This is a look at the week ahead in women's college basketball. Each week Skim Milkey will be providing five players to keep an eye on, five teams to watch this week, five stats, five games you wouldn't think to keep tabs on, and five tweets.
5 Players I Have My Eye On
Taryn Sides
Sides has always shown flashes of being able to dominate a game, and she did just that in the opening game of her junior year against Omaha. 15 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds, and four steals with an offensive rating of 216.1...and to do it in 24 minutes with no turnovers? That's special. She didn't post anything eye-popping against SMU in a slog of a game that saw Kansas State win, but she proved her importance on the floor as she still was productive with seven points and five rebounds. I have my eyes on her this week as Kansas State hosts Lamar, South Dakota, and Texas A&M...all teams with extremely feisty guards who will bring energy to combat her.
Liv McGill
If you are playing fantasy women's college basketball like I am, you'd be very, very happy with Liv McGill on your team with her first week of action. Through two games she is averaging 32 points, 8.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 6.0 steals a game while essentially never leaving the floor, having played 98.5% of her team's minutes. She has shown that she can be relied on in any situation with the ball in her hands and does an excellent job of making the most of it. She's been a Top 5 player so far this season in college basketball and has an important week coming up as Florida hosts Jacksonville and Samford while ending the week by heading to take on Navy. If McGill can keep up her pace through this week, she's going to cement herself as one of the best players in college basketball.
Brooklyn Meyer
Meyer has gotten off to a blazing start in her senior season and has already put up multiple 20-point games and has blocked four or more shots in each game that she has played. She has proven to be extremely critical to the success of her team, and she's risen to the occasion twice against solid mid-major opponents. She is staying effective all while having an extremely high (36.5%) usage rate through three games. There isn't much of a reason to knock her usage down with the way she has performed, either. The Jackrabbits host both Montana and Murray State this week as they continue their gauntlet of very good non-conference opponents. Meyer is going to have to once again prove that she's going to be highly effective for South Dakota State to walk into next week 4-0.
Taryn Barbot
Barbot is a loose cannonball this year. She opened the season with a 32-point outburst on 14-for-17 shooting from the floor in just 18 minutes of action. She grabbed six rebounds, dished off four assists, and only turned the ball over once in that game. She followed that up with a 22-point and eight-rebound night with no turnovers in her next game. She's shaping up to be one of the best mid-major players in the country if she continues her incredible play. Her offensive rating through two games is a paltry 139.8 with an assist rate of 22.8%. She's been tremendous so far for a team that lives on their guard play. They only have one game this week, against Iona, but I'm very intrigued to see if she can keep up the pace to the start of her year.
Ally Timm
Timm got her 2025-26 campaign off to a blazing hot start last week as she knocked down eight triples in the first game of the year en route to 28 points in a win over Valparaiso. She followed that up with a 13-point game and hit two more 3-pointers in that game. Timm is the ultimate microwave shooter, as it feels like she isn't going to ever miss when she's feeling it. She is shooting over 55% from the perimeter, and that feels like something that can absolutely be sustained in the high 40 percent or so. She's a fun player to watch, and this DePaul team might be sneaky solid this year with her ability to get her team back in the game. DePaul travels to Bradley this week, and they host Northwestern, so I am intrigued to see if she can catch fire again.
5 Teams to Watch This Week
Princeton
Princeton might have one of the most important schedules of the entire week as it relates to forming an at-large resume, that is, if they do end up needing to formulate a resume for the tournament. They opened their season with a win against Georgia Tech on the road. And this week they will be traveling to take on Villanova and Maryland. Villanova has already shown a few holes, as they lost to a very good Fairfield team (who I will talk about in a few minutes), but they also face a Maryland team who was outplayed by Georgetown for three quarters before coming back and absolutely obliterating them in the 4th quarter. If Princeton can win the Villanova game and at the very least keep it close against Maryland on the road, they will have started to build an excellent resume.
UCLA
You won't find many tougher schedules this week than the one staring UCLA in the face. They took care of business in their first two games of the season and now are staring at Oklahoma, North Carolina, and South Florida as a reward. The good news? UCLA is extremely talented and could run the table to start 5-0. The bad news? That will be an extremely tough task, as all three of these teams are viable opponents. UCLA meets all three of them at neutral sites, which will at least give them experience for the NCAA tournament. I have my eyes on UCLA this week as they look to go 3-0.
Missouri
After losing an exhibition to a D2 team, Missouri just needed to win. It didn't matter who it was against or how it looked...they just needed to get off to a good start to the season in the win column to build a bit of momentum. They did just that as they took down Central Arkansas and then traveled to Tulane and came away with a win. Now, the wins haven't been pretty, but you don't care what it looks like when you have a 2-0 beside your name. They face off with Arkansas State this week before playing Kansas this weekend. Missouri should be able to get through Arkansas State with a win, but I'm very intrigued to see how they look against a team that might be a step above them right now.
Fairfield
Fairfield very well could be the best mid-major in the country this season. They've notched two double-digit wins so far this year, and one came on the road at Villanova. They also took down Lehigh in a game that was never really in question as to the result. Fairfield is showing us that they are dangerous offensively, but they are a damn good defensive squad as well. Opposing teams are taking nearly 40% of their shots from beyond the arc but are only connecting on 23% of them. That is a bad recipe for success when the team you are playing wants to get out and run. This week, Fairfield travels to Las Vegas to take on South Florida and North Carolina...let's see what Fairfield is made of.
Howard
Howard has been quite an interesting team to me after going on the road and beating Providence in their first game of the season. They held Providence to 2-of-19 from behind the arc in that game, and then got even better defensively against Florida A&M in their next game holding them to just 53 points with a defensive efficiency rating of 63.3. That's some good defense. Howard has two of their biggest tests in the early part of the season this upcoming week with George Washington and Elon, both of which are on the road. They aren't going to be the toughest teams they play this season, but this is a good chance for Howard to show that the defense is legit against peer competition.
5 Stats to Know
0.00%
This is the percentage that D1 opponents are shooting from beyond the arc against Fresno State and Navy. Fresno held their opponent to 0-for-6 from the arc, and Navy held theirs to 0-for-10. Navy does have the advantage here, though, because Fresno State allowed a single 3-pointer to be made in their first game of the year against Fresno Pacific, who was 1-of-17 in the game. Can both of these teams make it another game without allowing a 3-pointer?
64.3%
This is what North Texas is currently shooting from behind the arc against Division I opponents. They were even 12-for-22 from behind the line against their non-D1 opponent. North Texas is going to terrorize teams from the perimeter this year and will be a huge part of their success. If they keep it up over the next few games, this is a team that could easily find a way to be the best shooting team in the country.
21.0
This is Stetson's Mary McMillan's assist-to-turnover ratio thus far this year. She has two games of eight assists and one game of five assists with only one turnover in the entire season. She's a sixth-year player who understands how to protect the ball and get it to where it needs to be at a high level. She is having a career year thus far in both assist% and turnover%.
67.1
Albany's adjusted tempo on the season ranks 2nd to last in college basketball, only ahead of Vermont, who hasn't played a D1 school yet. Albany is not only looking to slow down the pace; they are looking to slow it down a ton. Hey, it's working out for them so far, as they are a very effective offense that scores at a high rate...it's just that they don't get a lot of opportunities since they play so slowly.
4-0
That is Oklahoma State's record after playing four games in the first six days of the season. Four dominating wins have led them to being fresh going into the second week of the season, where they will play their fifth game of the year on Tuesday...bringing their season mark to playing all of these games in just eight days. After this game, they'll see a reprieve with just three games over the next 17 days.
5 Games to Monitor
11/10 - UCLA vs. Oklahoma
This is a game that needs to be on at 7:00pm...not 10:30pm. Regardless, this will be the first real test for Aaliyah Chavez on a big stage. I think the outcome of the game rides on her shoulders, but that post matchup of Lauren Betts and Raegan Beers will be the best of the season.
11/14 - Duke @ West Virginia
This is going to be a tough test for Duke as they face a West Virginia team that will want to speed them up. How Duke will fare against the pressure and pace will be the story of the game.
11/15 - Michigan vs. Notre Dame
This is just going to be an old-fashioned battle. Hannah Hidalgo and KK Bransford against Olivia Olson and Syla Swords...what more could you ask for on a Saturday afternoon?
11/15 - South Carolina vs. USC
USC might be better than expected? South Carolina might be better than expected? This is going to be a tough test for both teams, who will look to have some questions answered.
11/16 - TCU @ NC State
Another game with questions surrounding it. Who is TCU this year, and are they at the level they were last year? NC State with a great win over Tennessee but a devastating loss to USC...what are we going to get with them this year? This game will answer a few questions, hopefully.
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