Jordan Brand Basketball has signed another top collegiate women's basketball talent, with the Nike sportswear subsidiary announcing UConn sophomore star Sarah Strong as part of their NIL Class of 2025 on Monday.
"Being part of Jordan Brand is honestly a huge honor," Strong said in a statement. "Jordan is a symbol of greatness and confidence, so being part of the family feels very surreal."
Strong entered her second season with the Huskies earlier this month after a stellar rookie NCAA campaign that saw the forward earn the 2024/25 season's National Freshman of the Year award as well as second-team All-America honors.
The 19-year-old reigning national champion adds to the company's already stacked NIL roster, with Strong joining Jordan Brand Basketball's previous year class partners like UCLA senior guard Kiki Rice — the brand's first-ever NIL signee — as well as Penn State sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller, LSU junior guard Mikaylah Williams and freshman teammate Bella Hines, and USC's 2026/27 recruit Saniyah Hall.
The partnership further punctuates Strong's rising stardom and Jordan Brand's continued commitment to the women's game.
The iconic brand's professional roster currently features more than 10 WNBA players, including Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier and Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard.
The top-ranked UConn Huskies are gearing up for their stiffest competition yet in the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season, as the defending national champions welcome the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines to Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday.
Both teams enter the game with undefeated records and a ranked win under their belts, with the Huskies taking down No. 21 Louisville in their season-opener before Michigan dramatically humbled No. 24 Notre Dame last weekend.
"Based on what I've seen from Michigan, they will be, for sure, the best team we play this year by a long shot at this time in the season," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.
While UConn arrives armed with national talents like last season's Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong and the 2025 Final Four's Most Outstanding Player Azzi Fudd, rising NCAA basketball star Michigan will look to prove they can hang with college basketball's big dogs.
"They are all incredibly unselfish — they don't care who scores," longtime Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said of her squad. "The really good teams like UConn and South Carolina are the same way."
"Connecticut is really, really good," she added. "Our kids want to compete against the best. I always have a stomachache when those games are on our schedule."
How to watch No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 1 UConn on Friday
The Huskies will tip off against the Wolverines at 8 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
NCAA basketball is officially back in action, and the reigning champion No. 1 UConn Huskies will tip off their 2025/26 season against the No. 20 Louisville Cardinals in the recently relocated Armed Forces Classic on Tuesday afternoon.
The clash will make history as the first-ever women's edition of college basketball's military-site showdown, as UConn opens their season against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2017.
"It's going to be a lot of learning with five new players," Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said earlier this week. "There's a lot of exciting things that are ahead of us… and I want to help them overcome some of those challenges we're going to have."
Despite losing 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers to the WNBA last April, the Huskies enter the season with a healthy roster and more depth than recent years, centering the team around returning starters like top-ranked sophomore forward Sarah Strong and grad student guard Azzi Fudd.
"I have to learn how to sub again," Auriemma joked about having a complete bench to draw from. "We've had three or four years in a row there where there's nobody to sub."
Staying atop the NCAA rankings won't be easy, however — a lesson the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils learned after suffering the 2025/26 NCAA season's first top-ranked upset to the No. 16 Baylor Bears on Monday.
"I think you can learn a lot from the first game of the season, especially when you're playing a good team, because they expose a lot of things about you on both ends," said Duke head coach Kara Lawson about the 58-52 loss.
How to watch UConn vs. Louisville in the Armed Forces Classic
The No. 1 UConn Huskies will tip off the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season by taking on the No. 20 Louisville Cardinals at the US Naval Academy at 5:30 PM ET on Tuesday.
The clash will air live on ESPN.
UConn basketball continues to pile on the preseason accolades, with ESPN's annual Top 25 women's NCAA player rankings listing star Sarah Strong at No. 1 ahead of her sophomore season with the Huskies.
Even more, UConn emerged as the only program with two Top 10 players, as ESPN put Strong's teammate Azzi Fudd at No. 8 entering her final NCAA season.
New UConn transfer Serah Williams also made the cut at No. 18, as the preseason AP No. 1 Huskies attempt to repeat their 2024/25 title despite losing superstar Paige Bueckers to the WNBA.
Last season's Final Four participants No. 2 Lauren Betts (UCLA), No. 4 Madison Booker (Texas), No. 11 Joyce Edwards (South Carolina), and No. 17 Kiki Rice (UCLA) round things out, accompanied by more individual standouts like No. 3 Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) and No. 5 Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU).
The lineup also featured big-name offseason transfers, including highly touted newcomers No. 6 Olivia Miles (TCU), No. 7 Ta'Niya Latson (South Carolina), No. 14 Gianna Kneepkins (UCLA), and No. 19 MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU).
Freshmen were not eligible for ESPN's preseason rankings, though NCAA debutants can make the updated list as it shifts throughout the year.
How to watch the ESPN Top 25 players in action
The NCAA basketball elite will tip off the 2025/26 season on Monday, with a full slate of games beginning at 11 AM ET.
The ESPN 2025/26 NCAA basketball preseason Top 25 players
1. Sarah Strong (UConn)
2. Lauren Betts (UCLA)
3. Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame)
4. Madison Booker (Texas)
5. Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU)
6. Olivia Miles (TCU)
7. Ta'Niyah Latson (South Carolina)
8. Azzi Fudd (UConn)
9. Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt)
10. Audi Crooks (Iowa State)
11. Joyce Edwards (South Carolina)
12. Mikaylah Williams (LSU)
13. Raegan Beers (Oklahoma)
14. Gianna Kneepkens (UCLA)
15. Kymora Johnson (Virginia)
16. Zoe Brooks (NC State)
17. Kiki Rice (UCLA)
18. Serah Williams (UConn)
19. MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU)
20. Yarden Garzon (Maryland)
21. Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee)
22. Khamil Pierre (NC State)
23. Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss)
24. Toby Fournier (Duke)
25. Maggie Doogan (Richmond)
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.
Fresh off the program's record-extending 12th national championship, the UConn Huskies will tip off the 2025/26 NCAA season as the top-ranked team on the preseason AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll.
The elite start marks the Huskies' first No. 1 preseason ranking since 2017, as returning starters like sophomore forward Sarah Strong and grad student guard Azzi Fudd prepare to defend their NCAA title.
"Hopefully, it's a little bit of a confidence builder and not, 'Oh my god!'" UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of his team's poll results. "I'm happy for them…. You tend to finish the year where you're predicted, so I like being in this position."
All of last season's Final Four teams will begin their 2025/26 campaigns on a high note, with national runners-up South Carolina ranking second while UCLA snagged third and Texas fourth.
Not every ranked team remained as unchanged, however, as No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 18 USC saw expectations dip in the face of significant player turnover.
USC will be without superstar guard JuJu Watkins for the entirety of the upcoming season, as the 20-year-old Trojan continues to rehab an ACL tear suffered during 2025's March Madness.
As for Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish lost standouts Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld to the WNBA, with the team planning to re-center their approach around guard Hannah Hidalgo after celebrated point guard Olivia Miles transferred to No. 17 TCU.
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball season tips off on Monday, November 3rd.
The 2025/26 NCAA basketball preseason AP Top 25 poll
1. UConn (Big East)
2. South Carolina (SEC)
3. UCLA (Big Ten)
4. Texas (SEC)
5. LSU (SEC)
6. Oklahoma (SEC)
7. Duke (ACC)
8. Tennessee (SEC)
9. NC State (ACC)
10. Maryland (Big Ten)
11. UNC (ACC)
12. Ole Miss (SEC)
13. Michigan (Big Ten)
14. Iowa State (Big 12)
15. Notre Dame (ACC)
16. Baylor (Big 12)
17. TCU (Big 12)
18. USC (Big Ten)
19. Vanderbilt (SEC)
20. Louisville (ACC)
21. Iowa (Big Ten)
22. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
23. Michigan State (Big Ten)
T24. Kentucky (SEC)
T24. Richmond (Atlantic 10)
Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball is doubling down on NIL, spotlighting the offseason league's deep roster of NCAA talent in its "Future Is Unrivaled" (FIU) collection drop on Tuesday.
The new merch line features FIU-branded sports apparel and accessories alongside one-offs like pleated skirts, button-ups, and jackets, all backed by a social media campaign starring college stars Lauren Betts (UCLA), Sienna Betts (UCLA), Madison Booker (Texas), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Azzi Fudd (UConn), MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU), Ta'Niya Latson (South Carolina), Olivia Miles (TCU), Kiki Rice (UCLA), Sarah Strong (UConn), Syla Swords (Michigan), and JuJu Watkins (USC).
After first signing NCAA stars Paige Bueckers and Flau'Jae Johnson in late 2024, Unrivaled added more than a dozen of college basketball's biggest names to its "Future is Unrivaled" Class of 2025 earlier this summer.
While they cannot play in the upstart league prior to turning pro, the NIL signees did participate in July's Unrivaled Summit, a multi-day event in Miami that focused on skill development, content creation, brand building, social media strategy, and community service.
Unrivaled basketball's investment in the next generation of superstars underlines the 3×3 venture's growing influence in the sport, as it becomes a wedge issue in the WNBA's ongoing CBA negotiations while prepping to tip off a second season in January.
How to purchase from the "Future Is Unrivaled" collection
The full merch collection is available now online at Unrivaled.
Upstart 3×3 league Unrivaled Basketball stole some of the WNBA's thunder over the 2025 All-Star weekend, with the offseason venture announcing Saturday the signing of 13 NCAA stars to new NIL deals.
Headlining the group is USC guard and 2025 National Player of the Year JuJu Watkins, with the Trojan junior joined by Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU), Ta'Niya Latson (South Carolina), Syla Swords (Michigan), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Madison Booker (Texas), and Olivia Miles (TCU).
Rounding out the new signees are a pair of reigning national champions in UConn guard Azzi Fudd and forward Sarah Strong — the 2025 National Freshman of the Year — as well as a trio of UCLA Bruins: guard Kiki Rice, center Lauren Betts, and forward Sienna Betts.
The younger Betts sister, Sienna, is notably the only incoming freshman inked by Unrivaled.
Bringing the 3×3 league's current college class to a total of 14 players is LSU guard Flau'Jae Johnson.
Unlike the 13 other players, Johnson's NIL deal is a renewal, with Unrivaled extending their partnership with their second-ever college signee.
Last season, Unrivaled inked just two NIL deals with NCAA stars, partnering with Johnson after signing former UConn guard and current Dallas Wings rookie All-Star Paige Bueckers.
While Bueckers and Johnson both secured equity in the league last year, this year's deals — with Johnson as well as the 13 other NCAA players — do not include that benefit, though Watkins holds an additional unique position as one of Unrivaled's initial investors.
Despite the NIL partnerships, Unrivaled does not guarantee any future roster spots to the 14 athletes.
While the league is targeting a two-team expansion for the league's 2027 season, Unrivaled plans to keep their core roster number at 36 next year, though injury replacement players are again on the table.
USA Basketball is heading to France, with NCAA stars Sarah Strong (UConn), Mikaylah Williams (LSU), and Sahara Williams (Oklahoma) — plus 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Cierra Burdick — packing their bags for this weekend's 2025 FIBA 3×3 Women's Series.
Two-time FIBA 3×3 World Cup champ Burdick anchors the squad, with the 31-year-old returning to international competition just five months after undergoing hip surgery.
The college standouts also have key 3×3 experience, with all three earning gold for the U18 team at the 2022 and 2023 World Cups.
Reigning NCAA champion and Freshman of the Year Strong also took the 2024 World Cup title, while 2021 World Cup winner Mikaylah Williams owns two USA Basketball 3×3 Female Athlete of the Year awards.
This weekend's event will kick off Team USA's run in this year's 3×3 Series, a five-month, 16-stop global tour with more than $1 million in prize money on the line.
The 14-team Marseille competition begins with a three-team qualifying round followed by pool play on Friday, with Saturday's knockouts determining the champion.
How to watch Team USA in the 2025 FIBA 3×3 Women's Series
The US opens their 3×3 campaign against Ireland at 7:15 AM ET on Friday, with continuing live coverage on the All Women's Sports Network and YouTube.
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.
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 30, 2025
(via @TylerDeLuca) pic.twitter.com/ArgIsrUbHQ
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.