Reigning NCAA basketball champions UConn powered up this week, signing former Wisconsin standout Serah Williams out of the transfer portal — and beating both LSU and North Carolina to the punch.
After several top programs — including the Tigers and the Tar Heels — tried to court the All-Big Ten first team forward, the 6-foot-4 rising senior officially opted to play out her final year of eligibility with the Huskies on Wednesday.
Averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game last season, Williams joins a talented UConn frontcourt that includes starters Jana El Alfy and 2025 NCAA Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong.
The All-Big Ten first team forward joins the reigning champs after averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds for the Badgers last season.
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2025/26 NCAA basketball rosters snap up top talent
With most big-name transfers now committed, next season's college basketball landscape is coming into view.
Despite missing out on Williams, LSU is likely this year's transfer portal winner, having signed Notre Dame freshman forward Kate Koval and highly touted South Carolina sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley to the Tigers' 2025/26 roster.
Ohio State also made headlines on Wednesday, inking Florida forward Kylee Kitts — the younger sister of South Carolina standout junior Chloe Kitts — following the Buckeyes' loss of star junior Cotie McMahon to Ole Miss.
While the transfer portal window closed last week, there's no deadline for signing with a new school, leaving the athletes still in limbo time to find their ideal fit.
Former South Carolina star MiLaysia Fulwiley officially joined the Gamecocks' SEC rival LSU on Friday, putting the cherry on top of the Tigers' winning NCAA basketball transfer period.
According to multiple reports, the Columbia, South Carolina, product actually committed to LSU weeks ago — the same day she announced she'd be leaving her hometown school.
The rising junior won a national championship with South Carolina in 2024, but started only three of her 77 games with the talent-loaded Gamecocks — despite averaging 11.7 points per game and shooting 42.6% from the field.
Fulwiley's move only deepens one of the hottest rivalries of both the powerhouse SEC and the NCAA at-large, with either South Carolina or LSU featuring in each of the last four national championship games.
The guard won the SEC tournament's Most Outstanding Player award in 2024, after the Gamecocks beat the Tigers to secure last year's conference title.
Transfers reshape NCAA landscape ahead of 2025/26 season
This year's transfer portal has profoundly impacted the women's college basketball field, with more than 1,500 athletes — almost 30% of all Division I players — looking to jump ship.
Even though the NCAA basketball portal closed last week, there are no deadlines for transfers to commit to a new program — or return to their original school, should an athlete's roster spot still be available.
While Fulwiley and other NCAA basketball stars have locked in their 2025/26 NCAA homes, talented transfers like former USC guard Kayleigh Heckel are reportedly still looking for the right fit.
As the dust finished settling on a highly competitive 2024/25 season, roster shakeups could transform some teams into bonafide championship contenders — though history proves that building a superteam doesn't always guarantee a national title.
As South Carolina women's basketball returns to the Final Four, the 2024 NCAA champions’ March Madness journey hasn’t exactly mirrored last year’s dominance. But their resilience has kept them very much in contention.
The Gamecocks bounced back from third-quarter deficits in their last two tournament games, relying on tight defense and smart positional rotations to wear opponents down.
“It is that type of year, that for us, there’s not any blowouts,” head coach Dawn Staley said after her team’s Elite Eight win over Duke. “We have to grind for every single win that we can get.”
South Carolina taps into depth after WNBA departures
After losing center Kamilla Cardoso to the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Gamecocks harnessed their depth, relying on strict minute restrictions to disrupt game flow and launch second-half runs.
Sophomore standout MiLaysia Fulwiley has popped off the bench, complementing leading scorer Joyce Edwards and inside show-runner Chloe Kitts.
One of the team’s key veteran leaders, senior Te-Hina PaoPao has been a grounding force as the only player averaging 25+ minutes per game.
Defense is key to Gamecocks victory
For the Gamecocks to become back-to-back champs, they’ll have to lean hard on their time-honored calling card: defense.
"Look, I mean, at this point it's not going to look pretty. Okay? It's not," Staley said after South Carolina narrowly escaped Sweet 16 opponent Duke. "There are stretches in each game that is not going to look pretty… Some of it's not going to look as smoothly as us coaches and players envision or how you practice, but you certainly have to get down and play the kind of game that's presented in front of you, and we'll do that."
“If we’re not scoring a whole lot of points, then we gotta up our defense,” she continued. “If we’re scoring a lot of points, we gotta up our defense.”
The NCAA is turning up the heat on the next two seasons of non-conference basketball competition, with powerhouse programs from the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California set to determine which team is "The Real SC" via a special two-game series.
The acronymic rivals will first meet at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 15th, 2025, before heading to Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, on the same date the following year.
In anticipation of high ticket demand, series host Complete Sports Management shifted both games to the aforementioned higher-capacity venues, rather than utilizing the teams’ usual on-campus arenas.
"I will always choose elevating women's basketball, and that's especially true in scheduling," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said in a team statement. "I know Complete Sports Management has the same mission, and I like their creativity in bringing not just two great programs together, but engaging their fan bases on both coasts in a debate they love to have."
Series to showcase the best of NCAA basketball
The newly created series won't just decide "The Real SC," it also pits two of the sport's historic programs against each other in an SEC vs. Big Ten and East Coast vs. West Coast battle for bragging rights.
The defending champion Gamecocks are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation as they gear up for the 2025 March Madness tournament, in which they'll seek a fifth straight Final Four berth and an overall fourth NCAA title.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are chasing South Carolina up the AP Poll in the No. 4 spot, with a goal to equalize with Gamecocks by claiming a third national championship this season. If they're successful, it will be USC's first NCAA trophy since 1984.
Regardless of the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's outcome, both teams will likely still roster multiple future WNBA stars for the foreseeable future, with fans banking on seeing current sophomore stars like South Carolina's MiLaysia Fulwiley and USC's JuJu Watkins featuring in both games of "The Real SC" series.
How to buy tickets to USC vs. South Carolina in "The Real SC"
Tipping off in LA on November 15th, 2025, tickets for the first meeting between the Gamecocks and Trojans in "The Real SC" series will be available for purchase online this Friday at 1 PM ET.
One week into the 2024/25 season and the Big Ten is already leading the college basketball charge, with multiple teams tallying upsets to boost their spots in Monday's AP Top 25 update.
The biggest leap belonged to Maryland, who climbed seven spots to No. 11 after defeating now-No. 16 Duke 85-80 on Sunday. With four double-digit scorers, the Terrapins' team effort was led by junior guard Kaylene Smikle's 23 points.
Maryland's Big Ten compatriots, No. 23 Illinois and No. 25 Oregon, broke into Monday's standings after respective wins against then-No. 19 Florida State on Thursday and then-No. 12 Baylor on Sunday.
Led by former UNC standout Deja Kelly's 20 points, the Ducks staved off a late Baylor surge to secure the 76-74 win, snapping a 13-game losing streak to ranked opponents in the process.
Outside the Big Ten, Stanford also made their 2024/25 poll debut, coming in at No. 24. The Cardinal took their omission from the preseason poll — the first in 25 years with Stanford — as a challenge, defeating their first three season opponents last week by an average of 41 points.
South Carolina maintains stranglehold on No. 1
The preseason top eight teams held their ground this week behind defending champs No. 1 South Carolina, who extended their division-record active unbeaten streak to 40 games with Sunday's 71-57 win over now-No. 13 NC State.
With junior forward Chloe Kitts, who led the Gamecocks with a double-double in their season opener, ruled out due to an academic issue, South Carolina guards Te-Hina Paopao and MiLaysia Fulwiley stepped up in a big way, sinking 23 and 18 points, respectively.
SEC is still NCAA's top basketball conference
While still early days, it does appear that conference realignment and a robust transfer portal has once again emboldened the NCAA's biggest players.
New Big Ten members No. 3 USC, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 24 Oregon join veterans No. 11 Maryland, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 21 Nebraska, and No. 23 Illinois in this week's rankings, tying the SEC with the most teams in the poll at seven.
Even so, the SEC remains the conference to beat, with not just No. 1 South Carolina setting the sport's standard, but three other Top-10 teams. Conference veteran No. 7 LSU and last season's Big 12 stalwarts No. 4 Texas and No. 9 Oklahoma round out the SEC's grip on the top of the rankings, with No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 20 Kentucky, and No. 22 Alabama also featuring in the poll.
AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll
1. South Carolina
2. UConn
3. Southern California
4. Texas
5. UCLA
6. Notre Dame
7. LSU
8. Iowa State
9. Oklahoma
10. Kansas State
11. Maryland
12. Ohio State
13. North Carolina State
14. North Carolina
15. West Virginia
16. Duke
17. Baylor
18. Louisville
19. Ole Miss
20. Kentucky
21. Nebraska
22. Alabama
23. Illinois
24. Stanford
25. Oregon