NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Shea Ralph finally has Vanderbilt right where the reigning AP women's Coach of the Year is most comfortable going into her sixth season.
Chasing championships.
“I think every year it’s like, ‘Vanderbilt! Surprise. We’re good!' It's not a surprise,” Ralph said. “We came here to be good. We came here to be great. I’m excited. This is what I’ve trained for. And I’m excited to be able to share that with our players.”
Revitalizing a team whose lone Final Four berth was back in 1993 is why athletic director Candice Storey Lee lured Ralph away from UConn, where she won a national title as a player and six more as an assistant coach.
“I’ve spent the better part of my life working with great players, playing with great players,” Ralph said.
Vanderbilt is coming off its best season in nearly 20 years. The Commodores went 29-5 and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008-09. Ralph has seven players back from that team, led by All-American Mikayla Blakes and point guard Aubrey Galvan, who was the Southeastern Conference freshman of the year in her debut.
“We have to prove ourselves first,” Galvan said.
Blakes led the nation in scoring with 27 points per game and was even better in SEC play, averaging 30.5 points per game.
That's why she won SEC player of the year and now is the conference's preseason player of the year. Blakes is only the 13th player in league history to win both player of the year and freshman of the year and first since five-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson to win the awards back-to-back.
Blakes is working to be more of a leader and overall player now that the 5-foot-8 guard has more help going into her third season at Vanderbilt. Blakes knows the more confidence she helps her teammates build keeps her from being the focal point.
“My role is going to change," Blakes said. "We have a lot of good scorers this year and really a lot of good players. So I feel like doing whatever the team needs me to do and continue to read defenses really well.”
Ralph wanted more rebounding and scoring, and she added two players through the transfer portal. Forward Mia Woolfolk is used to the SEC grind after leading Georgia in rebounds, averaging 5.4 a game as a sophomore. Woolfolk also ranked second in scoring with a career-best 13.9 points a game, which is why Ralph is happy the 6-2 forward is on her team now.
“I tell her every day, ‘You used to torch us,’” Ralph said.
Vernell Atamah was the Southland Conference player of the year last season after leading that league scoring with 19.2 points a game for Northwestern State. Ataman ranked 29th nationally in scoring. She also shot 39.4% from 3-point range, ranking 11th nationally making 2.9 3-pointers a game.
Ralph brought in her highest-ranked freshman class yet with a trio led by Olivia Jones, a consensus five-star recruit who played in the McDonald's All-America Game. ESPN ranked Jones 14th nationally. Jones joins Blakes as the only five-star recruits to sign with Vanderbilt out of high school.
Jones also helped the U.S. win gold at the 2026 FIBA U17 Women's World Cup. Ralph is trying hard not to compare Jones to Blakes.
“In terms of her impact on our program, on our team, the intensity that she practices with, the determination, the attitude she brings every day, her personality, it reminds me a lot of some of the greatest players I’ve coached, including Mikayla,” Ralph said.
This class also features 6-4 forward Jhai Johnson and Sther Ubaka, a forward from Brazil who played two seasons at DME Academy in Florida and is on her country's national team. Johnson's ability to play both in the paint and outside will be a big boost to a program that has struggled to rebound.
All the talent has Ralph busy figuring out exactly what she has and where to move the players around to help Blakes tap into all of her skills for a simple reason.
“So that she becomes unguardable in every way,” Ralph said.
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FILE - Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph, right, talks to guard Mikayla Blakes, center, and others during a timeout in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
