March Madness gives college basketball’s best players the stage to become transcendent.
In recent years, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon’s run to the 2019 Final Four, and the 2023 national championship game matchup between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have launched these names into the stratosphere.
The 2025 NCAA Women’s Tournament field includes a variety of standouts poised to break out in their own right. If you are reading this, we’ll assume you have consistent internet access and thus have not been living in a cave, so you are already familiar with JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers.
College basketball’s two biggest superstars in 2025 can certainly solidify their name recognition by leading either Southern California (Watkins) or UConn (Bueckers) to a national championship. But aside from the two megastars, the following 10 NCAA Tournament ballers have the game to become household names.
Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
Huge talent sometimes comes in small packages. Kentucky combo guard Georgia Amoore is living proof.
Improving on her double-figure scoring average each year, the 5-foot-6 senior leads Kentucky with 19.1 points per game. Amoore also drives the Wildcats’ offense as one of the top distributors in the nation, averaging 6.9 assists.
The guard’s dual playmaking ability at her size is reminiscent of current South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley during Staley’s University of Virginia playing days.
Lauren Betts, UCLA
The team that might be the biggest threat to South Carolina’s national championship reign is Big Ten tournament champion UCLA. At the center of the Bruins’ title aspirations is Lauren Betts, a dominant 6-foot-7 force in the paint.
Betts is averaging just shy of a double-double with 19.6 points — on an outstanding 63.4 percent field-goal shooting — and 9.7 rebounds. Beyond her ability to score in the interior and control the glass, however, Betts can take over a game entirely on the defensive end.
She put an exclamation point on her Big Ten tournament Most Valuable Player selection and UCLA’s title with four blocks and four steals, while helping limit USC’s JuJu Watkins to 9-of-28 shooting (32.1 percent) from the field.
Kendall Bostic, Illinois
Double-double machine Kendall Bostic leads Illinois’ dreams of a Cinderella run as a No. 8 seed. With Bostic on the court, the Illini have the building block to compete with any opponent, including the Birmingham region’s No. 1 seed, Texas.
Bostic averages 15.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game and has also established herself as a rigid defensive rim protector. While Bostic’s game suggests she’s an old-school post presence, she has stepped out to the perimeter offensively more this season to help open up the floor. That added element to her game makes Bostic all the more dangerous.
Alyssa Durazo-Frescas, Grand Canyon
What’s March without Cinderella stories? A year after its men’s program nearly advanced to the Sweet 16, it’s the Grand Canyon women’s turn — and key to an Antelopes run is prolific 3-point shooter Alyssa Durazo-Frescas.
With a career 43.5 percent average from beyond the arc, including her role as a specialist for NCAA Tournament teams at UNLV, Durazo-Frescas is shooting an incredible 47 percent on 8.5 attempts per game for Grand Canyon.
Her 124 made 3-pointers in 31 games this season leads Division I, and she has 11 games in 2024-25 where she knocked down at least five. If Durazo-Frescas gets hot in the Tournament, Grand Canyon will be a real threat to move onto the second weekend.
Azzi Fudd, UConn
After a sensational freshman season, injuries limited Azzi Fudd to just 17 combined games in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. She returned to full strength in 2024-25 as a dangerous deep weapon for the Huskies, knocking down 43.4 percent of her 5.2 3-point attempts per game.
Fudd heads into the NCAA Tournament coming off UConn’s Big East Championship win over Creighton, where she knocked down three treys. With defenses forced to key in on Bueckers, Fudd’s sharpshooting from beyond the arc positions her as a potential breakout sensation in the Huskies’ pursuit of a 12th national championship.
Kiki Iriafen, Southern California
Watkins, the frontrunner for National Player of the Year honors, was predictably sensational when USC completed a regular-season sweep of rival and No. 1-ranked UCLA on March 1. Following the game, though, coach Lindsay Gottlieb lavished effusive praise on the veteran savvy and physical tenacity of Kiki Iriafen.
A perfect complement to Watkins, the 6-foot-3 Iriafen handles a lot of the dirty work on the interior — but makes it look good. Her ability to go for 20-10 takes a ton of pressure off Watkins, which is good for the Trojans’ national championship prospects.
Chloe Kitts, South Carolina
Powerhouse South Carolina isn’t built on individual stardom, so Chloe Kitts’ season averages of 10.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game are not as eye-popping as some of the other players who appear here.
Thriving within the balanced framework of coach Staley’s approach, however, Kitts has the ability to shine brighter than anyone else on the court. Her SEC MVP performance, including a 15-point, nine-rebound and three-assist showing in the conference title rout of Texas, proved that Kitts doesn’t need to put up the biggest individual numbers to take center stage — as long as the Gamecocks continue to roll as a team.
Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
Notre Dame heads into this NCAA Tournament with a pair of bonafide stars in 24.2-point-per-game scorer Hannah Hidalgo and senior combo guard Olivia Miles.
With Miles beginning her final college stretch before entering the WNBA as a potential top-five pick, this tournament is her opportunity to put a final stamp on Notre Dame’s illustrious legacy.
One of the best all-around players in the nation, Miles averages 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. She’s posted three triple-doubles this season, and feeding off Hidalgo, don’t be surprised if Miles posts another in March Madness.
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Aneesah Morrow traded in a spot as the clear-cut star at DePaul to play a role in LSU’s pursuit of a repeat a season ago. Fast forward a year, and Morrow has returned to the starring role, this time delivering the same kind of standout play that made her the Blue Demons’ A-1, now while in purple and gold.
Morrow is the nation’s leading rebounder at 13.6 per game and LSU’s second-leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. Adding more than two steals, Morrow’s vital to all phases of the Tigers’ title hopes.
Hailey Van Lith, TCU
A budding star at Louisville, Hailey Van Lith seemed to be sometimes lost in the shuffle after transferring to LSU. At TCU, Van Lith has reached new heights in leading the Horned Frogs to an all-time great season in program history.
Her sensational combination of scoring and distributing offensive game powers TCU’s 77.6-point-per-game output. Van Lith’s 17.9 points and 5.3 assists lead the Birmingham region’s No. 2 seed in pursuit of the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance.
–Field Level Media
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