We may be in the heat of the off-season in women’s college basketball, but the summer has been full of international tournaments that feature some of the best players who will be competing next season. Here are the top 10 women’s performers of this year’s international basketball summer circuit.

It’s hard to beat the summer Swords had in 2024. She became the youngest Canadian basketball player to suit up for the Olympic team in Paris. However, Swords has been hard at work, carving out an even more impressive offseason in 2025. The lone player on this list to participate in both senior and junior events for their country, Swords showed equal prowess at all levels, taking home all-tournament honors in both the Women’s AmeriCup and Women’s U19 World Cup.

The 2024 five-star recruit not only shined individually but also willed Canada to the semifinals in both tournaments. Swords took center stage, scoring the last-second winner in double overtime to secure the Bronze Medal in the Women’s AmeriCup. Two weeks later, Canada narrowly lost 70-68 to Spain in the bronze medal match of the U19 World Cup, still registering the third-highest finish in the country’s history. The Michigan Wolverine averaged 16.2 points per game in her debut Freshman All-Big Ten campaign. Watch out for a second-year leap.

2. Mikayla Blakes, 5-foot-8 sophomore guard, Vanderbilt (United States)

This year’s Women’s AmeriCup roster was exclusively comprised of college talent, keeping with U.S. tradition. Among a sea of All-American selections and household names, Blakes stole the show. The Sophomore guard made her Team USA debut this tournament and took home the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup MVP. 

Competing against senior competition and WNBA talent, Blakes averaged 14 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2 steals per game throughout the tournament, saving her best performance — a 27-point, 6-rebound outing — for the championship game vs. Brazil. Blakes’s inspired performance propelled Team USA to the 92-84 victory and a Gold Medal, avenging their 2023 AmeriCup final loss to Brazil. The 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year is poised to turn Vanderbilt into a contender.

Silva was the single most dominant player in the 2025 U19 Women’s World Cup. Silva was unstoppable for Team Portugal, leading the tournament in points (23) and blocks (3.0) while finishing third in rebounds (9.7). Silva was surprisingly snubbed from the all-tournament team but was named the top defensive player and recognized by FIBA.com on their 2nd-team all-tournament. 

Silva’s biggest feat was registering the third-most efficient game in the history of the U19 World Cup. In Portugal’s round-of-16 matchup vs Israel, Silva stuffed the stat sheet for 37 points on 15-of-20 from the field, 10 rebounds with a staggering 7 of them on the offensive end, while sprinkling in 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Portugal narrowly won 83-80, but eventually Silva’s lack of support caught up with them, placing 7th in the 16-team tournament. Silva was sparingly used at Kentucky in her freshman year, but with her offseason transfer to TCU, she is expected to be a far bigger factor this season.

Although Mevius didn’t participate in any traditional basketball tournaments this summer, she’s been forging her legacy on the half-court. The two-time All-MAAC selection has won five separate FIBA 3×3 tournaments this year for Germany. Her biggest win of her busy summer was the undefeated gold medal run at the 2025 World University Games in front of a German home crowd. 

She has been statistically one of the most valuable players in the circuit, posting an average player value of 7.4 per game. Germany swept its three tournaments in the FIBA 3×3 Youth Nations League. Her impact is even larger than the stat sheet suggests. In the two tournaments that FIBA fully tracked, Mevius was first and second for “highlights per game”. Reflected by her FIBA World Cup highlight reel, reaching over 4.5 million views on Instagram reels. Mevius is going into her final season of college basketball at Oregon. 

The No. 2-ranked prospect in the Class of 2025 and the most decorated high school basketball player in Colorado history, the expectations were high for Betts in her FIBA World Cup debut. She did not disappoint. Betts put up five double-doubles in seven contests, tying the all-time tournament record. In her opening game, Betts shot 11-of-12 from the field for 25 points in only 18 minutes. This all culminated in Betts being selected to the all-tournament team, an honor that eluded her older sister, Lauren. 

Betts averaged 14.1 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 24 minutes per game across the tournament. Her mere presence was a problem for opposing teams and coaches, racking up an average plus/minus of 24.6 points per game. Betts is entering her freshman year for a UCLA Team that made the Final 4 last year. She looks ready to contribute on day one for Coach Cori Close’s Bruins, who seem right on the cusp of their first NCAA national championship in program history.

Israel’s Gal Raviv appears to be on a fast track to stardom. The 18-year-old guard became the first freshman to win MAAC player of the year with Quinnipiac last season. This offseason, she broke another record. Raviv totalled 158 points, 26.3 per game, breaking the all-time scoring record for the event. A record that was held for the last 36 years by FIBA Hall of Famer Danira Bilic, who represented the now disbanded Yugoslavia. 

What’s most impressive about Raviv’s record is that it was executed with efficiency. Raviv shot over 50 percent from inside the arc and 42.7 percent from beyond on a volume of 19 field goal attempts per game. Additionally, her FIBA efficiency rating was third among all players tournament-wide. If Raviv’s offensive production is scalable to NCAA play, there’s a good chance she competes for ACC Player of the Year in her sophomore season with the Hurricanes.

UCLA only brought in two freshmen this offseason (Betts and Bilic), but both appear to be great additions. Bilic showed incredible promise in her biggest international tournament to date. The Croatian forward led all scorers in the U18 EuroBasket tournament. She finished her run by carrying her nation to the bronze medal and Division A promotion with a 41-point outburst against Lithuania in the third-place game.

Bilic wasn’t just effective at scoring, however. She also averaged 2.9 steals and 1.4 blocks per game on the defensive end to go with 6 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Bilic promises to be the long-term replacement for Angela Dugalic on the wing, but only time will tell.

The COCOBA Central American women’s basketball tournament rarely attracts stars; however, McMiller, a 2024 Jordan All-American, turned Managua into her personal playground. The Penn State transfer has been racking up unreal statlines versus Central America’s best, highlighted by a 33-point, 7-rebound 8- assist effort against Honduras.

McMiller was averaging 26.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for Team Nicaragua. Last year at Rutgers, McMiller averaged 18.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3 assists, so this isn’t entirely surprising, but it’s impressive nonetheless. 

The No. 1 2026 recruit and AP second-team All-American,  Strong once again dabbled in the 3×3 game this summer. A three-time U18 3×3 World Cup gold-medalist, it was now her turn to face senior competition. In her first FIBA 3×3 World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Strong stole the show. Although the United States finished sixth in the tournament, the 2025 National Champion finished first in a number of categories. 

Strong led all players in total player value, a 3×3 FIBA metric, despite playing two fewer games than the championship teams. She also led in shot efficiency with an 83 percent mark across five games, and was second in the tournament in points per game. While the U.S. went home without a medal, Strong yet again proved her stardom on the world stage.

Bielefeld showed off her well-rounded skill set in the U18 Women’s EuroBasket. The tall German guard had an impressive yet unorthodox statline for the tournament. She finished second in both assists (5.3 per game) and blocks (2.7) while also registering 10.9 rebounds and 2.4 steals. Bielefeld’s best performance was in the semifinals against Croatia, where she dropped 20 points, 17 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocks.

Bielefeld was recognized on the All-Tournament team for the U18 Division B EuroBasket and earned silver, along with German promotion to Division A next year. Bielefeld is joining a 34-4 TCU Horned Frogs, who qualified for the Elite 8 last season. However, this year’s team will  look dramatically different with Big 12 Player of the Year Hailey Van Lith and All-Big 12 selections Sedona Prince and Madison Conner gone to the pros.

Honorable Mentions:

Hannah Hidalgo, 5-foot-6 senior point guard, Notre Dame (United States) 

Jazzy Davidson, 6-foot-1 freshman guard, USC (United States)

Bonnie Deas, 5-foot-9 freshman guard, Arkansas (Australia) 

Gabriela Jacquez, 5-foot-11 senior forward, UCLA (Mexico) 

Olivia Miles, 5-foot-10 graduate student point guard, TCU (United States) 

Manuella “Manu” Alves, 6-foot-3 freshman forward, Illinois (Brazil)

Gina Garcia Safont, 5-foot-9 freshman point guard, Kansas State (Spain) 

Mikaylah Williams, 6-foot-0 junior guard, LSU (United States)

Nastja Claessens, 6-foot-1 freshman power forward, Kansas State (Belgium)

Important note: This was written before 3 major tournaments began or finished. The FIBA Women’s AfroBasket takes place from July 26th through August 3rd and contains 8 Division I players. The U20 Women’s EuroBasket Division A and B tournaments will feature upwards of 50 college players and commits and take place from August 1-10.

The LSU baseball team turned into a juggernaut in 2025, but that’s not to say it was always destined to win a championship. Those are earned, often painstakingly.

Still, there were signs for coach Jay Johnson early on that he had a team that could win it all. It all had to do with how his guys bounced back from early adversity.

“I think there was a few things that stuck out to me,” Johnson said on the Mik’d Up With Mikie Mahtook podcast. “No. 1 after we lost our first game to Omaha — and we played pretty dominant through like the first five games — and then we lost a game maybe we shouldn’t have, weird day with the wind blowing in and that sort of deal, and we actually had to play a double-header right after that.

“And I kind of challenged them like, ‘Hey, a lot of times you know what you have right after you lose your first game of the season and how you respond to that.’ Well we went out and won 12-1, played great. Then after that we won 17 games in a row.”

Take one look at LSU’s season schedule and you can see the streakiness. A loss here and there, sprinkled in amongst some huge winning streaks.

“That streak I think got broke at Texas and we lost two in a row, they beat us in the series,” Johnnson recalled. “Which was a very beneficial series for us. I learned a lot about what we needed to do from there, from that series. And then we won like nine in a row right after that. Mississippi State, playing late at night, all those types of things.

“Then you look up and we’ve won 26 of 28 against a pretty good schedule, like, man, there’s something to this. Then we got swept in three tough games at Auburn. They didn’t blow us out, but they beat us. Then we responded well to that.”

Eventually, LSU piled up enough wins that it put itself in a favorable position to do some serious damage in the postseason. The team earned a No. 6 seed nationally, giving it the right to host through the Super Regionals if it kept winning.

That proved tricky. Arkansas-Little Rock pushed LSU to a winner-take-all game in the Baton Rouge Regional.

You can probably guess at this point how the Tigers responded. With aplomb, naturally.

“Every time they got challenged, like we got off the mat quickly and didn’t really spiral or those types of things,” Johnson said. “So it was like that consistency is kind of the hallmark that I’m really proud of. Because you just, you’re going to get bloodied in this thing. It’s baseball No. 1, it’s the SEC No. 2. Nobody’s getting through it perfectly, but I thought they did about as good a job as you could to responding to adversity. And there was no complacency ever.

“I felt like they had this quality of like, and I say this to them, but it’s really hard to get to this, it’s like we’re not validated by our record or what anybody says about us, but like can we do this college baseball program thing as good as it possibly could be done? In every facet of it. I thought they were really bought into that and I think it showed in their ability to be consistent.”

President Donald Trump inserted himself into the chaos of college athletics and NIL. He signed an executive order that banned third-party payments to athletes without “fair-market” contracts. Legendary broadcaster Tim Brando has already praised the new executive order, but now also from arguably college football’s greatest coach, Nick Saban, who has been desperate for this sort of reform for a long time.

It’s not surprising to see Saban support this new executive order from the President, as he’s been one of the strongest advocates of keeping the educational aspect of college athletics as the primary focus.

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The Pitch That Wins: “Get Paid Now, Get Rich Later”

In the high-stakes world of college athletics, the University of Georgia is selling more than just a scholarship. Its pitch: “Get paid now, get rich later.” Behind the slogan lies a deliberate, long-game NIL strategy that blends smart financial allocation, culture-driven recruiting and athlete branding infrastructure.

In June 2025, Georgia Athletics teamed with Learfield Impact to launch an independent, full-service NIL agency, integrated with Georgia Bulldogs Sports Marketing. The partnership provides UGA athletes with an elite toolkit for building brands, securing endorsements, and accessing long-term income—all while remaining aligned with University systems and collective oversight.

This move builds on the Classic City Collective, a pioneering organization that helped define the University of Georgia’s NIL ecosystem. Georgia chose to keep its own collective active—unlike many peer institutions that are winding theirs down—signaling an intentional focus on “above-the-cap” compensation via legitimate marketing and licensing deals beyond the NCAA’s standard revenue-share cap of $20.5 million per year.

Head coach Kirby Smart has made Georgia’s NIL philosophy uncompromisingly clear: pay what athletes are worth—but don’t overpay, especially for early-career players. He emphasizes relationships over transactions, favoring loyalty and program fit above big short-term payouts.

Inside fan forums, supporters describe UGA’s NIL approach as consistently investing in players already in the program, rather than splurging on portal or transfer athletes or “mercenaries.” One standard analysis: “While other teams are blowing much of their NIL by signing mercenaries off the Portal, UGA is spending to keep the guys they’ve invested in via development.” That strategy aligns with the revenue-sharing cap environment: rather than maxing out a few megadeals, Georgia spreads its NIL dollars across multiple athletes, reinforcing depth, culture, and long-term value.

Georgia understands that player turnover is costly.

Recent NIL resources have been invested in retaining stars who might otherwise leave via the transfer portal. For example, when rumors swirled about player departures, UGA reportedly provided incentives to keep key contributors on the roster. That approach preserves continuity, fosters trust, and builds a team identity, contrasting with programs that chase immediate success by purchasing experienced portal talent.

During SEC Media Days, Smart acknowledged Georgia occasionally loses out on recruits due to smaller NIL packages. One high-profile case: five-star in-state defensive lineman Justus Terry chose Texas over Georgia, citing a bigger NIL offer. Yet Smart sees this as evidence—not weakness—that Georgia’s emphasis on development and suit-fit trumps transactional offers.

Despite such losses, Georgia has signed four straight top-4 recruiting classes, including the No. 1 class in 2024 and No. 2 in 2025, and leads the chase for 2026. That track record suggests the message—relationships over transactions—resonates with players of character who see UGA as a path to pro success beyond immediate NIL dollars.

With new NCAA regulations capping revenue-share at $20.5 million and banning overly big NIL contracts that resemble pay-for-play (contracts above $600 trigger scrutiny), many schools are winding down their collectives. However, Georgia is bucking that trend, doubling down on above-cap deals through brand licensure and sponsorship, rather than performance-based payouts.

On July 24, 2025, a federal executive order was signed banning third-party, booster-sourced NIL payments used as recruiting inducements, while allowing fair-market endorsement deals. That national guardrail underscores why Georgia’s carefully structured model, rooted in transparency and legitimate marketing, may be more resilient moving forward.

This multi-layered strategy serves several goals: Athlete brand building via professional marketing support. Draft prep and exposure, making players pro-ready with strong off-field platforms. Roster stability, via investments in loyalty. Competitive depth is achieved by deploying NIL across multiple players, rather than relying on a few stars. Institutional alignment, giving Georgia complete oversight and brand integration, not leaving NIL to boosters or third parties.

The payoff is both on-field dominance—back-to-back national titles—and off-field value, as Bulldogs build long-term partnerships that outlast eligibility.

Georgia’s pitch is clear: if you buy into the culture and development model—if you stay loyal and work off and on the field—today’s NIL earnings are just the start. Tomorrow brings bigger returns: professional contracts, long-term endorsement deals, and life after UGA success.

In this context, “Get Paid Now” means athletes are compensated in market-value deals early in their careers. But “Get Rich Later” reflects Georgia’s belief that successful development, exposure, national championships, and personal branding ultimately deliver far more than one-time megadeals.

UGA’s NIL strategy is not about knee-jerk, big-money deals. It is a purposeful, multi-layered plan blending institutional infrastructure, athlete support, cultural alignment, recruitment messaging, and brand partnerships. They’re selling something bigger than endorsement checks—a sustainable blueprint for success: win today, build tomorrow.

Georgia’s pitch wins by offering athletes a clear path: earn immediate NIL, but invest in development, identity, and loyalty, and you’ll “get rich later.”

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