Wisconsin women’s basketball saw a turbulent 2024-25 season to say the least.
After starting the season with a 10-2 record, the Badgers would go on to lose eight straight games in Big Ten play. And to close out the season, Wisconsin went 3-6 in its last nine games, securing one of the last two spots in the Big Ten Tournament.
Junior forward Serah Williams was a bright spot on the team during this stretch, leaving it all on the floor for the Badgers. Williams ended the year averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds on 49.3% shooting from the field.
Wisconsin matched up against Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the last team they played in the regular season. The Badgers left Iowa City with a loss in their first meeting, although it was a hard-fought performance that could be used the second time around.
It wasn’t meant to be for Wisconsin, however, as they fell to Iowa in the second meeting of the season in convincing fashion.
Following their exit from the Big Ten Tournament on March 5, the Badgers saw instant shakeups entering the offseason period.
Four days after their tournament loss, former head coach Marisa Moseley stepped away from the position after four years with the program. Her departure left a vacancy that Wisconsin sought to fill quickly.
A little over two weeks after Moseley stepped down, University of Wisconsin Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh announced that Wisconsin had found their new head coach. Robin Pingeton, who spent 15 years as the head coach of Missouri, would take on the role for the Badgers.
Pingeton led Missouri to four NCAA Tournament appearances over her tenure, with 10 overall postseason appearances for the Tigers.
Pingeton will have her hands full in the coming weeks to field a roster of 15 players for the 2025-26 season. Nine of the 15 players on the 2024-25 roster will no longer be with the team due to either entering the transfer portal or graduation.
Those nine players include Williams, center Carter McCray and three-year guard Ronnie Porter. The top six scorers from last season will be leaving Wisconsin, leaving a massive gap to fill.
If you’re a glass half-full type of person, the addition of a new head coach and Wisconsin needing to fill roster spots through the transfer portal will bring exciting change to the program.
It also provides those six players who remained on the Badgers to pursue far greater playing time next season. Four of the six players on the current roster are sophomores, so their development is something to look forward to.
In the upcoming weeks and months, the 2025-26 Wisconsin women’s basketball team will take shape, with the regular season always closer than it seems. For now, however, Pingeton and the rest of the staff will lay down the blueprint for a new era of women’s basketball in Madison.
