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.

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.

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 Top 25) and for the national title. USC won back-to-back championships in 1983 and 1984 but hasn't been back to the final since 1986.

It could be the final collegiate season for Watkins, whose pro-ready game as a freshman drew conversation around draft-eligibility rules. Watkins is age-eligible for the draft, but could also choose to come back to USC for a final year. She'll be in early NPOY contention alongside Strong, Texas' Madison Booker, Hidalgo and Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes.

South Carolina, UConn remain cream of crop

Is it even November if we're not talking about the embarrassment of riches on the campuses in Storrs, Connecticut, and Columbia, South Carolina?

After a fiery Final Four meeting that ended with a scuffle between UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina's Dawn Staley, the powerhouses are built to meet again on the final weekend. It is the third consecutive season they have been ranked 1-2 in the AP preseason poll, with South Carolina earning the top spot this year. The last Final Four without either team was in 2007.

The 2026 runner-up Gamecocks won big in the offseason when five-star forward and ESPN No. 3 recruit Oliviyah Edwards requested a release from her national letter of intent to Tennessee, which underwent a massive roster overhaul. The 6-foot-3 dunking star opted for South Carolina, where she'll be a foundational frontcourt piece alongside All-Americans Joyce Edwards and Chloe Kitts. Kitts said she is 100% after missing the 2025-26 season with an ACL injury. Staley also added junior guard Jordan Lee, an unexpected transfer loss for Texas.

Its non-conference schedule is as loaded as ever. South Carolina will play No. 20 Maryland (Monday), No. 12 North Carolina (Nov. 8), No. 3 USC (Nov. 15), No. 2 UConn (Nov. 24) and No. 4 Duke (Dec. 3) within the first month of the season. The SEC schedule will offer plenty more résumé boosters.

Strong is fresh off sweeping National Player of the Year awards, and UConn added a freshman class that includes No. 2 recruit center Olivia Vukoša and Serbian guard Jovana Popovic.

Auriemma also scheduled quality squads to counteract the less-loaded Big East schedule. UConn will play No. 5 Michigan (Nov. 5), No. 10 Iowa, No. 18 Ohio State, No. 7 Louisville, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 4 Duke, No. 20 Maryland, No. 13 Notre Dame, Tennessee and No. 9 LSU.

Transfer shake-up

Complete roster overhauls are becoming standard fare. UCLA chipped away over the early years of the bustling transfer portal to build the 2026 national championship squad, understanding that the top six in their rotation were all seniors. Head coach Cori Close was forced to reload all at once by adding senior forward Addy Brown (Iowa State), Elina Aarnisalo (UNC), Donovyn Hunter (TCU) and Bonnie Deas (Arkansas).

Iowa State lost all but three players on its roster, including senior Audi Crooks (Oklahoma State) and Jada Williams (LSU). The Cyclones have 10 new players — seven international players — in Bill Fennelly's final season as head coach. He's the Big 12 leader in wins and 15th overall in career victories (822).

Nine players departed Oklahoma State, though head coach Jacie Hoyt answered by adding Associated Press second-team All-American Crooks. The 6-foot-3 senior averaged 25.8 points per game, second in NCAA Division I, as an efficient interior presence (61.1% shooting from the floor). The Cowgirls also added Liv McGill, a 5-9 junior point guard who averaged 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game a year ago for Florida. The program has not made it out of the second round since 2014.

Tennessee drew outsized attention for its postseason departures following a late-season collapse in Kim Caldwell's second season. The storied Lady Vols went winless in March for the first time in program history and not a single player returned. Caldwell added two freshmen and 13 transfers, headlined by All-Big Ten first-team guard Kaylene Smikle from Maryland and forward Aaliyah Moore from Texas.

An eye on fresh champions

Parity overall is growing on the women's side, but the top is still dominated by familiar characters. UConn and South Carolina combined for eight of the last 13 titles. UCLA (2026), LSU (2023), Texas A&M (2011) and Maryland (2006) are the only first-time winners over the past two decades.

The Final Four teams repeated in 2025 and 2026. While that isn't likely to be the case again — UCLA is completely transformed and Texas lost key pieces around Booker — the top teams are still a familiar group. Will there be a rare new champion this season?

No. 4 Duke, the two-time ACC tournament champion, has yet to win a title after falling in the 1999 and 2006 championship games. Head coach Kara Lawson is fresh off winning ACC Coach of the Year and the FIBA World Cup gold medal with Team USA. She returns All-ACC forward Toby Fournier and added standout sophomore guard Aaliyah Crump from Texas.

No. 5 Michigan has never made it into the Final Four, but could this season behind an elite junior class of top three scorers Olivia Olson, Syla Swords and Mila Holloway (though Holloway is sidelined indefinitely with a foot injury). They combined for 45.8 of the team's 82.3 points per game last season. All five of their top scorers return, and they'll add Stanford transfer Courtney Ogden.

No. 8 Vanderbilt bowed out of the NCAA tournament early, entering the 2026-27 season with a hunger built off missed opportunity. The Commodores last reached the Elite Eight in 2002, the last of their four regional semifinal runs. They return one of the best duos in Division I. Blakes is the reigning Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner as the top shooting guard in DI and a finalist for Naismith Player of the Year, while sophomore Aubrey Galvan quickly emerged as one of the best playmakers in the country.