Women’s college basketball top storylines: JuJu’s return, familiar names and transfer mania

Women’s college basketball begins anew Sunday when the 2026-27 NCAA Division I season opens at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome. The Eternal City Tip-Off will feature No. 13 Notre Dame, with Player of the Year contender Hannah Hidalgo, and Villanova, a Big East foil to mighty Connecticut. 

It’s an appetizer to a full day of hoops on Monday, featuring the long-awaited return of 2025 Naismith and Wooden National Player of the Year JuJu Watkins. The dynamic 6-foot-2 USC guard redshirted the 2025-26 season to rehab the ACL injury she sustained in the 2025 NCAA tournament. She looked up to speed participating in Team USA’s National Team training camp during Final Four weekend in April and expects to “peak at the right time” as the season progresses. 

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The return of Watkins is the top storyline of the season with UCLA as the defending champion and UConn’s Sarah Strong holding Player of the Year honors. The NCAA tournament expanded to 76 teams (32 automatic bids, 44 at-large) and the Final Four is scheduled for April 1-4 in Columbus. Here are more things to know before tip-off. 

The return of JuJu

USC’s season opener against UNLV in the Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday (4 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network) will be 589 days since Watkins’ injury. It’s a longer timeline than other elite players who have come back. Former Texas point guard Rori Harmon returned to play 10 months after her injury, and POY Paige Bueckers from UConn returned at around the one-year mark. 

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Watkins led USC to back-to-back Elite Eights as one of the most talented scorers in the country (25.5 career ppg). As a sophomore, she nearly carried the Trojans as the main scoring catalyst before the injury in the second round. She’ll have more help with reigning National Freshman of the Year Jazzy Davidson (No. 1 recruit in 2025) and freshman wing Saniyah Hall, also a No. 1 recruit. 

The Trojans will be a top contender in the deep Big Ten (a record nine teams in the AP…

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Author : Cassandra Negley

Publish date : 2026-10-30 17:14:00

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