Six of UCLA’s most productive players are seniors and headed to the WNBA. Losing that much talent could quickly force the Bruins to vacate the top of the Big Ten standings—especially considering the team’s eyeing that spot. USC will get JuJu Watkins back and has great young talent and Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa have strong sophomores who will only continue to get better.
But those teams shouldn’t count Cori Close out quite yet. Close already lost a bunch of talent after the 2024-25 season and absolutely nailed the transfer portal to build one of the most veteran and pro-ready rosters in college basketball. She could use the transfer portal in a similar way this offseason to make sure that UCLA remains competitive.
UCLA will have to retool around its freshmen
Losing Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens, Angela Dugalić, and Charlisse Leger-Walker to the pro level will hurt UCLA in many different ways. It will cost the team most of the experience, size, rim protection, 3-point shooting, perimeter defense, and playmaking that have made it such a good team this season.
Cori Close has brought freshmen Sienna Betts and Lena Bilić along slowly. Betts lost some time to injury but averaged 7.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists over the 14 games she’s been able to play. She was one of the top players in her high school class and will have to live up to that reputation soon. When her sister and Dugalić leave the team, Betts should quickly become the focal point of UCLA’s frontcourt play.
A more experienced Sienna Betts alone won’t be enough to hang with a healthy USC team and more experienced Michigan and Ohio State rosters, though. So, Close will have to pull off another recruiting master class in the transfer portal. Adding Kneepkens and Leger-Walker were genius moves that really rounded out the roster. She “just” has to find players who can do the same for next season’s roster.
The Big Ten is filled with talent
The Big Ten has seven ranked teams, including three top-ten teams, and USC. The latter hasn’t been able to make up for JuJu Watkins’s absence, losing games to South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn, UCLA, Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan State, and Michigan and falling out of the top 25. That should change when Watkins returns.
Michigan is led by sophomores Syla Swords, Olivia Olson, Mila Holloway, and Te’Yala Delfosse. They have lost close games to UConn, Vanderbilt, and UCLA this season, proving that they were already ready to challenge some of the top teams in the country.
Ohio State is relying heavily on sophomore Jaloni Cambridge, who is already one of the best scorers in college basketball.
Five of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ seven top scorers are freshmen and sophomores. Barring some transfers, they will also go into next season with a lot of young talent and continuity.