TCU is among a handful of Big 12 women's basketball teams with title expectations that could depend heavily on whether some high-profile transfers produce. The reigning champions lost a core that included Hailey Van Lith to graduation, but Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell filled one of the big holes with high-scoring guard Olivia Miles. Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma State are expected to be the biggest challengers to TCU, and all of them likewise landed highly touted transfers to supplement the players they had returning from last season.
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Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Lauren Betts of UCLA, and Madison Booker of Texas headline The Associated Press All-America women's college basketball team. The team was released Tuesday. They were first-team All-Americans last spring. UConn's Sarah Strong and South Carolina's Ta'Niya Latson join them on the preseason team. Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points for Notre Dame last season. Betts helped UCLA reach No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Strong had a standout freshman season for UConn. Latson led the country in scoring at Florida State. Booker helped Texas reach the Final Four.
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The Associated Press’ 2025-26 preseason All-America women’s basketball team, with school, height, year and votes from a 31-member national med…
St. John’s is No. 1 in the Big East Conference preseason poll for the first time in three decades. The Red Storm received seven of the first-place votes from the conference’s coaches Tuesday. UConn garnered the other four. It’s the first time since 1991-92 that St. John’s held the top spot in the preseason poll. The team is led by Zuby Ejiofor, who was selected as the conference’s preseason player of the year. The senior forward averaged 14.7 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting nearly 58% from the field last season. The Huskies have the preseason freshman of the year in Braylon Mullins.
The president of the NCAA is urging schools and conferences tempted by riches offered through potential deals with new equity sources to think about the long-term repercussions before jumping into the deals. At a roundtable on the future of college basketball, Charlie Baker said his message was simple: Be really careful. With schools and conferences under increasing pressure to raise funds to pay their players, there are frequent reports of new equity sources for college sports. Recent headlines came out of the Big Ten’s negotiation to bring in an investor that would pay $2.4 billion to help market the conference’s media rights and other properties.
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Men’s College Basketball Preseason All-America Team
Reigning national champion Florida is one of 12 teams in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll scheduled to play at Madison Square Garden this season. UConn and Duke will make multiple appearances inside “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” which is set to host seven programs ranked in the top 10 and nine that have won an NCAA title. No. 5 St. John’s, the defending Big East champion, will play 12 regular-season home games at MSG in its third year under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino — the school’s most since 1951-52.
Purdue guard Braden Smith has been named a unanimous preseason All-American by The Associated Press. He earned all 57 votes from a media panel. This recognition comes after Smith decided to return to Purdue for another shot at a national championship. Last season, he became the first player in NCAA history to achieve at least 550 points, 300 assists, 150 rebounds and 75 steals in a season. Smith is joined on the All-America team by Texas Tech's JT Toppin, Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg, BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa and Florida forward Alex Condon.
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These aren't your father's exhibition games. Or your grandfather's.
No. 1 UConn’s season opener against No. 20 Louisville that is supposed to be played at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Nov. 4 is in jeopardy of being moved because of the government shutdown. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday that if the shutdown continues to Monday the game will be played at a neutral site in the U.S. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.