# 2024–25 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season

The 2024–25 Big Ten women's basketball season will begin with practices in October 2024, followed by the start of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2024. The regular season will end in March 2025.
The season will be the conference's first with 18 teams as four schools, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, joined the conference in August 2024. The conference announced that all teams will play 18 regular season conference games with each school playing one school both home and away, while facing 16 teams once. However, only 15 of the 18 teams will qualify for the Big Ten tournament.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes
#### Iowa

On May 13, 2024, Lisa Bluder retired as head coach at Iowa after 24 years. Longtime Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen was named Bluder's successor later that day.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Big Ten record | Big Ten titles | Big Ten Tournament titles | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA Final Fours | NCAA Championships |
| Illinois | Shauna Green | Dayton | 3 | 41–25 | 19–17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Indiana | Teri Moren | Indiana State | 11 | 226–99 | 114–60 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Iowa | Jan Jensen | Iowa (Assoc.) | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| Maryland | Brenda Frese | Minnesota | 23 | 582–161 | 146–29* | 6 | 5 | 20 | 3 | 1 |
| Michigan | Kim Barnes Arico | St. John's (Asst.) | 13 | 261–133 | 118–84 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Michigan State | Robyn Fralick | Bowling Green | 2 | 22–9 | 12–6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnesota | Dawn Plitzuweit | West Virginia | 2 | 20–16 | 5–13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nebraska | Amy Williams | South Dakota | 9 | 137–111 | 69–72 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Northwestern | Joe McKeown | George Washington | 17 | 261–246 | 108–166 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio State | Kevin McGuff | Washington | 12 | 198–102 | 103–57 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Oregon | Kelly Graves | Gonzaga | 11 | 223–100 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Penn State | Carolyn Kieger | Marquette | 4 | 63–86 | 25–66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Purdue | Katie Gearlds | Marian | 4 | 51–45 | 21–32 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rutgers | Coquese Washington | Notre Dame (Assoc.) | 3 | 20–44 | 7–29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UCLA | Cori Close | Florida State (Assoc.) | 14 | 287–140 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| USC | Lindsay Gottlieb | Cleveland Cavaliers (Asst.) | 4 | 62–32 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Washington | Tina Langley | Rice | 4 | 42–46 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | Marisa Moseley | Boston University | 4 | 34–56 | 17–36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2024–25season.
* Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
* Frese's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.

## Preseason
### Preseason Big Ten poll

Prior to the conference's annual media day, conference standings were projected by a panel of writers.
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | USC |
| 2 | UCLA |
| 3 | Ohio State |
| 4 | Maryland |
| 5 | Indiana |

### Preseason All-Big Ten

A select media panel named a preseason All-Big Ten team and player of the year.
| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | JuJu Watkins, USC |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Makira Cook, Illinois |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Hannah Stuelke, Iowa |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Lucy Olsen, Iowa |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Shyanne Sellers, Maryland |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Alexis Markowski, Nebraska |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Cotie McMahon, Ohio State |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Lauren Betts, UCLA |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Kiki Rice, UCLA |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | JuJu Watkins, USC |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Kiki Iriafen, USC |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Serah Williams, Wisconsin |
* Additional player due to tie in voting

## Awards and honors
### Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, Big Ten Conference offices named two players (Player and Freshman) of the week each Monday.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| November 11, 2024 | Destiny Adams, Rutgers | Syla Swords, Michigan |
| November 18, 2024 | Lauren Betts, UCLA | Mila Holloway, Michigan |
| November 25, 2024 | Kendall Bostic, Illinois | Lana McCarthy, Purdue |
| December 2, 2024 | Ajae Petty, Ohio State | Syla Swords, Michigan |
| December 9, 2024 | JuJu Watkins, USC | Olivia Olson, Michigan |
| December 16, 2024 | Serah Williams, Wisconsin | Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers |
| December 23, 2024 | JuJu Watkins, USC | Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers |
| January 6, 2025 | Kaylene Smikle, Maryland JuJu Watkins, USC | Tori McKinney, Minnesota |
| January 13, 2025 | JuJu Watkins, USC | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |
| January 20, 2025 | Shyanne Sellers, Maryland | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State Britt Prince, Nebraska |
| January 27, 2025 | Lauren Betts, UCLA | Avery Howell, USC |
| February 3, 2025 | Lucy Olsen, Iowa Genesis Bryant, Illinois | Olivia Olson, Michigan |
| February 10, 2025 | Kaylene Smikle, Maryland | Syla Swords, Michigan |
| February 17, 2025 | JuJu Watkins, USC | Ava Watson, Ohio State |
| February 24, 2025 | JuJu Watkins, USC Lauren Betts, UCLA | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |
| March 3, 2025 | JuJu Watkins, USC | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |

### All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 4, 2025, the Big Ten announced its conference awards.
| Honor | Coaches | Media |
| Player of the Year | JuJu Watkins, USC | JuJu Watkins, USC |
| Coach of the Year | Lindsay Gottlieb, USC | Lindsay Gottlieb, USC |
| Freshman of the Year | Olivia Olson, Michigan | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Lauren Betts, UCLA | Lauren Betts, UCLA |
| Sixth Player of the Year | Janiah Barker, UCLA | Janiah Barker, UCLA |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Lauren Betts, UCLA | Lauren Betts, UCLA |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Kendall Bostic, Illinois | Kendall Bostic, Illinois |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State | Kiki Iriafen, USC |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Kiki Iriafen, USC | Alexis Markowski, Nebraska |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Cotie McMahon, Ohio State | Cotie McMahon, Ohio State |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Lucy Olsen, Iowa | Lucy Olsen, Iowa |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Kiki Rice, UCLA | Kiki Rice, UCLA |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Shyanne Sellers, Maryland | Shyanne Sellers, Maryland |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | JuJu Watkins, USC | Kaylene Smikle, Maryland |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Serah Williams, Wisconsin | JuJu Watkins, USC |
| All-Big Ten First Team* | Not Selected | Serah Williams, Wisconsin |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Destiny Adams, Rutgers | Destiny Adams, Rutgers |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Julia Ayrault, Michigan State | Julia Ayrault, Michigan State |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Genesis Bryant, Illinois | Genesis Bryant, Illinois |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Yarden Garzon, Indiana | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Elle Ladine, Washington | Yarden Garzon, Indiana |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Alexis Markowski, Nebraska | Elle Ladine, Washington |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Olivia Olson, Michigan | Olivia Olson, Michigan |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Kaylene Smikle, Maryland | Hannah Stuelke, Iowa |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Syla Swords, Michigan | Syla Swords, Michigan |
| All-Big Ten Second Team | Grace VanSlooten, Michigan State | Grace VanSlooten, Michigan State |
| All-Freshman Team | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State | Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State |
| All-Freshman Team | Olivia Olson, Michigan | Olivia Olson, Michigan |
| All-Freshman Team | Britt Prince, Nebraska | Britt Prince, Nebraska |
| All-Freshman Team | Kennedy Smith, USC | Kennedy Smith, USC |
| All-Freshman Team | Syla Swords, Michigan | Syla Swords, Michigan |
| All-Defensive Team | Lauren Betts, UCLA | Lauren Betts, UCLA |
| All-Defensive Team | Rayah Marshall, USC | Rayah Marshall, USC |
| All-Defensive Team | Taylor Thierry, Ohio State | Taylor Thierry, Ohio State |
| All-Defensive Team | JuJu Watkins, USC | JuJu Watkins, USC |
| All-Defensive Team | Serah Williams, Wisconsin | Serah Williams, Wisconsin |