One team to represent Big Ten in 2025 Women’s Players Era Championship against SEC, ACC

Sarah Barber

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One team to represent Big Ten in 2025 Women’s Players Era Championship against SEC, ACC image

© Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The 22 teams across men’s and women’s college basketball slated to compete in the 2025 Players Era Championship were announced Monday. Eighteen men’s teams and just four women’s teams will face off Nov. 24-27 at the MGM Grand Garden and Michelob ULTRA arenas in Las Vegas.

Of the four squads to make it to the women’s competition, there’s just one Big Ten contender: Cori Close’s UCLA Bruins. 

 

 

In the semifinal round Nov. 26, UCLA will face Texas at 2 p.m. ET, followed by South Carolina and Duke at 4:30 p.m. 

Both the Longhorns and the Bruins were No. 1 seeds in last year’s March Madness tournament and made it to the Final Four, though neither advanced to the championship. UCLA fell 85-51 to eventual national champions UConn and Texas lost to South Carolina, 74-57.

The reigning Big Ten champion Bruins finished last season 34-3 (16-2) and were ranked No. 3 nationally in both the final AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll. UCLA finished second in the conference for the regular season, behind a Juju Watkins-led USC squad, though the Trojans finished the year ranked No. 5 nationally. 

With the offseason additions of No. 2 overall recruit Sienna Betts, guards Lena Bilić (Croatia)  and Christina Karamouzi Siegel (Sweden), UCLA is expected to be formidable again this season. 

In April, ESPN women’s basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme ranked Close’s program No. 1 in his Way-Too-Early Top 25. A month later, ESPN ranked the Bruins’ 2025 recruiting class second-best in the Big Ten and No. 12 in division I.

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Still, UCLA won’t face any easy match against the Longhorns.

Texas finished 35-4 (15-1 SEC), ending the regular season tied with South Carolina before falling to the Gamecocks in the SEC Championship, 64-45. The Longhorns are returning key players in forward Madison Booker and guard Rori Harmon. Plus, they’ll have an exciting addition this season — No. 5 overall recruit and five-star combo guard Aaliyah Crump signed with the program back in November.

Sarah Barber

Sarah Barber is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. She is wrapping up an MS in journalism with a specialization in sports media from Northwestern’s Medill School. Barber graduated from Northeastern University in 2024 with a degree in journalism and English, plus a double minor in public relations and sports, media and communication. She spent over two years as a sports correspondent for The Boston Globe and has a background in athletic video production.