Five SEC players receive votes for AP women’s basketball preseason All-America
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- AP released the 2025-26 preseason women’s All-America team; five leaders.
- Voting media gave top votes to Hidalgo, Betts, Strong, Booker and Latson.
- SEC supplied five of 12 vote recipients, reflecting conference depth in 2025.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Associated Press announced the 2025-26 preseason women’s basketball All-America team, voted on by 31 media members across the country.
Voting media members selected Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo (29 ballots), UCLA’s Lauren Betts (29), Connecticut’s Sarah Strong (28), Texas’ Madison Booker (23) and South Carolina’s Ta’Niya Latson (14) for this year’s preseason honors.
Connecticut’s Azzi Fudd (11), TCU’s Olivia Miles (10), LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson (4), Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes (3), Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers (2), Southern California incoming freshman Jazzy Davidson and Baylor’s Darianna Littlepage-Buggs also received votes.
Hidalgo, Betts and Booker were each named First-Team All-America last season.
Paige Bueckers — 2025 national champion with Connecticut, first-overall draft pick to the Dallas Wings and the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year — and JuJu Watkins — who won’t play this season for Southern California due to a non-contact ACL tear sustained in the first quarter of the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament Round-of-32 victory over Mississippi State — rounded out last year’s All-America First Team, while Strong and Latson received Second-Team honors.
Miles — then at Notre Dame — earned 2024-25 AP All-America Second Team recognition, alongside Strong, Latson, Aneesah Morrow — who helped LSU to an Elite Eight appearance before being drafted seventh overall to the Connecticut Sun in the 2025 WNBA draft — and Georgia Amoore — drafted sixth overall to the Washington Mystics after one season at Kentucky, which hadn’t had an All-American selection since three-time first-teamer Rhyne Howard (2020-22).
Johnson and Blakes were both named to last year’s third team alongside WNBA draft selections Hailey Van Lith (Chicago Sky) and Kiki Iriafen (Washington Mystics), as well as Iowa State center Audi Crooks. Beers was a 2024-25 honorable mention.
With the selections of Booker, Latson, Johnson, Blakes and Beers, the Southeastern Conference has five of the 12 players receiving AP preseason All-America votes. No other conference has more than two players; the Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 each have two players, and the ACC has one.
The strong SEC presence in the AP preseason All-America results echo those of the AP preseason women’s college basketball top 25, which, in its reveal last week, contained eight SEC teams — including five ranked in the top 10.
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER ANALYSIS
Hidalgo instantly popped for the Fighting Irish on account of her fast-paced style of play and consistent relentless defense. She is a key figure in head coach Niele Ivey’s re-establishment of Notre Dame basketball and projects to be a first-round pick in the WNBA draft whenever she chooses to declare — whether it be at the conclusion of her junior season in 2026, or in 2027 if she opts to stay for her senior year.
In each of her two collegiate seasons, Hidalgo has ranked as a top-10 national scoring leader and a top-five national steals leader. Further, the two-time All-America honoree has led Notre Dame in scoring and steals along the way to back-to-back NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances, a 2024 ACC Tournament championship and a 2025 ACC regular-season title.
The 2025-26 season marks a distinct shift for the Fighting Irish, who lost contributing center Kate Koval (LSU), former five-star guard Emma Risch (Florida State) and veteran point guard Miles to the transfer portal. But Ivey added six transfers in redshirt junior Malaya Cowles (Wake Forest) graduate point guard Vanessa de Jesus (Duke), senior shooting guard and double-figure scorer Iyana Moore (Vanderbilt), junior shooting guard Kelly Ratigan (Loyola Maryland), redshirt junior center Gisela Sanchez (Kansas State) and former NAIA point guard Jordyn Smith (Holy Cross).
No. 15 Notre Dame also graduated lottery pick Sonia Citron (Washington Mystics) and second-round selection Maddy Westbeld (Chicago Sky), but returns former five-star guard Cassandre Prosper and welcomes No. 26 overall prospect — and Bethlehem (Ky.) graduate — Leah Macy.
Betts somewhat underwhelmed during her freshman season at Stanford, clocking fewer than 10 minutes per game after graduating high school as the top player in the 2022 recruiting cycle.
However, a cross-conference transfer to UCLA seemed to provide Betts with all she needed to live up to her potential. As a sophomore, Betts averaged 14.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.0 blocks per game, and her production and responsibility only increased last season. As a junior, Betts developed into one of the best players in the country, recording 20.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.9 blocks per contest.
Her boost in confidence and demonstrated talent helped lift the Bruins to their first-ever Final Four appearance in the NCAA era, and a Big Ten Tournament championship in their debut season in the conference. Not only is Betts expected to be a lottery pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, but she also reunites on the court with her younger sister, No. 2 overall prospect Sienna Betts, during her final season in Westwood.
Preseason No. 3 UCLA also returns veterans Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalić and Timea Gardiner, and welcomes transfers Gianna Kneepkens (Utah) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State), the latter of whom arrived on campus ahead of the 2024-25 campaign but sat out due to injury.
Strong, the former No. 1 overall prospect in the high school class of 2024, had one of the strongest freshman seasons in recent memory last year with the national champion Huskies.
In addition to a national champion and her All-America recognition, the daughter of former professional basketball players Allison Feaster and Danny Strong was also named the 2025 WBCA National Freshman of the Year and Big East Freshman of the Year and earned spots on the All-Big East First Team, the Big East All-Tournament Team, the NCAA Spokane Region 4 All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team.
Strong led UConn in steals (2.3), blocks (1.6) and rebounds (8.9) per game, and recorded 356 rebounds across 40 games played — setting a new freshman rebounding record at UConn. She also dished 3.6 assists and scored 16.4 points per game, both statistics putting her second for the Huskies behind Bueckers. Strong scored 657 total points in her first season of college basketball, making her just the second freshman — behind Hall-of-Famer Maya Moore — in program history to score at least 600 points as a rookie.
This year, Connecticut begins at the top of the AP preseason top 25 for the 13th time, and Strong was named the Big East preseason Player of the Year.
The reigning SEC Player of the Year was named the 2025-26 SEC Preseason Player of the Year after helping the Longhorns to their first Final Four appearance since 2003. Booker is one of several highlights on a Texas roster looking to continue its momentum on the national stage and follow up last year’s regular-season co-conference-championship year.
Booker, who was named both the 2023-24 Big 12 Freshman of the Year and the Big 12 Co-Player of the Year as a freshman before the Longhorns’ move to the SEC, instantly became one of the most recognizable faces in a star-studded 2023 recruiting class which also includes Hidalgo, Crooks and Watkins.
Officially listed as a forward, Booker assumed point guard responsibilities in her rookie year after All-America point guard Rori Harmon suffered a torn ACL at the start of conference play. Booker returned to her usual role last season when Harmon returned from injury, and averaged 16.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.5 blocks per contest.
Booker joins Harmon, center Kyla Oldacre, sophomore guards Bryanna Preston and Jordan Lee, transfers Breya Cunningham (Arizona), Ashton Judd (Missouri) and Teya Sidberry (Boston College) and No. 5 overall prospect Aaliyah Crump on the Longhorns’ reloaded roster.
Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina
After three seasons under Brooke Wyckoff at Florida State, one of the best scorers in the country transferred to South Carolina in hopes of playing for a national championship. Latson earned All-America second-team recognition last season and was named an honorable mention as a freshman and sophomore.
In three seasons with the Seminoles, Latson averaged 22.5 points on 44.8% shooting from the field, 4.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. As a freshman (2022-23), she ranked 11th in the nation in scoring at 21.3 points per contest; as a sophomore, Latson ranked 14th in the nation in scoring at 21.4 points per game; last year, as a junior, she led the nation in scoring at 25.2 points per game.
In transferring to South Carolina, Latson joins the 2025 national runner-up and will play alongside rising sophomore and fellow preseason All-SEC selection Joyce Edwards, as well as returning contributors Tessa Johnson and Raven Johnson. This season, the Gamecocks were projected to win the SEC by league media and ranked No. 2 in the AP preseason top 25.
CAROLINE MAKAUSKAS’ AP ALL-AMERICA BALLOT
Fudd, a Stephen Curry mentee and the former No. 1 prospect in the class of 2021, is the daughter of former college basketball players Katie Fudd (née Smrcka-Duffy) and Tim Fudd and is the reigning Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
After sustaining a season-ending injury just two games into her junior year (2023-24), Fudd’s grand return to the court last year resulted in a stat line of 13.6 points on 47.4% shooting from the field, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and the program’s first national championship since 2016, and 12th overall. Fudd, a fierce competitor and strong leader, would take any roster to the next level; her decision to return for another season further bolsters an already-impressive team.
The Huskies are among those with the best odds to win the 2026 national championship, in part due to the return of both Fudd and Strong, as well as guards Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold and center Jana El Alfy. Coach Geno Auriemma also pulled senior forward Serah Williams (Wisconsin) — my vote for most impactful frontcourt player available — and former five-star guard Kayleigh Heckel (Southern California) out of the transfer portal.
Caroline Makauskas’ preseason All-America ballot: Lauren Betts, Azzi Fudd, Hannah Hidalgo, Ta’Niya Latson, Sarah Strong.
