2024-25 NCAA Women's Basketball

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Didn't see a WBB thread so I figured I'd start it. And yes, I'm going to start it with Paige Bueckers.

Two games in: 14-19 FG, 3-6 3ptFG, 4-5 FT, shooting 73.7% from the floor, averaging 17.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.5 steals, 0.5 blocks. Just 1 turnover in two games played.

She's a force of nature. I know the opponents weren't great but she looks like she can do anything she wants out there. Leave her alone for a split second and she'll bury the three, no problem. Or she can work around a ball screen and take that midrange pull-up jumper that she hits all the time. Clearly she can get to the rim at will. Or if you need a bucket and she's being guarded by someone her size or smaller (she's surprisingly strong at this point in her life...great job in the weight room), and she goes right to the block and scores easily from there. And if you foul her, she's certainly knocking down the free throws.

She's also a gifted passer and has become a legit really good defender. Plus an unparalleled floor/team leader. They have other good players, obviously, but she is the engine that makes it all go.

Best player in the country, even if others will end up with better points per game stats.
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
I was pretty salty about the way Ohio State choked in last season's tourney, but I'm finding it easy to get over in the early going this season… freshman Jaloni Cambridge scored 31 in her college debut last week and tonight transfer Chance Gray has career highs in 3's (9) and points (31)... this is more outside shooting than they had last year. They lost some leadership and defense with the departure of Jaycee Sheldon (who was just hired as staff during her WNBA off-season), but they aren't going to lose any scoring. With Ajae Petty transferring in they also have more size. Those three added to Cotie McMahon and Taylor Thierry are going to make this a fun team.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Big night in Storrs tonight as Geno goes for (and obviously should get, given the opponent) the all-time wins record. Gets me thinking about the all-time greats in UConn WBB history, and it's just a total who's who of women's basketball greatness. If I was to put together a 12-person all-time UConn team, it would be exceedingly difficult. So many great players to choose from.

UConn, under Geno, has had 26 players make at least one All-America team. 17 of those 26 made a first-team All-America team.

So let's just narrow this list down to the players who have made more than one first-team All-America team.

Maya Moore (4x)
Breanna Stewart (3x)
Diana Taurasi (2x)
Napheesa Collier (2x)
Katie Lou Samuelson (2x)
Kara Wolters (2x)
Paige Bueckers (2x) - maybe another coming this year

Now of this list, narrow it down to those that have won at least one AP POY award, and you get:

Kara Wolters (1x)
Diana Taurasi (1x)
Maya Moore (2x)
Breanna Stewart (3x)
Paige Bueckers (1x) - maybe another coming this year

So I guess that would be my all-time UConn starting five:

G - Bueckers (1x POY, 2x first team All-America)
G - Taurasi (1x POY, 2x first team All-America)
F - Moore (2x POY, 4x first team All-America)
F - Stewart (3x POY, 3x first team All-America)
C - Wolters (1x POY, 2x first team All-America)

But that leaves out:

Sue Bird (1x POY, 1x first team All-America, 2x All-America)
Jen Rizzoti (1x POY, 1x first team All-America, 2x All-America)
Tina Charles (1x POY, 1x first team All-America, 3x All-America)
Katie Lou Samuelson (2x first team All-America, 3x All-America)
Napheesa Collier (2x first team All-America, 3x All-America)
Stephanie Dolson (2x All-America)
Rebecca Lobo (1x POY, 1x first team All-America)
- other 2x All-Americans: Moriah Jefferson, Renee Montgomery, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Nykesha Sales, and Gabby Williams
- other 1x first team All-Americans: Shea Ralph, Megan Walker
- other All-Americans who won championships: Morgan Tuck (4 titles), Asjha Jones, Tiffany Hayes, Swin Cash (won multiple gold medals too), and Bria Hartley

I'd even be interested in that five above going up against this second unit:

G - Sue Bird
G - Katie Lou Samuelson
F - Napheesa Collier
F - Rebecca Lobo
C - Tina Charles

Based on accolades you'd have to go with that first group but this second group would stand a great chance to beat them in reality.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
The Geno/CD 40th celebration tonight is going to be great. 63 former players to attend and hopefully see Geno break the all time wins record:

https://www.courant.com/2024/11/20/star-studded-uconn-womens-basketball-alumni-roster-to-attend-geno-auriemmas-40th-anniversary-celebration/
It really was awesome here in Gampel tonight. I know a bunch of the former and current players and chatted with several of the former players beforehand. The thing is this: they all talk about how tough it is to play for Geno, but they all LOVE the guy. Unabashedly. Even those who continually butted heads with him (I'm looking at you, Diana). He obviously goes about this the right way.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Oh and by the way.... 1,217 college wins is not happening again. Ever. (Except for every game from here on out that Geno wins as he keeps setting the record higher.) The only one I can see having even a whiff of a chance is Dawn Staley. But she's already 54, and has been coaching for 24 years. She's at 616 wins, or about half of Geno. So if Geno stopped today, I could see her possibly reaching that in another 20 years (she'd be in her mid-70s by then though). The problem she faces is that Geno keeps winning, pushing that number ever higher. Mulkey has won a TON, but she's 8 years older than Staley and she's "only" got 728 wins.

This record is Geno's and it always will be his.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Player of the Year race

Bueckers: 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.8 steals, 0.3 blocks, 60.4% FG, 42.1% 3-ptFG, 80.0% FT, 47.0 PER, 1.6 WS
Watkins: 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 3.8 steals, 3.0 blocks, 42.0% FG, 21.7% 3-ptFG, 79.3% FT, 33.6 PER, 1.3 WS
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
South Carolina gets absolutely pasted yesterday by #5 UCLA. Will be interesting to see if UConn moves up to #1, or if UCLA leapfrogs everyone and moves to #1. Normally that would seem a bit crazy, but they just laid the wood to South Carolina, so maybe that's enough to vault them all the way to #1?

I bet it's:
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. Texas
5. Notre Dame
6. South Carolina

It's tough. On the one hand, other than South Carolina, nobody ahead of UCLA lost, so how can they move ahead of teams ranked over them who haven't lost yet? On the other hand, UCLA just dismantled South Carolina, which nobody has done since March 31, 2023.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
11,285
NOVA
All these good games this week and most are on Ballertv and Flosports, (including LSU being down double digits right now to UW) not TV. It's maddening.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
11,285
NOVA
South Carolina gets absolutely pasted yesterday by #5 UCLA. Will be interesting to see if UConn moves up to #1, or if UCLA leapfrogs everyone and moves to #1. Normally that would seem a bit crazy, but they just laid the wood to South Carolina, so maybe that's enough to vault them all the way to #1?

I bet it's:
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. Texas
5. Notre Dame
6. South Carolina

It's tough. On the one hand, other than South Carolina, nobody ahead of UCLA lost, so how can they move ahead of teams ranked over them who haven't lost yet? On the other hand, UCLA just dismantled South Carolina, which nobody has done since March 31, 2023.
USC lost by 13 to ND on Sat.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
25,918
The 718
Just picked up tix to see UConn at St John’s, at Carnesecca Arena on campus, in January. St John’s is 6-0 but flying under the radar so far.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
They have one more win and more importantly beat the previous #1 by 15

This should not be a surprise
It is a bit of a surprise. A lot of people going into the season thought UConn was the best team in the country (if healthy). They've crushed everyone so far and Paige looks ridiculously good. Obviously a huge win by UCLA that UConn can't match at this point, but you don't normally leapfrog a team like UConn like this.

Not a big deal, but I'm a little surprised. I thought it would be #1 UConn, #2 UCLA.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
UConn takes it to #18 Ole Miss, 73-60. Bueckers stellar again: 11-17 FG, 2-4 from three, 29 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

She's now at:

52-83 (62.7%) FG, 13-28 (46.4%) from three, 15-18 (83.3%) FT, 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.5 steals per game

Ridiculous efficiency on a good number of FG attempts (nearly 14 per game).
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
The Buckeyes are wrapping up the tune-up portion of their season this afternoon and will improve to 7-0 before they take the next week off and then host #19 Illinois in their first real test. They've done exactly what they should so far though. Even with PotY candidate Cotie McMahon for the past four games due to a foot injury, there were no hiccups, winning all those games by at least 23 points (and by as much as 64). In their first 6 games, they had 6 different leading scorers.

It's just a better designed roster with legit front court defense in transfer Ajae Petty and Finnish freshman Elsa Lemmila, while transfer Chance Gray and freshman Ava Watson give them better 3-point threats than they had last year. Jaloni Cambridge has looked like the best freshman in the B1G as she's been billed. It's like they went out and got transfers to immediately address their weaknesses but also brought in freshmen at each of those spots who are already worthy of major minutes.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Notre Dame with a very impressive win at home vs. UConn tonight. Hidalgo was amazing even though I thought UConn did a terrific job defending her for the most part. They lost her a few times and she was deadly from three. 27 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. Bueckers with 25 points on 55% shooting did her part, but man did she have to work for those points. ND got a favorable whistle as UConn was allotted just one free throw until the very end of the game, and it wasn't like they didn't drive to the basket. Paige took it into the lane a ton, as did Shade, Chen, and Arnold, got knocked around, and didn't get any whistle. Oh well, that's life.

ND looks terrific and it's back to the drawing board for UConn. The Huskies seem so much healthier this year than in the past two seasons, but then I look at the bench tonight and they still have four terrific players all out with injury - Fudd, Griffin, Patterson, and Ducharme. It's amazing how many injuries this team has had.
 

strek1

Run, Forrest, run!
SoSH Member
Jun 13, 2006
34,075
Hartford area
ND looked terrific tonight but they have also laid eggs against TCU and especially Utah. They normally shoot 33-35% from three (as do many teams) , but tonight they shot 55%. We usually shoot much better from three than we did tonight. I'm hoping we get them again on a neutral court. I like our chances in a rematch.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
I agree but ND is obviously very capable of beating UConn anywhere. They’re tough.

I saw somewhere some thread on the game where someone said that Bueckers was exposed as being way too slow. I’m like, nobody else on the team did squat except Strong, and they faceguarded Paige all night long, she didn’t get to the line once for a shooting foul (she got a couple of late FTs when they were finally in the bonus) even though she should have gotten to the line at least five separate times, and she still scored 25 points on 55% shooting against a great defensive team.

Yeah boy she was “exposed”. LOL
 

strek1

Run, Forrest, run!
SoSH Member
Jun 13, 2006
34,075
Hartford area
Team record 20 three pointers tonight for the UCONN women. Leading the way was Shade with 7, Paige and Strong had 5 each. Never thought they would do that without Azzi Fudd.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Team record 20 three pointers tonight for the UCONN women. Leading the way was Shade with 7, Paige and Strong had 5 each. Never thought they would do that without Azzi Fudd.
They have tons of depth and still have four really good players out with injury.

I know they lost to ND, but they had a terrible night shooting while Hidalgo went 6-10 from three (she’s awesome but she’s not 60% from three kind of awesome).
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
Ohio State erases a 16-point Michigan lead to win 84-77 and remains perfect on the season (15-0). Cotie McMahon seemed to be playing injured during the comeback, but Jaloni Cambridge took over the game in the last few minutes and was a missed late free throw short of the second 30-point game of her career. Five undefeated teams remain and 3 of them are in the B1G.

One of those – #8 Maryland – is currently trailing #4 USC by 1 point at the half on FS1.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Paige's injury looks like it won't be a devastating one. She shouldn't miss much time, and UConn demolished Villanova without her. They can't win it all without her, but they ought to be able to hang in there a week or two while she heals up.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
UConn right now is missing:

- Paige Bueckers (knee)
- Ice Brady (illness)
- Caroline Ducharme (concussion)
- Aubrey Griffin (can't remember her injury)
- Ayanna Patterson (shoulder)

That's a starting five for a top 15 squad, all out for the Huskies. I don't think the injuries are as severe as in the past few years, but it's once again startling to see so much talent unavailable for UConn.
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
Insane comeback for Pitt today. After trailing SMU 42-10 a minute before half-time, they not only erased the deficit in the second half but won it running away 72-59. The 32-point swing ties the largest comeback in history (Texas State completed a 32-point comeback in 2006 but needed overtime to win). Pitt shut out SMU 28-0 in the 3rd quarter.

Ohio State remained unbeaten today with a not particularly impressive 69-60 victory over Oregon. Coti McMahon and Jaloni Cambridge played sloppy and got into foul trouble, so Taylor Thiery took over offensively with 20 points. She's always been an efficient, high percentage shooter, but she doesn't typically look for her shot a lot outside of put-backs and transition layups. She became the 7th different top scorer for the Buckeyes this season.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
I'm so impressed with South Carolina. They're just so, so good - even missing one of their best players due to injury (Watkins). They just rolled a really good Texas team. In my mind, they're once again the favorites to win it all. Staley is an unbelievable coach, and they have reams of talent up and down their roster.

I think the top 8 teams (as I'd rank them) in WBB are all outstanding:

South Carolina
UCLA
ND
USC
UConn
LSU
Maryland
Ohio State

Texas lurking after them. The NCAA tournament this year should be amazing.
 

amh03

Tippi Hedren
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 27, 2003
7,020
This LSU/Vanderbilt game is fun!!

And impressive achievement by Aneesah Morrow reaching 2,500 pts and 1,500 rebounds…
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
I think Texas is closer to 3, 4 or 5. They shot abysmally yesterday, and I wash they could replay ND with their updated lineup.
I think any team in that group of nine could beat anyone else in that group. And not just a "once in a dozen times" kind of way, but more in a "no these guys have a legit shot in this game" kind of way.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
25,918
The 718
IMG_2168.jpeg

Greetings from cozy Carnesecca Arena, Jamaica, Queens.

crowd is at least 50% UConn.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
25,918
The 718
Not at all competitive.

25-10 Huskies after first quarter.

St John’s cannot solve UConn’s perimeter D. Huskies are too long, too quick.
 

amh03

Tippi Hedren
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 27, 2003
7,020
Well this is good news…

Women’s basketball teams finally will be paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament each March just like the men have for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.

The unanimous vote by NCAA membership, which was met by a round of applause, was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness after the Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August.
NCAA President Charlie Baker joined others in giving credit for the creation of a performance fund to those who came before and helped build women’s basketball.

“We’re the lucky ones,” Baker said. “We got to be here on the day it became a reality.”
CNN article
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
At Gampel today to see UConn beat a 13-5 Seton Hall team by *60*. Paige scores 18 today on 6-10 shooting and is the fastest UConn player ever by games played) to get to 2,000 points. Sarah Strong with an absolutely effortless 23 points and 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes. Also, Aubrey Griffin made her long-awaited debut, returning from a torn ACL.

I don't know that UConn has enough front court talent/size to beat South Carolina, and Notre Dame seems to have them figured out, but the Huskies are getting healthy and finally have tons of quality depth and elite talent to give a real run at a national championship. Anyone who underestimates them does so at their peril. This team is really, really good.

(still not sure they're the best team in the country though...there's a lot of awesome teams out there - it's just the first time in years that I feel like this team has a legit shot)
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
UCLA and LSU are the last undefeateds standing. Ohio State simply embarrassed themselves today against a really mediocre Penn State team. They haven't played a complete game in at least a couple of weeks and it cost them today with Jaloni Cambridge out sick. Despite not scoring in the last 6+ minutes, they still had opportunities to send it to OT with Chance Gray getting off two 3-point attempts in the final 15 seconds, but the first was stuffed and the second one (following a steal) came up short in their 62-59 loss.

Despite having a more well-rounded roster than they've had the past few years, they're still doing a poor job on the boards and also the free throw shooting leaves a lot to be desired (14th in the B1G). It's kind of a weird combo of flaws. I'm not sure how they improve the rebounding, but maybe freshman Elsa Lemmila (their only true center at 6'6") should see her minutes trending up instead of down. The toughest part of their schedule is coming up over the next 2-3 weeks – #8 Maryland on Thursday followed by a road game against a solid Nebraska team. Then in early February they have the brutal West Coast road trip to UCLA and USC in 4 days.

On the bright side, at least they start playing some games on real TV now instead of B1G+.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
UConn absolutely rolling the Big East. Obviously they wouldn't be doing this to the SEC, which is light years better than the Big East, but still. The team continues to get healthier and deeper. Their current bottom 5 would still be a good, upper level D1 starting 5.

Paige with a ho-hum night, playing fewer than three quarters, shooting 8-11, for 21 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists. Strong is incredible. If this were the men's game we'd say she is a man among boys (somehow saying she's a woman among girls doesn't quite have the same effect, but you get the idea). 22 points on 8-10 shooting. She doesn't rebound quite as much as I'd love for someone her size and strength, but she's amazing.

I still think they're going to run into problems playing the elite teams. They just don't have enough front court talent. Strong is great but she's "only" 6'2". Brady and El Alfy just aren't good enough to play with the best bigs in the country, and that's going to hurt them in the end. They do have tons of guards though, which should help. Chen was awesome last night, and KK Arnold played really well. They also have Shade and, of course, Azzi is rounding into form. Tons of shooting, but like the Celtics, if their outside shooting is off, they can (and likely will) be beaten by good teams. They're pretty much meh-team-proof, if you get my meaning. That is, you're going to have to be a really, really good team to beat them, and even then, you're probably going to need UConn to shoot poorly from the outside. But that can happen to them.

When they lost to ND, UConn shot just 3-16 (18.8%) from three while ND went 10-18 (55.6%). That won't happen very often but if it does, of course UConn will lose. And when they lost to USC, UConn shot just 6-23 (26.1%) from three while USC went 9-16 (56.3%) from three.

So that's the pattern. And while those teams played good D, if you go back and watch those games again, you'll see that UConn just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in those games - missed a ton of really good open looks.

And in those games, Azzi didn't play one game, and only played a few minutes in the other as she was just coming back. She's a real difference maker for them.

But they're really rolling now.

Paige is only playing 28 minutes a game and is averaging 19.4 points on 56.9% shooting, 43.4% from three, and 82.4% from the line. She's just unbelievably efficient. Clearly a first team All-American right now, though I don't think at this point she'd win POY. I think Hidalgo from ND is the frontrunner for that award.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
25,918
The 718
What really impressed me in watching from up close at St John’s was the physicality of the UConn guards/wings in their perimeter D. Big, long, fast, and a real mean streak. St John’s could not find a way through - it was like trying to sneak a juicy steak past a pack of dogs. Well into the second quarter, St J had more turnovers than shots.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
What really impressed me in watching from up close at St John’s was the physicality of the UConn guards/wings in their perimeter D. Big, long, fast, and a real mean streak. St John’s could not find a way through - it was like trying to sneak a juicy steak past a pack of dogs. Well into the second quarter, St J had more turnovers than shots.
Adding Griffin, once she gets up to speed (she's only playing a few minutes as she's just starting her comeback and is on a minutes restriction), will only help the defense. She's the most naturally athletic player on the team and is a beast defensively. She can guard any position but big centers, and I'd love to see UConn stick her on Hidalgo or JuJu or Pao Pao when they play ND, USC, or SC.

UConn still has holes though. But this is their best shot to win it all since 2016, IMO.
 

BaseballJones

slappy happy
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
27,717
Humongous game tonight in the SEC as #5 undefeated LSU visits #2 South Carolina. Should be a great one.
 

amh03

Tippi Hedren
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 27, 2003
7,020
Great game by S. Carolina…their blocking is so impressive!! LSU was sloppy w the ball and will have to tighten things up going forward.
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
What the heck is happening? Iowa is currently beating #4 USC 24-10 with under 5 minutes remaining in the first half. I've watched a couple of Iowa games this year and they are appropriately unranked.
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
3,077
Never mind, JuJu with a layup at the halftime buzzer to give USC the lead... an amazing level of fuckuppery by Iowa to blow a 14-point lead in 4½ minutes. This game will be over by the start of the 4th quarter.