Big Ten 2026 Women’s Basketball Preview – Part 1

Part 1 of our Big Ten women’s basketball preview looks at the teams that fell in the bottom 1/3 of the Big Ten standings last season. Most of these teams perennially occupy the lower part of the standings, but not all – and it’s never absolute. What can we expect this coming season? Let’s take a look:

Rutgers 9-20 (1-17 Big-10, 18th)

The 2025-2026 season did not go well for head coach Coquese Washington. After losing the last 21 of 23 conference games, it was decided that Washington was not the person to lead the Scarlet Knights, and she was dismissed after four years in her six-year contract.

While last year’s squad was deficient in offense and defense, their offensive production was especially bad. A huge underlying factor was that Kiyomi McMiller, a 6-3 F that had an outstanding freshman year with the Knights, had a fallout with her head coach that caused her to leave the program. 

That placed a huge burden on starters Nene Ndiaye, Zachara Perkins, and Imano Lester. They were forced to carry the team without much of anything in the way of support. (In fact, the team meltdown is very much a mirror image of Oregon WBB’s last season in the Pac-12. Graves is a good coach and could turn things around. Rutgers had a change in AD, and the new AD decided quickly that Washington could not do the same at Rutgers).

Of those three, 6-3 Jr. F Perkins and 6-3 Gr. F Lester return to play under new coach Gary Redus II. Redus spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach at LSU, and was part of the coaching staff of the 2023 national championship team.

Of the ‘25-26 players that averaged 6 or less minutes per game (5 of them), only two return: 5-10 Sr. G Kennedy Brandt and 6-3 So. F Precious Gem Wheeler.

Coach Redus has only signed one freshman, 5-9 G Chikae Desdunes. She was ranked No. 51 in the class of 2026, according to ESPNW. The rest of the additions to this year’s team is interesting talent off the transfer portal: 

Jaylah Lampley is a 6-1 So. G from Mississippi State. She averaged 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in her freshman year.

Mia Pauldo and Mya Pauldo are twin sisters that are both 5-6 So. G from Tennessee. Mia is arguably the star of the two, and last year averaged 10.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. While Mya’s statistics pale in comparison, that does not diminish her playing ability; most freshmen will have challenges finding playing time in college ball. Look for Mya to make a greater contribution this year with Rutgers.

Also added this year:

• Fatima Diakhate (Forward, Pittsburgh): A 6-5 redshirt senior center who averaged 9.4 points and 8.9 rebounds for Pitt last season. She previously spent two years at Georgia.
• Zennia Thomas (Forward, Howard): A 6-2 graduate student forward who brings veteran physical presence and previous playing time at Kentucky.
• Mary Akinde (Forward/Center, Barton CC): A 6-5 junior college standout who dominated the glass at Barton Community College, averaging 10.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

Rutgers has a proven coach that knows how to put together a team. Look for the Scarlet Knights to rise from the cellar this coming season.

Northwestern 8-21 (2-16 Big-10, 17th)

Joe McKeown coached the Wildcats since 2008, and announced in March of 2025 that 2025-26 would be his last season. Last season was a repeat of the ‘24-25 season, where NW won two conference games and sputtered to a 17th place finish in the Big Ten.

Northwestern’s new coach is Carla Berube. Berube spent the past seven seasons at Princeton, leading the Tigers to five NCAA tournament appearances in the last five seasons. She will now try to bring her Ivy league success to the Big Ten.

The five starters, and to an extent the sixth player, played the vast majority of minutes last season. Of those six, two return in ‘26-27:  5-11 Sr. G Casey Harter and 5-7 Jr. G Xamiya Walton. 6-3 So. F Tayla Thomas transferred to Minnesota.

Coach Berube has brought in four players from the transfer portal:

• Lily Carmody – 5-11 Jr. G from Boston College. She led BC in scoring, averaging 12.8 PPG.
• Lexi Blue – 6-2 Jr. G from Kentucky. Averaged 2.1 PPG and 1.0 rebounds/game. Played just under 11 min/game.
• Jasmyn Cooper-Derba – 6-1 So. F from Syracuse. Averaged 3.1 PPG and 2.1 rebounds/game. Also played just under 11 min/game.
• Camdyn Nelson – 5-8 G from Syracuse. Averaged 1.1 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 14 game appearances.

NW brought in three freshmen in this year’s class:

• Xyanna Walton – A  5-11 G from Chicago, Illinois (Butler College Prep), ranked as an early foundational commit for the 2026 class.
• Brooke Golden – A 6-3 F from the Tilton School in New Hampshire.
• Romana Jelenc – A 6-3 F from Železniki, Slovenia. 

It’s difficult to foresee just how much Northwestern can improve. Other than Camody, their transfers – at least on the surface – do not appear terribly impressive. This is a rebuilding season, however, and what we will learn is what kind and what caliber of coach Carla Berube is.

Penn State 11-18 (4-14 Big-10, 16th)

Head coach Carolyn Kieger was not able to fix what ailed the Nittany Lions in the ‘24-25 season. The team struggled defensively; between that and injury problems, PSU began the conference portion of the season by losing 10 games in a row, and there was no coming back. (Coincidentally, Kieger replaced Coquese Washington after Washington had a couple of middling seasons before being hired by Rutgers). Kieger was the only PSU coach to finish with an overall losing record, and the only coach to never had a team qualify for the NCAA Tournament. She was fired on March 5th.

Former Penn State and WNBA star Tanisha Wright is now leading PSU. She was an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky, and before then was a head coach for the Atlanta Dream for several seasons. 

The entire 25-26 roster has left the team, and Wright is building PSU completely from scratch. As of this writing, the Lions have only 10 players on the roster and are still adding to the roster, with the 10th player being added on Aug 11th. At this point it’s not possible to provide a preview of what to expect from Tanisha Wright’s first season – we’ll just have to wait and see.

Purdue 13-17 (5-13 Big-10, T-14th)

After three seasons with an overall loss record, and consistently residing the the bottom quadrant of the Big Ten, head coach Katie Gearlds is on the hot seat this season. A big reason why she has not been let go yet is the cost of releasing her, with a $1.6 million buyout clause on a contract extension that kept her through 2028-29. That amount starts dropping this season, and if she can’t show the improvement that Purdue is looking for, it’s financially possible she does not finish this season, although I do not anticipate that. I do think that she’ss be shown the door if she has a season like the last three.

It is not encouraging that, after having so many players leave at the conclusion of the ‘24-25 season, the Boilermakers lost all of their players that started 13 or more games (eight total) except for one: 6-2 Sr. G McKenna Layden.

Coming in this season from the transfer portal are:

• Averi Aaron, a 6-1 Jr. F from Louisiana Tech. Last season she appeared in 33 games with 16 starts, averaging 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
• Hannah Wickstrom, a 5-10 Jr. G from UC Riverside. She started every game last season, and averaged 23.4 PPG, was a 34% 3-point shooter, and shot 83% at the line.
• Jelena Bulajic, a 5-10 So. G from USF. Last season she averaged 4.7 PPG, 36.7% from the field, and 63% from the line.
• Aysia Proctor, a 5-8 Sr. G from North Texas. Last season, she scored 14.1 PPG, shot 39.3% from distance, and 70.7% from the line. 
• Kyndall Hunter, a 5-7 Sr. G from Houston. Last season, she averaged 9.2 PPG, shot 34% from the field, and nearly 77% at the line.
• Anjela Minja, a 6-5 Jr. C from Gulf Coast State College. Last season, she averaged 7.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game.

One of the freshmen that stayed from last season is 6-7 So. C Avery Gordon. She has decent upside if she can continue to develop. Three freshman recruits have come aboard, two guards and a 6-1 forward.

Realistically speaking, I don’t see anyone jumping off the roster to tell me that this season will be much different from the last three, and Purdue will likely be searching for a new coach for the 2027-28 season.

Wisconsin 16-18 (5-13 Big-10, T-14th)

Last season was head coach Robin Pingeton’s first season, after four lackluster seasons under Marisa Moseley. The non-conference portion of the season went well, and even as they defeated easy opponents they did play a close 56-65 loss to (end of the season) #19 Ole Miss.

Big Ten play was unkind, but Wisconsin did upend then-#24 Nebraska 63-60, and won at home in double overtime against Oregon, 94-92. The Badgers were not able to get any traction in the Big Ten tournament, and dropped their first game against Illinois. They made a decent run in their first-ever appearance in the WBIT, losing to Columbia in the semifinals.

While the Badgers could catch a spark and turn up the score, defense was something of a liability. Wisconsin was outscored 78.61 to 66.0 PPG, and out-rebounded 37.2 to 33.1 RPG. Their only scorers to score double-digit PPG were 6-0 Gr. Destiny Howell and 6-0 Jr. Kyrah Daniels.

Other than Howell, the other starters that Wisconsin loses is their leading rebounder, 6-3 Sr. F Gift Unchenna, and 5-2 Sr. G Ronnie Porter. Returning as a senior is 5-11 starting G Laci Steele.

This season, the Badgers have added a lot of length to their squad – a whopping five players are 6-3! Two are freshmen, but Shay Bollin is a 6th-year graduate that played in 34 games last season (started four), Dorja Zaja is a sophomore that also played in 34 games last season (started four), and Kadidia Toure is a graduate from Long Island University.

Notable transfers include 6-0 So. G Addie Deal, from Iowa. Deal is a former five-star recruit and was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team last season.

Tegan Mallegni is a 6-1 Jr. G From Iowa. Her sophomore year there was not as impressive as her freshman year, and this could be a solid addition with big upside.

Caia Rose is a 5-5 Sr. G from Chattanooga. She was the SoCon Player of the Year last year and should well in a tougher Big Ten conference.

While still in rebuilding mode, coach Pingeton appears to be addressing areas of need for this season. At least on paper, the Badgers look to improve in 2026-2027; they’ll be a team to keep an eye on, and don’t be surprised if they move up in the Big Ten rankings.

Indiana 18-14 (6-12 Big-10, 13th)

Indiana had a turbulent offseason before beginning play in 2025-26. Head coach Teri Moren was in a position where five of her six starters from the 2023-24 26-6 team either graduated or transferred, and the ensuing roster chaos meant the last year’s team had only four upperclassmen and a lot of youngsters. A lot of youngsters.

At first, the new season appeared to be going well. The Hoosiers went 11-1 in non-conference play, with their only loss coming against Iowa State, who was ranked #12 at the time but finished the season unranked. Indiana fell apart in Big Ten play, however, when they lost their first ten conference games and were winless for the entire month of January.

Then they were clobbered in the second round of the Big Ten tournament by Ohio State, 83-59, and missed postseason play for the first time since Moren’s first season at Indiana in 2014-15. When all was said and done, the season meltdown was very much due to the youth of the team. Indiana struggled at the boards, and was out-rebounded 34.3 per game to 32.5 per game. And while the Hoosiers did well getting the ball in the basket, their ball control was very bad. They had an assist/turnover ratio of 0.8 per game to a 1.2 ratio for their opponents.

A half-dozen players entered the transfer portal at the end of the season. Of their five starters, one graduated, two transferred, and two remain. Staying on in 26-27 is 6-3 So. F Maya Makalusky, who had a fantastic freshman year as a starter, and 6-1 Sr. G Lenée Beaumont, who was the second-highest scorer on the team, with 427 total points and 13.3 PPG.

Indiana leaned on the transfer portal for experience and depth, adding:

Alisa Williams is a 6-2 5th-year F from Iowa State who was on the LSU championship team as a freshman. Last season, she averaged 4.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 11.8 minutes per game. 

Jess Petrie is a 6-2 Sr. F from Nebraska. She ranked third among the Huskers in scoring (11.3 PPG) and second in rebounding (4.8 RPG), while leading Nebraska with a career-high 32 blocked shots.

Kenzie Hare is a 5-9 Gr. G from Iowa State. Last season she averaged 6.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 0.8 steals/game while shooting 40% on the long ball. 

Malia Samuels is a 5-7 Sr. G from USC. Last season she played in 30 games with 19 starts. averaging 3.4 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 2.4 assists per game. 

Coach Moren signed the #6 recruiting class in the nation and the second-best class in the Big Ten. It includes:

• GiGi Battle: 6-0 Guard/Wing (DME Academy / Edison, NJ) — Highly-touted consensus top prospect with elite athleticism and length.
• Addison Nyemchek: 6-1 Forward/Wing (Red Bank Catholic HS / NJ) — Blue-chip scorer rated as one of the top wings in the country.
• Ashlinn James: 5-8 Point Guard (DuPont Manual HS / Louisville, KY) — Floor general and former Kentucky Miss Basketball finalist.
• Zoe Jackson: 6-4 Center (Australia) — Physical post player who enrolled early with the team in January 2026 (sidelined for the 2026–27 season with a knee injury).
• Camille Pangonis: 5-11 Guard (Fort Erie International Academy / Ontario, Canada) — Added later in the cycle to bolster perimeter depth

Last season was a rebuilding season of sorts for the Hoosiers. This team appears to be more well-rounded. These days, any really good coach can still have an off season, and that’s what I think the ‘25-26 season was for Indiana. Barring unforeseen circumstances, they should do better this year and return to the NCAA tournament in 2027.