College basketball returns in less than two weeks, and the AP is gearing up for tip-off by dropping the 2025/26 preseason All-America First Team on Tuesday.
Reigning NCAA champion and last season's Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong made the preseason All-America Team cut, with the UConn Husky joined by Final Four participants Madison Booker (Texas) and Lauren Betts (UCLA) — the 2024/25 campaign's Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
Rounding out the elite five-player lineup are Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo and recent South Carolina transfer Ta'Niya Latson, who led Division I in scoring last season.
While the transfer portal produced a few major roster shakeups — including Latson leaving Florida State to join the 2023/24 NCAA champs — many of last season's top programs are picking up right where they left off.
"There isn't a day that goes by that one of the coaches and I don't look at each other and go, 'Man, there's just something about her right now,'" UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of Strong.
Auriemma's reigning champs had some additional good news this week, with third-ranked 2026 recruit Olivia Vukosa, a 6-foot-4 center currently competing at the same Queens, New York, high school that produced basketball legends Sue Bird and Tina Charles, officially committing to UConn on Tuesday.
Ultimately, continuity could be the difference maker in the upcoming 2025/26 NCAA season, as known talents and newcomers alike look to prove themselves on the collegiate court.