Year 11 of the Amy Williams Era in Lincoln begins next month.

Williams has led Nebraska women's basketball to five NCAA Tournaments, the Big Ten Tournament semifinals three times, and a 175–136 record. Is 2026-27 a make-or-break season for the former Husker?

In the regular season, Williams faces one of the toughest leagues every year.

The Big Ten Conference was already a wagon when Williams arrived in Lincoln. The league took a jump with Iowa and Caitlin Clark. It got another boost with the addition of the West Coast Teams, particularly the pair in Los Angeles.

UCLA is the defending national champion. The Bruins have made back-to-back Final Fours, something that the league has grabbed a spot in for four straight seasons.

USC boasts the best player in the nation in JuJu Watkins, who was recently named the Big Ten's preseason player of the year.

Two new powerhouse programs for Williams and Co. to navigate. That's on top of an Iowa program that has notched at least 19 wins for 19 straight seasons, a Maryland team that has finished ranked in the final AP poll every season except one since joining the Big Ten, a Michigan team that was top-10 in the nation last year and has won 20+ in five straight seasons, and an Ohio State team that has won at least 25 games each of the last five years.

That's six elite programs for Nebraska to deal with, without any others having a good season here and there. That also matches how Williams has fared in Big Ten play over the last 10 seasons.

In conference play, Nebraska has finished as high as tied for third under Williams. That was back in 2017-18, when the Huskers went 11-5 in the Big Ten and 21-11 on the year. The next-highest finish didn't come until 2023-24, when the Big Red went 11-7 in the league to finish fifth.

On three occasions, the program has finished 10th or worse: 11th in 2016-17, 10th in 2019-20, and 12th in 2025-26. 

Williams-led Husker teams have an average finish of around eighth (7.8) in the conference. Over the last five seasons, the average finish has been exactly the same (7.8).

In the conference tournament, the Huskers are 9-10 under Williams. That includes five trips that were one-and-done. However, success has hit the Big Red, too. In 2018, 2022, and 2024, Nebraska made at least the semifinals. That 2023-24 team made the tournament final for the first time since the 2013-14 squad won it.

Nebraska has made the NCAA Tournament 18 times in program history; five of those have come under Williams.

The transition from Connie Yori to Williams was tough on postseason selections. The first five seasons under Williams netted just one appearance in the Big Dance. The last five seasons, however, have seen four such trips.

Once in March Madness, wins get even tougher. Williams is 2-5 in the NCAA Tournament at Nebraska, with one of those wins being the First Four last season.

While the program has made the second weekend just twice ever, both times came before Williams arrived in Lincoln. As a matter of fact, Nebraska has only played in the second round once in the last decade: a 61-51 loss at Oregon State in 2024.

As for seeding, the Huskers are averaging a nine seed. The high came as a six, which was the team that made the second round.

Should the program be demanding better finishes in the Big Ten? What about in the NCAA Tournament, where a Sweet 16 appearance, once thought an impossibility on the men's side, hasn't happened for the women since 2013?

Williams might have her best team at the guard and forward spots this year. Preseason All-Big Ten guard Britt Prince is now a junior. Former Big Ten Freshman of the Year Natalie Potts is back from injury. Elite freshman Ashlyn Koupal is ready to make a splash.

That doesn't even include standouts like Logan Nissley and Amiah Hargrove, and what the potential for the oft-injured Allison Weidner might be.

There are nine Big Ten teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25,  led by USC (3), Michigan (5), and Iowa (10) in the top 10. The others are UCLA (11), Washington (16), Minnesota (17), Ohio State (18), Maryland (20), and Illinois (23). The Huskers are effectively at 26 with 47 vote points, just four points behind NC State for the 25th spot in the poll.

Nebraska has been ranked in the AP's preseason poll twice under Williams. None of her teams have finished inside the top 25.

The playbook on Williams in the Big Ten is this:

The playbook on Williams in the NCAA Tournament is this:

Recruiting is on the upswing in Lincoln. So are the trips to the NCAA Tournament over the past five years. The question is whether or not the playbook on Williams is the program's ceiling, or if more should be possible - and demanded - for the Cornhuskers.