The still-defending champions are facing a season as difficult as any in the college landscape.

Thankfully, Baylor has experience re-loading. For three straight years, the Lady Bears dominated the Wade Trophy for the national player of the year. Brittney Griner won in 2012, when Baylor won a national title, and again in 2013; Odyssey Sims followed in 2014.

The next season may have been Kim Mulkey’s most significant challenge in terms of replacing talent. And while Baylor continued to dominate the Big 12, they couldn’t find their way past the Elite Eight until 2019, when they finally reached the mountain top again, and claimed another NCAA title.

This year, Baylor not only needs to find a new rotation, but they’re also dealing with all the schedule irregularities that have begun to hound college basketball due to the pandemic.

Forward Lauren Cox and guards Te’a Cooper and Juicy Landrum were all drafted to the WNBA after combining for 45.1% of the team’s points per game and 49.4% of the team’s assists. Entering the season, senior guard DiDi Richards and junior forward NaLyssa Smith were expected to be the only full-time starters returning from last year’s squad that went 28-2 overall and 17-1 in the Big 12.

 Now, the AP poll’s 3rd-ranked team in the preseason is figuring out how to move forward from the indefinite loss of Richards. In a preseason practice, Richards and Moon Ursin were injured in an accidental collision. According to Baylor, Richards suffered a spinal-cord injury without radiographic abnormality, which causes temporary impairment. She has been treated, released, and is making progress from her injury. Ursin has been in concussion protocol.

Get a peak into the road to recovery for DiDi Richards#SicEm https://t.co/lChgAgbDYE

— Baylor Lady Bears (@BaylorWBB) November 30, 2020

“I said at my first press conference, the teams that survive and win this year will be those who have the most depth and most experience,” Mulkey said. “We, as of today, have nine players who will play. When DiDi gets back, she will be the 10th player. While we do have five or six players who had significant minutes (last season), their roles will now change. And that does matter. While we have the talent and experience back, we don’t have them in the role they played last year.”

Last season, Richards earned the Naismith and WBCA awards for national defensive player of the year. In her junior year, her second as a starter, she averaged 8.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.7 steals. This season, the coaching staff was hoping to turn Richards into a point guard after seeing something in a season in which she had a team-high 170 assists last season and had just 58 turnovers in 896 minutes.

“I watched a lot of games. I definitely watched the Iowa State game, the one we lost. I watched it at least 20 to 30 times, I’m not kidding. But I watched a lot of games. I didn’t want that to happen again,” Richards said in the offseason. “I worked hard this summer trying to get my game to another level and my confidence built.”

So far, it seems that sophomore Jordyn Oliver and freshman Sarah Andrews will assume the duties of point guard. Ursin will also be a candidate to replace backcourt minutes.

Here’s Sarah Andrews’ first bucket ???? as a Lady Bear!#SicEm pic.twitter.com/ZWBxsxXozS

— Baylor Lady Bears (@BaylorWBB) November 26, 2020

After a brilliant sophomore season, NaLyssa Smith will step into a much bigger role as a junior. In just 24.1 minutes per game, she led Baylor in scoring with 14.3 points per game and was second in rebounding at 8.0 per game. Her next step will be increasing her shooting range — she took and missed just four 3-pointers last year.

Queen Egbo, the Big 12 Sixth Person of the Year, will likely be the second post player in a two-big lineup. Last year, she averaged 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Behind Smith and Egbo, Hannah Gusters arrives as a freshman from MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. The No. 16 ranked recruit will benefit from the experience ahead of her without having the pressure to perform immediately.

Despite coming from the same high school, Andrews is in a different spot with the immediate need for production at the point guard position. In practice, UCLA transfer Jaden Owens and Penn State transfer Kamaria McDaniels will add competition, but neither can play this season.

The transfer who can make an impact is DiJonai Carrington, a grad transfer from Stanford. Carrington was picked as the Newcomer of the Year in the Big 12 by ESPN.

In a breakout junior year alongside Alanna Smith and Kiana Williams, Carrington started 36 games and averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds. After the season, she had knee surgery, and five games into her senior season, she shut it down after re-injuring the knee. After graduating with degrees in Psychology and African & African American Studies, Carrington transferred in hopes of playing in a new offense.

Carrington said that Mulkey has stopped practice to instill a more aggressive mindset, but she will not be hearing it from just her coach. Richards, who is not expected to play in Game 1, will be a force on the sideline.

“If my role is yelling and being the voice on the sideline,” she said, “I’m prepared to do that.”

After a dramatic 3-0 win over crosstown rival Manchester United on Saturday, Manchester City is now leading the WSL, sitting three points clear atop the 2025/26 league table while notably extending their advantage over second-place powerhouse Chelsea FC.

The home side scored all three of their goals in the first half, with defender Rebecca Knaak putting City ahead in the 26th minute before attacker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw added to the lead in the 43rd minute.

Returning from injury with a vengeance, forward Lauren Hemp sealed the deal for the Citizens with the final goal in first-half stoppage time.

"It's so nice to be back," Hemp said postgame. "Today we showed the mentality that I said at the start we needed to show."

While reigning six-time WSL champions Chelsea have yet to lose a match this WSL season, a trio of 2025/26 draws has the Blues now trailing the current eight-win, one-loss record held by Manchester City.

As for United, the WSL third-place Red Devils were without star goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce in Saturday's loss, after the USWNT net-minder suffered a fractured eye socket in November 8th's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.

"She should be fine, it's just trying to make sure she doesn't get another knock in that area," said United manager Marc Skinner, noting that Tullis-Joyce could return as soon as the club's 2025/26 Champions League match against VfL Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

One of this season's NWSL Coach of the Year finalists is moving on up, with Kansas City manager Vlatko Andonovski leaving his position as the Current's head coach to become the club's full-time global sporting director.

Andonovski has been juggling both jobs since joining the Current in October 2023, with the 49-year-old coming off what was arguably his most successful managerial season, leading Kansas City to a first-ever NWSL Shield amidst a record-shattering 2025 campaign.

In his new role, Andonovski will "implement the long-term vision for the club's technical and athletic success, as well as be responsible for player recruitment, roster strategy and scouting."

"It's vital to move into this role to keep growing this club with the aim of being a perennial contender on the global stage and a top developer of talent," Andonovski said in Friday's club announcement.

With the administrative switch in the works prior to last weekend's playoff upset, Andonovski will now join the hiring committee tasked with appointing his successor, while continuing his head coaching duties until Kansas City secures its new manager.

In another front office shift, the Current's head of soccer operations Ryan Dell will immediately take over as the club's GM, with former GM Caitlin Carducci departing the club after one year at the helm.

Michigan women's basketball is on the rise, as the then-No. 14 Wolverines avenged their early 2025 NCAA tournament exit with a stunning 93-54 blowout win over then-No. 18 Notre Dame on Saturday.

Michigan sophomore guard Olivia Olson led the game in scoring with 20 points as the Wolverines put together a true team effort, with six bench players combining for 38 points in the win.

The Big Ten team also dominated defensively, limiting the Fighting Irish bench to just two points while keeping Notre Dame star guard Hannah Hidalgo to a mere 12-point performance.

"We knew exactly what Michigan was going to do," said Notre Dame basketball head coach Niele Ivey afterwards. "We did not have any type of fight defensively, and that's where we have to start."

The Wolverines' victory was especially sweet after Notre Dame ousted Michigan from last season's national tournament with a 76-55 second-round Irish win.

Saturday's fallout also affected this week's AP Top 25 poll, with Notre Dame falling six ranks to No. 24 while Michigan earned an eight-spot bump to No. 6.

After quietly recruiting five-star talents like Olson and Syla Swords in 2024, Michigan — a program that has yet to earn a title at the NCAA or conference level — proved over the weekend that they are entering the 2025/26 season with added depth and experience.

"That's why I committed to Michigan," Swords told JWS at October's Big Ten Media Day. "That's why so many of us came there, because we wanted to be part of something new, part of something that's never been done."

Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman is back in action, subbing into her team's 2025 NWSL semifinal win in Saturday's 90th minute as she continues to rehab a sprained MCL — with questions still remaining surrounding her future with the club.

"It felt amazing," she said afterwards. "If I get 30 seconds, or if I get 90 minutes, it feels great to be out there."

Rodman will hope for more involvement in next weekend's NWSL Championship game, taking the pitch for the Spirit in her final match under contact before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

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The USWNT standout's extension negotiations have apparently made it all the way up to the NWSL commissioner, with Rodman garnering interest from multiple UK clubs willing to outspend the US league's salary cap restrictions.

The NWSL's most recent collective bargaining agreement sets each club's current salary cap at $3.3 million, which will titrate up to $5.1 million by 2030.

"Right now, my head's completely down. It's been so distracting being injured, and that's all I can really think about," Rodman said on Saturday, addressing the reports. "Once we get this championship, then I can start making decisions and figuring out what next year looks like for me."

With rumors swirling around Rodman and her future with the Spirit, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman defended the salary cap this week, telling CBS Sports that the parity the cap fosters is "the reason our league is the most competitive league in the world."