WBB: 5/4/25 news roundup
Wisconsin adds a new assistant coach and finds out their Big Ten opponents for next year.
First of all, Happy Star Wars Day to you and yours. Second of all, it was another busy week in the world of Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball so lets do a quick news roundup of what has been going on.
Scheduling News
On Wednesday morning, the Big Ten announced every teams’ conference opponents for the 2025-26 season. Dates, tip-off times, and TV/streaming will be figured out later this off-season.
As is now the new Border Battle tradition, the only team Wisconsin will play home and away in 2025-26 is Minnesota.
HOME ONLY OPPONENTS:
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Michigan State Spartans
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
- Oregon Ducks
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Washington Huskies
ROAD ONLY OPPONENTS
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Maryland Terrapins
- Michigan Wolverines
- Northwestern Wildcats
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- Southern Cal Trojans
- UCLA Bruins
A few notes on the schedule:
Wisconsin will be heading to Los Angeles to face USC/UCLA for the first time as Big Ten opponents and will also be welcoming Oregon/Washington to Madison for the first time as Big Ten opponents
The Bruins should be a preseason top-five team while the Trojans’ rank will entirely depend on the return timeline for JuJu Watkins who is recovering from an ACL injury
This will be Wisconsin’s final regular season game against Northwestern with Joe McKeown on the bench as the head coach of the Wildcats who will be retiring at the end of the year, his 18th in charge at NU
A few familiar faces in new places:
Yarden Garzon: Indiana —> Maryland
Aaliyah Guyton: Iowa —> Illinois
Yulia Grabovskaia: Michigan —> Washington
Hailey Weaver: Northwestern —> Nebraska
Gracie Merkle: Penn State —> Maryland
Rashunda Jones: Purdue —> Michigan State
Kiyomi McMiller: Rutgers —> Penn State
Londynn Jones: UCLA —> USC
Avery Howell: USC —> Washington
Coaching Staff News
Robin Pingeton brought two of her top lieutenants with her from Mizzou but hadn’t picked a third assistant coach until Friday when it was announced that Ariel Massengale would be on the Badgers bench this season.
"We're excited to welcome Ariel Massengale to Wisconsin," said Head Coach Robin Pingeton. "She's a rising star who brings great experience as both a player and coach. Ariel played under Pat Summitt and knows what it takes to win at the highest level. Her ability to develop players, recruit talent, and lead with energy will be a big addition to our program. With strong ties to the Midwest, she understands the region and will connect well with our student-athletes and community.”
A native of Bolingbrook, Ill., Massengale turns 32 this summer but still brings a wealth of high-level experience to Madison. She spent her entire collegiate career with the Tennessee Volunteers under coach Pat Summitt and was a McDonald’s All-American, Illinois Miss Basketball, and Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year coming out of high school.
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She was drafted by the Atlanta Dream in the third round of the 2015 WNBA Draft, sat out a year with a knee injury, played for a bit in 2016 before being released by Atlanta, and then played professionally in Finland for a season. Massengale also played internationally for Team USA in a number of FIBA events, winning multiple gold medals.
Her coaching career has gone thusly:
- 2017-2019: Ole Miss (graduate assistant)
- 2019-2021: Lipscomb (assistant coach)
- 2021-2024: SIU-Edwardsville (assistant)
- March 2023: named to the Thirty Under 30 list by Women’s Basketball Coaches Association
Massengale is exactly the type of young, up-and-coming coach you love to see join your team’s staff. She has local(ish) ties which will help in recruiting as well as high-level experience, both collegiately and professionally, that recruits will like.
At Mizzou, Pingeton had a four-person assistant coach staff but Marisa Moseley never had more than three on her staff the last four years at Wisconsin so, who can say if this is UW’s final staff for the year or if one more hire is coming.
