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2025-26 Team Preview: Nebraska
Can the Cornhuskers' roster of shooters bring them to new heights?
This WNBA season has been tremendous man. With only a few weeks to go until playoffs, teams ranked 2-5 and teams 6-9 are each separated by 1.5 games from each other. The Minnesota Lynx are solidly in front and the Las Vegas Aces, off the back of a still-ongoing 11-game win streak, have clinched, but it is anyone’s guess where the teams will fall after the 1-seed.
Not only that, but the MVP race has become much more wide open than it originally seemed. Napheesa Collier is still the betting favorite, but her multi-week absence came at the same time as the rise of the Aces, which has been a monstrous run specifically for A’ja Wilson. Alyssa Thomas also keeps getting triple-doubles and Allisha Gray has been a constant force for one of the league’s best teams.
It continues to rock, and I am going to guess the playoffs will rock as well.
Table of Contents
2024-25 Overview
It was a very interesting year for Nebraska women’s basketball, but, even with two less wins than the year prior, hardly one that felt like a letdown.
The Cornhuskers played some of their best basketball late in the season during the Big Ten Tournament, where they took down Northwestern, Rutgers and Illinois before giving UCLA an impressive fight in the quarterfinals. The season did end on a narrow defeat to Louisville in the Round of 64, but all in all it was still a solid run in the first season without Jaz Shelley at point guard.

Nebraska’s Her Hoop Stats team rating took a tiny dip (22.4 in 23-24), but the offense improved, both in scoring (+3.1 PPG) and efficiency (+3.0 FG%). The largest area of growth came from behind the arc, with Nebraska improving its three-point shooting by four percentage points, climbing from the bottom third of the Big Ten all the way to the conference leader.
The offense thrived on ball movement, ranking 11th in the NCAA in assists per game, and 19th in assist-to-turnover ratio. The rebounding remained strong, just not as strong as the Big Ten-leading 55.3% rate from a season prior.
The struggle area came defensively, where the Cornhuskers allowed four more points per contest. Teams scored 0.93 points per play against Nebraska, which was bottom 100 in the country, partially in thanks to lackluster perimeter defense, but also due to a lack of turnovers forced by the Cornhuskers — the 16.99% opponent turnover rate was 299th in the nation.
The result was another very similar season to the one before it, at least in win count. But considering that Nebraska was dealt a brutal season-ending injury very early, and had a true freshman point guard running a lot of the show, these were not bad results for head coach Amy Williams to build off.
Here's last year’s Nebraska roster, sorted by Her Hoop Stats win shares:

Departures
Nebraska loses just four players from last year’s team, none of which are through the transfer portal. That’s big for this team, especially when one of those exits is Alexis Markowski.
Markowski has been a key performer for Nebraska ever since she stepped on campus. She was a constant interior weapon and a terrific rebounder, and then she started hitting threes with solid consistency right at the back end of last season. She was a terrific player all four years with this program and will be a tough void to fill.
Alberte Rimdal was a new transfer addition last season, but made the most of her time with Nebraska and, truthfully, had a good enough year that I should have considered her more strongly for Sixth Player of the Year in the conference. She nearly averaged a 50/40/90 from the field and was a solid passing guard as well for the second group.
Both Kendalls — Coley and Moriary — spent their whole collegiate careers in Lincoln, and while they remained depth pieces in their final seasons, both were a steady piece of the large rotation that Williams utilized last year.
Returnees

Britt Prince’s freshman season was full of promise, and she will now be tasked with leading the team in year two. Credit: Scott Bruhn, Nebraska Athletics
Britt Prince came in with five-star expectations and absolutely met them in her first year with Nebraska. She started all 30 games she played, and was a terrific versatile offensive weapon that was able to hit significant shots for the team time after time. The trust that Williams, and the Nebraska roster, had in Prince so quickly is a great sign for what is to come.
With no Markowski, the weight of the offense is likely going to fall more in Prince’s hands, but nothing I saw last year gives me concern for what that will mean for the team. She is also adding big help in Natalie Potts, who tore her ACL five games into what can only be described as a flamethrower-level start to her second season. Yes, that 72.7 percent from three number is accurate.
While Markowski was stretching her game out at the end of last season, Potts’ game thrives on doing that, and it should make for a even more layered attack if she can come back at full strength.
Callin Hake and Logan Nissley were the next guards as it came to significant action last year, with Hake being the better passer and disruptor while Nissley’s strength is in hitting a whole lot of threes. Both are likely to see similar roles once again, and would only benefit from an offense that is even more focused on stretching opponents out to the perimeter.
Amiah Hargrove is a name I’m watching out for this year after an under-the-radar freshman season that had some tremendous numbers in only 14 minutes per game. She can bring a little more size to the wing position at 6-2 and should see much more action, especially if she can keep hitting half of her threes.
Jessica Petrie and Petra Bozan ultimately filled in for Potts’ absence, with Petrie earning the bulk of the starts and performing well. Bozan only averaged 11 minutes per game in her freshman season, and like Hargrove, did enough with those minutes that I think she could be in for a expanded spot in the lineup for year two.
Nebraska’s entire 12-player roster, outside of Kennadi Williams who redshirted, averaged 9+ minutes per game. Williams really got the most out of her team’s depth, and I think it was part of what made the Cornhuskers so dangerous late in the season, especially in the Big Ten Tournament playing on consecutive days. It also allowed for a lot of new faces to get serious game action, which should only help the team moving forward.
Incoming Players

Despite not losing anyone to the portal, Nebraska went out and added four players, many of which should be heavily involved in this new rotation.
Eliza Maupin was never able to find a consistent starting spot for Kansas State, but with Markowski gone, the opportunity is here for her to do so. Her scoring numbers don’t fly off the page, but she is one of the most efficient post players in the country (15th in NCAA last season, fourth in 23-24) and is a great rebound and shot blocker along with it. She feels like a great complement to Potts’ skillset if Williams decides to play them together.
I’m a big fan of the Claire Johnson addition for a team that I believe should full commit to shooting the lights out on their opponents for the near future. Johnson put up some really great numbers as a first-year player for Samford, specifically from behind the arc, and should quickly find her place in the rotation because of it.
Emily Fisher and Hailey Weaver are a pair of in-conference transfers that have understandably looked for a change of scenery. Fisher was a great high school prospect that couldn’t find her way into more action for the Terps. Weaver sat out last season, but had been productive for Northwestern in the year prior, though it did not lead to many wins for the team.
Of the two, I’d suspect Weaver to see some quicker action based on her in-game experience, but as said already, if last year is the model, both of these players will get on the floor.
The lone incoming freshman is guard Alanna Neale, who Williams said uses her skillset “to impact the game on both sides of the ball and as a rebounding guard.” She also emphasizes Neale’s potential and ceiling, which may be more significant considering just how much depth Nebraska appears to have once again.
Outlook
Projected Starters
Britt Prince - G
Callin Hake - G
Logan Nissley - G
Natalie Potts - F
Eliza Maupin - C
Big Ten Finish: 10th
Nebraska does not feel like a bottom-half team, so I’m choosing to not look at this as a bottom-half selection. Instead, consider that the Cornhuskers have cracked the Top 10 in this monstrous conference, and I’m really excited to see what style of play they come out with this season.
Prince is going to lead the charge, and Potts is going to be the 1A-1B co-star assuming she is back to full strength, but I could see some shifting to the starting lineup anywhere else. Hake and Nissley’s experience with the team at this point gives them the edge, and would make Nebraska a very difficult team to stop offensively, but I think both Hargrove and Johnson will push them hard for a starting opportunity.
Finally, I’m going to give Maupin the edge to win the starting center spot, though Petrie and Bozan are absolutely reasonable choices to do it. I like Maupin’s scoring consistency inside, and I believe she can add a little bit more defensive prowess to a team that lost some of that last year.
In recent years, it has felt like Nebraska, at its best, is a team that absolutely no one wants to see. This edition of the Cornhuskers looks no different. While there are certain question marks about how this team can defend, and there are some slightly unproven pieces that will need to step up, there’s also so many versatile scoring weapons for Williams to work through, along with her star point guard entering her sophomore season.
If the team can stay together the ways it has over the last few transfer portal cycles, next year’s Nebraska could be truly terrifying. As it stands for 25-26, Nebrasketball may be a little streaky once again, but it should also be able to make its mark on the conference in similar ways to the past few seasons.
Photo Credit: Scott Bruhn, Nebraska Athletics
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