The Nebraska women’s basketball team will enter the 2022-23 season at No. 22 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll, announced on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
It is Nebraska’s first Preseason AP Top 25 ranking since 2014. The Huskers are coming off a 24-9 campaign when they finished No. 23 in the NET rankings after earning a trip to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. NU, which was a No. 8 seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, returned five starters from last year’s unit before graduate guard Sam Haiby suffered a season-ending knee injury in September.
Despite the loss of Haiby, a two-time All-Big Ten guard, the Huskers previously added transfer Maddie Krull to the roster, a two-year starting guard at South Dakota, who helped lead the Coyotes to the 2022 NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
The Huskers are expected to be led by preseason first-team All-Big Ten center Alexis Markowski. The 6-2 sophomore from Lincoln averaged 12.8 points and a team-best 8.0 rebounds on her way to Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year honors in 2022. She was a second-team All-Big Ten pick and the only unanimous vote-getter on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Junior guard Jaz Shelley, a second-team All-Big Ten choice and a member of the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, returns for her second season in the Husker lineup. The 5-9 guard from Moe, Australia, led the Huskers in scoring (13.1 ppg), assists (5.0 apg), steals (1.8 spg) and blocks (0.9 bpg) while ranking among team leaders with 6.3 rebounds per game. One of the nation’s best shooting guards, Shelley knocked down 82 three-pointers (.406) on the season, including a school-record nine threes in a 32-point performance in a win over Illinois in the second round of the 2022 Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.
Fellow Australian Isabelle Bourne returns at the power forward spot for the Big Red. The 6-2 junior from Canberra, Australia is entering her third year as a team captain. Bourne is a two-time honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection after averaging 13.6 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2020-21 and 11.1 points and 4.5 boards in 2021-22.
Sophomore Allison Weidner rounds out the list of Nebraska’s returning starters. The 5-10 guard from Humphrey, Neb., started Nebraska’s final eight games of 2021-22. She finished the year with averages of 7.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
The Huskers also feature experienced returning players in Annika Stewart, Kendall Coley, Kendall Moriarty, Trinity Brady and Nailah Dillard, along with talented freshmen Callin Hake and Maggie Mendelson. The 6-5 Mendelson is currently a member of the No. 3 Nebraska volleyball team and is expected to join the basketball team full time at the conclusion of the volleyball season. Mendelson was a member of the U.S. U16 National Basketball Team that won gold at the FIBA Americas Championship in August of 2021. She averaged 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds over six games on the way to gold. She was also a member of the U.S. U19 volleyball team that won gold at the Pan American Cup in July of 2022.
Nebraska is scheduled to play 10 regular-season games in 2022-23 against teams in the AP Preseason Top 25, including No. 4 Iowa (2), No. 11 Indiana, No. 13 Virginia Tech, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Maryland (2), No. 21 (Creighton) and No. 25 Michigan (2). The Huskers will also play a Dec. 21 home game against Kansas, which was among the top teams also receiving votes (T28th).