Sarah Strong tops preseason ranking for 2026-27 women's college basketball

Sarah Strong heads the preseason rankings for the 2026-27 women's college basketball season.

The UConn guard earned the top spot based on her sophomore year performance and the 2026 Naismith Player of the Year award. She averaged 18.4 points per game while shooting 58.2 percent from the field and more than 40 percent from three-point range. Her stat line also included 7.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per contest.

Hannah Hidalgo ranks second and returns to Notre Dame as the sole veteran on the roster. The Fighting Irish guard set a new Division I single-season record for steals and won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. She averaged 25.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.6 steals last season. Hidalgo also recorded a game with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals and seven assists against Vanderbilt.

JuJu Watkins ranks third after a year away from the court. The USC wing will play her first game in roughly 19 months against UNLV on Monday. She tore her ACL in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Before the injury, Watkins held the NCAA freshman scoring record with 920 points in 2023-24 and won the Naismith Player of the Year award in 2024-25.

Mikayla Blakes sits fourth on the list. The sophomore led the nation in scoring at 27.1 points per game last season. She broke the freshman single-game scoring record with 55 points against Auburn in February 2025. Blakes also set the NCAA sophomore single-season scoring record with 918 total points.

Madison Booker ranks fifth for her team. The forward averaged 18.9 points per game on 50.8 percent shooting last season. She scored a career-high 40 points in the NCAA Tournament. Booker steps into a leadership role this year now that Rori Harmon has entered the WNBA.

Joyce Edwards is sixth. The South Carolina forward set a single-season scoring record for the Gamecocks with 768 points. She averaged 19.2 points per game on 57.1 percent shooting. Coach Dawn Staley compared Edwards' ball handling to A'ja Wilson, noting that Edwards gets harder scores due to height differences.

Jaloni Cambridge ranks seventh. The point guard led the Big Ten in scoring at 23.2 points per game. She scored in double figures in every game last season. Cambridge finished her sophomore season with 41 points in a loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament.

Audi Crooks is eighth. The Oklahoma State center finished as the nation's second-leading scorer with 25.8 points per game. She holds the active Division I record for consecutive games scoring in double figures. Crooks scored 47 points in a win over Indiana in November 2025.

Olivia Olson ranks ninth for Michigan. The guard averaged 18.9 points per game and led the team in rebounding. She scored a career-high 31 points in an overtime win against Ohio State in February 2025. The Wolverines went 28-7 and reached the Elite Eight.

Toby Fournier is tenth. The Duke forward averaged 17.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. She won ACC rookie of the year as a freshman before starting every game last season. Duke won the ACC regular season and tournament titles.

The season opened in Rome, Italy, on Nov. 1. Notre Dame beat Villanova 99-75 in that game. Hannah Hidalgo scored 32 points for the winner. Most other top-ranked players begin their campaigns on Monday.