r/NCAAW • • 6h ago

User Poll 2026-27 NCAAW Mid-Major+ User Poll Ballot: Preseason (Week 1) plus 2025-26 final poll ballot, resources and useful links

4 Upvotes

This is not the main NCAAW user poll ballot, for that go here. The link to vote for this poll is at the bottom.

All teams excluding those from the ACC, B10, B12, BE & SEC are eligible for this poll. Note: As with the last season Oregon St and Washington St are still included. The rest of the new Pac-12 is also eligible

The "+" in this poll's name is a nod to the varied usage of the term "mid-major", as there are teams in this poll sometimes discussed as outliers, high or low majors etc. and the scope of this poll includes ALL teams outside of the 5 conferences mentioned above. Mid-Major is not an official term used by the NCAA and is not interpreted the same by all. The primary purpose of this poll is for starting conversations about the teams themselves, not the concept of a mid-major. Remember have fun and be courteous to others!

Staying with top 20 team rankings for now (same as last season) is the plan.

Ranking teams in conferences with less media coverage in the preseason is a unique challenge. The information is not always fully available on transfers, recruits, injuries and eligibility. We do the best with what we have. Just be ready to scrap your preseason prognostications once game results start rolling in, and don’t get too attached to your predictions.

This poll utilizes a drop down menu that abbreviates many teams with geographic/compass directions. For example: C. Arkansas for Central Arkansas & W. Carolina for Western Carolina. Some teams won't have these abbreviations and a small number of team names may vary on different websites compared to the ballot list, but hopefully it should be pretty straightforward. If there are any errors with names or name changes that haven't updated properly, I always try to make corrections on my posts if teams make the poll. Otherwise if there’s any confusion at all about the drop down menu or if you can't find a team, please feel free to contact me by asking on the ballot post or try reddit chat.

Expect for the foreseeable future this will be free to all voters, no application required, just like the main NCAAW user poll. User names are required for submitting ballots, in case any follow up is required, but ballots will be anonymous and not shared with the results for the time being.

I don’t anticipate there to be many voters here that don’t already participate in the main NCAAW user poll. However, if this would be the first poll for any voters and you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section.

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Not a guide to tell you who to vote for, but just food for thought, here are some links that may be fun to look at while pondering your preseason rankings:

All preseason conference media and coaches polls in one place:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NCAAW/comments/1ok3gen/all_202526_preseason_conference_media_and_coaches/

A few teams eligible for this poll received votes on the AP and Coaches polls: https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

Websites that do preseason polls or previews:

https://www.midmajormadness.com/general/37298/the-womens-other-top-25-fairfield

https://www.theixsports.com/category/the-ix-basketball-newsroom/ncaa-basketball/mid-majors/

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/50266970/2026-27-conference-predictions-champion-player-year

https://www.nocapspacewbb.com/t/ncaa-basketball

Podcasts:

Anything But Mid has conference previews and some coach interviews

Otherwise options for podcasts are limited options currently. There may be some more material available when the WNBA finals finish

Barttorvik preseason rankings:

Note I am not certain the formula used for Barttorvik's preseason women's rankings and to what degree it is limited to prior season data based on returning players (freshman appear missing as of now on rosters, and it shows this season's sophomores still listed as freshman) https://barttorvik.com/ncaaw/trank.php?year=2027&sort=&hteam=&t2value=&conlimit=mid&state=All&begin=20261015&end=20270501&top=0&revquad=0&quad=5&venue=All&type=All&mingames=0#

Roster data courtesy of u/dwillis: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCAAW/comments/1x7y7qf/202627_ncaa_wbb_roster_data/

Coaching changes, you can sort by longest or shortest tenure clicking the "first season" column arrows:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_NCAA_Division_I_women%27s_basketball_coaches

Incoming Freshman:

https://www.espn.com/high-school/girls-basketball/recruiting/rankings/scnext100girls/_/class/2026

https://247sports.com/season/2026-womens-basketball/RecruitRankings/

Data on T-rank has been added back to 2020-21. This also allows you to sort rankings by data across seasons (or you can do partial seasons), using the "start" and "end" filters. Here are the rankings of eligible teams based on Barttorvik's algorithms from 2020-21 through the most recent season:

https://barttorvik.com/ncaaw/?year=2026&sort=&hteam=&t2value=&conlimit=mid&state=All&begin=20201101&end=20261001&top=0&revquad=0&quad=5&venue=All&type=All&mingames=0#

By clicking on team pages you can view also rosters on barttorvik, excluding freshman I believe, with stats from their most recent season played (on the preseason 2027 page). By clicking on players you can also see their previous seasons and team histories.

For transfer information, this may not be an exhaustive list of resources, but here are a few options:

Behind a paywall https://www.theixsports.com/the-ix-basketball-newsroom/ncaa-basketball/mid-majors/2026-womens-basketball-transfer-portal-tracker-mid-majors/

Behind a paywall https://www.theixsports.com/the-ix-basketball-newsroom/ncaa-basketball/2026-womens-basketball-transfer-portal-tracker-power-five/

https://wbbblog.com/

The next few links have had material in previous years, but have not updated yet or do ratings/rankings that only start updating and changing once the season starts. Note that a few of them do not adjust at all for preseason by nature of their design:

Her Hoops Stats hasn't posted watchlists for Mid-Major Player or Mid-Major Coach of the Year posted at this time

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/womens-basketball/top-44-previews not available

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketballw/2026/index

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/seasons/women/2027-ratings.html

https://masseyratings.com/cbw/ncaa-d1/ratings

https://omnirankings.com/wcb/Macro/Team%20Ratings.htm

https://sonnymoorepowerratings.com/w-basket.htm

http://www.realtimerpi.com/rpi_Women.html

If anyone else has some interesting links to share relevant to this poll please chime in!

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Google form links to vote:

For those that might find it helpful to review the previous season's teams and rosters where they finished off I'm also including an option to vote in a final poll for the 2025-26 end of season, since we skipped doing the typical one after the postseason. I'll try to post those results for this 2025-26 final poll at least a day before this 2026-27 preseason poll in case anyone wants to dive deeper into how those teams look for the new season.

2025-26 Final poll ballot for the previous season: https://forms.gle/jHngG3Km5HUw3phGA

2026-27 preseason ballot: https://forms.gle/NE8MPuWm4WL4D5cK6

This 2025-26 final poll will lock Thursday night around midnight ET and the 2026-27 Preseason poll will lock Friday night around midnight ET

After submitting, you can still reopen this link to edit your ballot until the poll locks!


r/NCAAW • • 1d ago

User Poll r/NCAAW 2026-27 Preseason Top 25 Poll

14 Upvotes

We’re about ready to start the new season so that means it’s time again for the preseason top 25 poll! Hope you all are ready to get things started and what better way to do so! We’ve had some solid turnout for our polls and we look to continue that as we welcome back all our returning members and hope to have some new ones joining in the fun.

CLICK HERE to cast your ballot. We’ll close the poll down on Thursday at 9PM (EST).


r/NCAAW • • 4h ago

Discussion What are you excited to see from your team?

11 Upvotes

Season starts in just 5 days so curious what everyone is looking forward to and optimistic about their teams? Before the reality hits in the coming weeks of course!

As a UConn fan I am excited to see how this group grows and gets better, I actually think its a pretty well balanced roster in terms of skill sets and I really think Olivia gives UConn a low post back to the basket weapon they've been missing since Steph Dolson graduated. Its also been really exciting watching Sarah adjust to be THE player both in terms of her leadership and her aggressiveness on the court. Its been a very welcome change seeing our best players take 15-20 shots a game in the preseason even when she hasn't been hitting. Actually its refreshing she's shooting that much BECAUSE she hasn't been hitting at her normal rate.

Anyways definitely expect us to lose 2-4 games in the OOC schedule, especially as we get healthy and work through growing pains, but it will be nice to watch them grow and adjust throughout the season. Feels like the pressure is off a bit this year compared to the last few seasons with no Paige or Azzi so will be nice to be a little under the radar with the star power as USC and the incredible roster SC has.

What are you excited about seeing from your team this season?


r/NCAAW • • 5h ago

News Riley Weiss Named to Naismith’s Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List

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2 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 5h ago

Analysis Preseason AP Top 25 teams’ 2026-27 schedules: games vs. the Top 25, other top-75 teams and everyone else [OC]

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10 Upvotes

South Carolina plays 15 preseason Top 25 teams, the most by a distance. UCLA is next with 13. West Virginia and TCU play only 4, and No. 2 UConn has 16 games against teams outside last season’s top 75.


r/NCAAW • • 6h ago

News 2026-10-27: Taylor Thierry is working for Ohio State during the 2026-2027 season!

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5 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 10h ago

News All 2026-27 NCAAW preseason conference media and coaches polls in one place

16 Upvotes
A10
1. Saint Joseph’s (14) 196
2. Davidson 181
3. George Washington 141
4. George Mason 138
5. Dayton 127
6. Saint Louis 123
7. VCU 106
8. Richmond 101
9. Rhode Island 97
10. La Salle 78
11. St. Bonaventure 59
12. Duquesne 51
13. Fordham 40
14. Loyola Chicago 32

ACC
1. Duke (49) 1649
2. Louisville (22) 1580
3. North Carolina (1) 1462
4. Notre Dame (4) 1450
5. NC State 1337
6. Virginia 1085
7. Syracuse 1009
8. Virginia Tech 1003
9. Clemson 988
10. California 786
11. Miami 689
12. Georgia Tech 684
13. Stanford 674
14. Florida State 603
15. SMU 373
16. Wake Forest 296
17. Pitt 236
18. Boston College 170

America East
1. Binghamton (6) 60
2. UMBC (2) 57
3. Vermont (1) 48
4. Maine 41
5. Bryant 40
6. NJIT 29
7. UAlbany 25
8. New Hampshire 16
9. UMass Lowell 8

American
1. Rice (10) 142
2. UTSA (2) 125
3. South Florida (1) 121
4. Tulsa 117
5. Temple 96
6. UNT 87
7. East Carolina 82
8. Florida Atlantic 60
9. Memphis 54
10. Charlotte 44
11. Tulane 41
12. UAB 26
13. Wichita State 19

ASUN
No 2026-27 media/coaches poll

B10
No 2026-27 media/coaches poll

B12
1. Oklahoma State (7) 215
2. TCU (6) 212
3. Baylor (2) 199
4. West Virginia (1) 186
5. Kansas 160
6. Arizona State 143
7. BYU 137
8. Colorado 126
9. K-State 121
10. Texas Tech 103
11. Iowa State 78
12. Utah 77
13. Arizona 55
14. Cincinnati 43
15. Houston 38
16. UCF 27

Big East
1. UConn (10) 100
2. Villanova (1) 90
3. Creighton 78
4. St. John’s 68
5. Seton Hall 67
6. Marquette 60
7. Providence 38
8. Georgetown 36
9. Xavier 29
10. Butler 21
11. DePaul 18

Big Sky Coaches Poll
1. Montana State (9) 99
2. Idaho (2) 90
3. Northern Colorado 76
4. Eastern Washington 71
5. Southern Utah 67
6. Montana 54
7. Idaho State 49
8. Weber State 32
9. Portland State 30
10. Northern Arizona 27
11. Utah Tech 10

Big Sky Media Poll
1. Montana State (23) 283
2. Idaho (3) 254
3. Northern Colorado 214
4. Eastern Washington 197
5. Southern Utah 173
6. Idaho State 157
7. Montana 149
8. Northern Arizona 110
9. Weber State 70
10. Portland State 63
11. Utah Tech 46

Big South
T1. High Point (4) 75
T1. Radford (4) 75
3. Longwood 63
4. Gardner-Webb 43
T5. UNC Asheville (1) 41
T5. Winthrop 41
7. USC Upstate 36
8. Presbyterian College 18
9. Charleston Southern 13

Big West
1. UC San Diego (10) 120
2. UC Irvine (1) 108
3. UC Santa Barbara 94
4. California Baptist 93
5. Sacramento State (1) 88
6. Utah Valley 70
7. UC Riverside 59
8. CSUN 53
9. Cal Poly 35
T10. Cal State Bakersfield 25
T10. Long Beach State 25
12. Cal State Fullerton 22

CAA
1. Monmouth (12) 144
2. Elon 116
3. Drexel 109
4. William & Mary (1) 108
5. Towson 99
6. North Carolina A&T 89
7. Stony Brook 88
8. Charleston 71
9. Hofstra 56
10. Hampton 51
11. Northeastern 35
12. Campbell 30
13. UNCW 18

CUSA
1. Missouri State (8) 90
2. MTSU (1) 84
3. Liberty (1) 83
4. FIU 70
5. Sam Houston 60
6. WKU 42
7. Delaware 37
8. NM State 31
9. Jax State 29
10. Kennesaw State 24

Horizon
1. Green Bay 142
2. Youngstown State 132
3. RMU 112
4. Oakland 108
5. IU Indianapolis 86
6. Northern Kentucky 79
7. Cleveland State 68
8. NIU 54
9. Detroit Mercy 51
10. Milwaukee 40
11. Purdue Fort Wayne 34
12. Wright State 30

Ivy
1. Princeton (15) 161
2. Columbia (5) 149
3. Harvard (1) 131
4. Penn 104
5. Brown 74
6. Cornell 60
7. Yale 48
8. Dartmouth 29

MAC
1. Ball State (5) 111
2. Miami (4) 108
3. UMass (1) 103
4. Toledo (2) 98
5. Ohio 75
6. Eastern Michigan 61
7. Kent State 59
8. Bowling Green 50
9. Central Michigan 44
10. Western Michigan 37
11. Akron 27
12. Buffalo 19

MEAC
1. Howard (10) 86
2. Norfolk State 76
3. Maryland Eastern Shore (1) 56
4. Coppin State 47
5. Morgan State 40
6. North Carolina Central 36
7. Delaware State 34
8. South Carolina State 17

Metro
1. Fairfield (13) 169
2. Siena 141
3. Sacred Heart 134
4. Iona 127
5. Mount St. Mary's 108
6. Quinnipiac 103
7. Marist 87
8. Manhattan 83
9. Merrimack 80
10. Saint Peter's 50
11. Rider 43
12. Canisius 42
13. Niagara 16

Mountain West
1. UNLV (16) 193
2. Grand Canyon (5) 180
3. UC Davis 127
4. Hawaii 125
5. New Mexico (1) 123
6. Air Force 107
7. Wyoming 84
8. Nevada 83
9. UTEP 56
10. San Jose State 32

MVC (Only top 6 provided by conference)
1. Murray State (41) 477
2. Illinois State 396
3. Belmont (2) 375
4. Northern Iowa (1) 343
5. Drake 317
6. UIC 267

NEC
1. FDU (6)
2. Mercyhurst (1)
3. Stonehill (2)
4. Le Moyne
5. LIU
6. Wagner
7. Chicago State
8. New Haven
9. CCSU

OVC
1. Southern Indiana (8) 122
2. SIUE (4) 113
3. Western Illinois (1) 85
4. UT Martin 78
5. Lindenwood 68
6. Southeast Missouri 62
7. Eastern Illinois 50
8. Morehead State 41
9. Tennessee State 29

Pac-12
No 2026-27 media/coaches poll

Patriot
1. Navy (9) 81
2. Army West Point 71
3. Lehigh (1) 67
4. Holy Cross 53
5. Lafayette 52
6. Bucknell 37
7. Boston University 26
8. Colgate 22
9. Loyola Maryland 21
10. American 20

SEC Coaches Poll
1. South Carolina 239
2. Texas 215
T3. LSU 204
T3. Vanderbilt 204
5. Kentucky 182
6. Oklahoma 163
7. Ole Miss 157
8. Tennessee 124
9. Mississippi State 120
10. Texas A&M 93
11. Florida 85
12. Missouri 78
T13. Alabama 55
T13. Georgia 55
15. Auburn 44
16. Arkansas 22

SEC Media Poll
1. South Carolina
2. Texas
3. LSU
4. Vanderbilt
5. Kentucky
6. Oklahoma
7. Ole Miss
8. Tennessee
9. Mississippi State
10. Alabama
11. Texas A&M
12. Florida
13. Georgia
14. Missouri
15. Auburn
16. Arkansas

SoCon
1. Furman (3) 56
2. Wofford (2) 54
3. Samford (2) 50
4. ETSU (1) 44
5. Chattanooga (1) 40
6. Tennessee Tech 28
7. Mercer 27
8. UNCG 17
9. Western Carolina 8

Southland
1. Lamar (6) 116
2. SFA (5) 113
3. UTRGV (1) 98
4. UIW 79
5. McNeese (1) 71
6. East Texas A&M 68
7. Northwestern State 54
8. HCU 52
9. A&M-Corpus Christi 48
10. Southeastern 40
11. Nicholls 34
12. LSU New Orleans 19

Summit
1. North Dakota State (24) 456
2. South Dakota State (8) 429
3. South Dakota 359
4. St. Thomas 283
5. Oral Roberts 253
6. Kansas City 212
7. Omaha 151
8. North Dakota 121

Sun Belt
1. James Madison (11) 189
2. Troy 166
3. Arkansas State (1) 165
4. Marshall (1) 151
5. Louisiana Tech (1) 148
6. Old Dominion 106
T7. Coastal Carolina 99
T7. Southern Miss 99
9. App State 79
10. ULM 77
11. Georgia Southern 62
12. South Alabama 61
13. Louisiana 42
14. Georgia State 26

SWAC (discrepancy on some pages whether it’s 123 and 128 for Jackson St)
1. Southern (10) 234
2. Alabama A&M (8) 229
3. Alabama State 195
4. Alcorn State 183
5. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3) 169
6. Grambling State (1) 162
7. Florida A&M 128
8. Jackson State 123 --- or T7 128
9. Bethune-Cookman 97
10. Texas Southern 94
11. Mississippi Valley State 65
12. Prairie View A&M 31

UAC
No 2026-27 media/coaches poll

WCC
1. Santa Clara (4) 74
2. Portland (4) 71
3. LMU (2) 63
4. Pepperdine 59
5. San Francisco 58
6. San Diego 35
7. Pacific 34
8. Seattle U 24
9. Saint Mary's 22
10. Denver 10

r/NCAAW • • 1d ago

Highlight Duke WBB 2026–27 Roster Breakdown! New Stars, Tough Schedule & Championship Hopes

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2 Upvotes

🔥 DUKE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL IS LOADING UP! But can the Blue Devils make a championship run in 2026–27? #dukewbb #davissportsreport


r/NCAAW • • 1d ago

Post-Game Thread Notre Dame vs. Truman State exhibition

7 Upvotes

Listened to Notre Dame’s 125-59 exhibition win over Truman State.

Hannah was Hannah with 33 points and 7 steals! Redshirt freshman Leah Macy nearly had a triple-double with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists after not playing for almost two years. Freshmen impressed with Jenica Lewis 21 points and 6 3's, Jacy Abii added 20 points, 6 rebounds, and Amari Byles with 11 pts. Transfer Madison St. Rose 14 pts. Many other contributors!

A lot to like for fans. Next up: Villanova in Rome! 🇮🇹☘️

Edit: correctedly identified Freshmen!


r/NCAAW • • 1d ago

News Skylar Diggins at Notre Dame

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69 Upvotes

Skylar Diggins has been hired as special advisor to Niele Ivey & will help mentor players off the court!


r/NCAAW • • 2d ago

Game Thread California @ #3 USC Exhibition

22 Upvotes

bootleg game thread
broadcasted on B1G+


r/NCAAW • • 2d ago

Game Thread #11 UCLA @ #6 Texas Exhibition

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20 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 2d ago

Game Thread Game Thread: UConn vs Army Exhibition, 2026-10-25

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16 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 3d ago

News Maryland beat UNC 82-78 in exhibition

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29 Upvotes

Got to attend this. UNC really missed Toomey on the boards. Harpring looks like she will easily be the best freshman Banghart has had.


r/NCAAW • • 3d ago

Discussion The 2026-27 Women's Basketball First-Team All-Name Team (All Levels)

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122 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 4d ago

News Story on Jordyn Palmer (ESPN 2027 No. 7) and her college commitment to South Carolina

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31 Upvotes

Been covering Jordyn since since she was in 8th grade and thought the sub might appreciate a more in-depth article on the newest Gamecock commit.


r/NCAAW • • 4d ago

Recruiting Jordyn Palmer Commits to the University of South Carolina

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114 Upvotes

Dawn gets another birdie!


r/NCAAW • • 4d ago

Analysis The preseason AP Top 25 vs. last season's final AP poll [OC]

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25 Upvotes

The open circle is each team's preseason rank, and the filled dot is where it finished in last season's final poll, released after the title game.

Biggest slide: UCLA won the title and finished No. 1. It opens at No. 11. Virginia fell about as far, from No. 19 to out of the poll.

Biggest climb: USC goes from unranked to No. 3. Washington jumps from No. 25 to 16.

New to the poll: USC, Oklahoma State, Illinois and NC State.

Dropped out: Virginia, Michigan State, Baylor and Alabama.

Who's ranked too high, or too low?


r/NCAAW • • 5d ago

Social Media UCONN HUSKIES UPGRADED LOCKER ROOM!!

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10 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 5d ago

Game Thread LSU vs UNT exhibition game today

9 Upvotes

The game is at 7pm CT.

Edit: The game is on SECN+.


r/NCAAW • • 6d ago

Recruiting Zaniya Gamecock

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40 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 7d ago

Brag/Complain Fighting Illini Checking in at No. 23 🔶🔷

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21 Upvotes

For the better part of two decades, Illinois women's basketball was basically a doormat in the Big Ten. Outside of some really successful years under Theresa Grentz in the late 1990s, the program spent much of the 2000s and 2010s struggling to stay competitive, let alone earn national recognition. By the time Shauna Green arrived in 2022, Illinois hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and was coming off a miserable 7–20 season with just one conference victory. What she's accomplished since then is pretty remarkable. Illinois has put together four consecutive winning seasons, made three NCAA Tournament appearances, won the 2024 WBIT championship, and become a nationally ranked program again. Now they're entering the 2026–27 season ranked No. 23 in the country. For a program that spent so many years near the bottom of the Big Ten, that's an enormous achievement. Green hasn't just made Illinois respectable again; she's completely changed the expectations surrounding women's basketball in Champaign Illinois.


r/NCAAW • • 7d ago

Analysis All AP Voter Ballots - Preseason

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68 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 7d ago

Recruiting Top 2027 recruit (#48 overall and four stars) Maci Pringle has committed to Tennessee.

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7 Upvotes

r/NCAAW • • 7d ago

Recruiting Jordyn Palmer set to announce commitment an hour before Gamecock scrimmage 🤔

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16 Upvotes