Early Season Heat Check: The Three Powerhouses Already Dominating Women’s College Hoops
The 2025-26 NCAA women’s basketball season is underway, and already the usage meters are spiking for top programs as coaches lean into their go-to scorers and playmakers. At the start of the year, three programs stand out for heavy player usage: the UConn Huskies, the South Carolina Gamecocks, and the UCLA Bruins. UConn returns stars like Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, who already dominate touches and opportunities. South Carolina features rising impact from Joyce Edwards, averaging 18.3 ppg early this season and transfer-heavy usage profiles. UCLA, after a 34-3 season in 2024-25, is trending fast with heavy minutes for Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, and Gianna Kneepkens; each logging high-usage roles and expected to carry the Bruins off the bench and into the new season.
At UConn, Strong and Fudd lead what is essentially a new big three after star guard Paige Bueckers’ departure. Strong averaged 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds last year while also handing out 3.6 assists, showing a three-way usage mix. Fudd’s 13.6 ppg and strong shooting, 43.6% from three, make her a heavy-touch guard in the backcourt. Early in 2025-26, they opened with Fudd scoring 23 points and Strong adding 21 in a 99-67 home win over Florida State. Meanwhile, UConn’s roster structure forces those two, and freshman shooter KK Arnold, off the bench and into primary roles. Across in South Carolina, the Gamecocks’ usage leaders are likewise becoming obvious: Edwards at 18.3 ppg early in the season and returning lead guard Raven Johnson, averaging roughly 6.7 assists per game according to the 2025-26 team stats. At UCLA, the usage upside is immediately visible: in the first two games of the 2025-26 campaign, Betts averaged 23.6 ppg and Kiki Rice posted a 25.7% usage rate, while Gianna Kneepkens came in around 23.9 ppg under heavy minutes. Their three-guard lineup already shows how UCLA is structuring offense around high-use talent.
The implications for the broader season are significant: when elite programs assign major possession and minute shares to three players, tracking early usage helps forecast who will control tempo, whom opponents must game-plan for, and how deep rotations will form. UConn’s model of a dominant inside-out front paired with a high-usage perimeter guard underscores how balanced usage can still centralize success. South Carolina’s high assist and scoring numbers suggest dependability in pick-and-roll and guard-driven sets. At the same time, UCLA’s three-guard offensive structure may push pace and challenge traditional positional roles. For recruits and media markets, watching which players are getting the ball and keeping it becomes a key indicator of how each program plans to compete. As lap times increase, those early usage numbers may predict everything from conference standings to March Madness seeding.
