for player of the year.
The same could be said for Booker. The Longhorns’ hopes for an undefeated season disappeared in Sunday’s loss at LSU, but it also showcased how important Booker is to Texas success. When she struggled early with foul trouble, the Longhorns fell behind. Their comeback fell short, but Booker fueled it — on a perceived off night — with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting and seven rebounds. If Booker continues to produce those kinds of numbers — especially in big games, such as against South Carolina on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) — and the Longhorns don’t lose again en route to an SEC title while Strong plays in uncompetitive Big East games, Booker should also be in the mix.
Michael Voepel: It looks to be a race between two of the top-five recruits from the SportsCenter NEXT 100 of 2025: USC guard Jazzy Davidson (who was ranked No. 1) and Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez (No. 3). They are also the only two of that group who have played throughout this season. The others — No. 2 Sienna Betts of UCLA, No. 4 Emilee Skinner of Duke and No. 5 Aaliyah Crump of Texas — have been limited by injuries. Betts is the only one currently active, though she has played in six of 16 games.