The Shift You Didn’t See Coming in Women’s College Basketball
The NIL boom in women’s college hoops is being driven by a handful of superstar guards and wings whose followings are as potent as their box scores. USC’s JuJu Watkins is the face of it right now: after a 2024-25 season in which she averaged 24.6 points, 6.9 boards and 3.5 assists and powered USC to a 17-1 start and a Big Ten regular-season crown, she stacked a historic multi-year Nike extension on top of State Farm, NYX and now Unrivaled equity, turning on-court dominance into multi-platform visibility. Right behind her is UConn’s Paige Bueckers, whose $1.4 million-plus portfolio with Nike, Gatorade, Verizon, Bose, CeraVe, and Unrivaled stays unmatched because she keeps winning and still puts up 19.0 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.5 rebounds for a perennial title team. LSU’s dual star power matters too: Flau’jae Johnson leveraged a $1.5 million valuation, a 22.2-6.0-3.3 stat line, and a rap brand into an Unrivaled deal that literally gives her ownership in the sport she plays. Finally, Mikaylah Williams, fresh off 17.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 37 starts, became Jordan Brand’s headlining college hooper, showing that elite freshmen and sophomores can jump straight into true sneaker-room money.
The middle tier of this top 10 proves brands now care about playmaking and personality, not just rings. Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo – 23.8 points, 5.0 boards, 3.6 dimes and one of the country’s nastiest steal rates – lined up Red Bull, Topps, and regional hotel activations. She’s now in Unrivaled’s 2025 class, making her NIL a blueprint for elite ACC guards in non-football schools. UConn sniper Azzi Fudd added Unrivaled to an already one-of-one SC30/Curry Brand mentorship, plus deals with DoorDash, Chipotle, Bose, and Nespresso. That move matters because it shows athlete-to-athlete NIL (Curry to Fudd) can sit beside league-equity NIL (Unrivaled to Fudd). Texas’ Madison Booker is the six-foot-one engine of the Longhorns’ 35-4 Final Four run. She averaged 16.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, stacking C4 Energy, Keurig, Texas One Fund, and then Unrivaled. That’s exactly how you turn an SEC-era blueblood into a local-to-national NIL funnel. UCLA’s Lauren Betts gives the list its lone true post. She posted 20.2 points, 9.5 boards, 64.8% from the field, and struck a July Unrivaled deal, proving that dominant size will still get paid even in a guard-driven marketplace.
Rounding out the 10 are three players who signal where NIL is heading. Kiki Rice was Jordan Brand’s first college signee back in 2022. Even while averaging more modest numbers—about 11.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists—she’s still being used as the “equity and access” face in 2025 campaigns. This is a reminder that storytelling can keep you high-value. MiLaysia Fulwiley is now at LSU after electrifying South Carolina and becoming the first college player to sign with Curry Brand. She keeps layering Red Bull, TurboTax, and RITZ on top of that shoe deal. Fulwiley shows that viral guards who averaged “only” around 11 points and 3 boards can still pull national food and fintech partners. Collectively, these 10 deals convey two key messages to future recruits. First, joining a visibility machine such as USC, UConn, LSU, Texas, UCLA, or Notre Dame supercharges the NIL, as national leagues like Unrivaled now recruit directly from those rosters. Second, brands pay for continuity, not just one-off March moments. Maintaining production, staying healthy, and leaning into content will matter as much as dropping 30 in the Sweet 16.
