Elite Eight rematches, participant of the 12 months showdowns, rivalries renewed: Prime ladies's video games of 2024-25

by Anthony S. Hansen
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No. 1 seeds might be up for grabs in November and December.

That is how usually the most effective groups in ladies’s school basketball are taking part in one another within the first two months of the season.

UConn and Notre Dame every play three video games towards top-10 opponents earlier than Christmas. South Carolina and Iowa State play two apiece. Head-to-head is an official piece of standards the NCAA match choice committee considers when evaluating groups, and the members can have loads to have a look at when deciding the highest spots within the bracket.

November and December matter. Video games over the primary two months form the narrative for the remainder of the season and are referenced in February and March when the choice committee’s seeding choices are being fashioned.

The Huskies, for instance, doubtless price themselves an opportunity at a No. 1 seed a 12 months in the past, shedding to NC State, UCLA and Texas within the first month of the season. That win for the Wolfpack, plus a blowout of Colorado in November, catapulted them from unranked within the preseason to what turned out to be a No. 3 seed and a visit to the Remaining 4.

So which video games would possibly make the most important influence this season? Listed below are the highest 12 nonconference video games throughout the nation that would assist create robust résumés and set the stage for convention play. Let it additionally function a viewer’s information to high video games across the nation from day one of many season into February. However one notice: Vacation match video games weren’t thought of; we’ll break down these matchups subsequent month. (Rankings discuss with preseason AP Prime 25.)

Nov. 4 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in Paris

It is not the primary sport of 2024-25 and is not even the primary sport in Paris on Nov 4. (That honor belongs to USC and Ole Miss, the opening sport of the doubleheader, at midday ET on ESPN.) However that is the most effective matchup of the day. The Cardinals’ streak of 5 consecutive Elite Eight appearances ended final season, and Louisville is a little bit of a thriller with eight freshmen on the roster. Their introduction to varsity basketball can be taking part in a UCLA crew filled with veterans with Remaining 4 aspirations on nationwide tv.


Nov. 10 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Charlotte, North Carolina

Final we noticed each groups, the Gamecocks handed the Wolfpack a 19-point loss within the Remaining 4. However NC State made an unimaginable run to succeed in Cleveland. To repeat that success, Wes Moore will depend on backcourt trio Saniya Rivers, Aziaha James and Zoe Brooks. Guard play additionally occurs to be the power of South Carolina, which dominated NC State with measurement within the nationwide semifinals however is not as massive up entrance with out Kamilla Cardoso (WNBA) and presumably Ashlyn Watkins (suspended after being arrested Aug. 31 and charged with first-degree assault and battery and kidnapping).


Nov. 23 (4 p.m. ET, NBC) in Los Angeles

That is the primary of many video games on this checklist that characteristic potential one-on-one battles between the most effective younger gamers within the sport. The coaches would every bristle at anybody describing this sport as Hannah Hidalgo vs. JuJu Watkins, however loads of individuals will tune in for that showdown. The 2 sophomores will invariably be matched up towards one another at occasions. The sport marks the primary time the Irish and Trojans have met since 2006, and their home-and-home extends to subsequent 12 months in South Bend.


No. 1 South Carolina at No. 5 UCLA

Nov. 24 (4 p.m. ET, FS1) in Los Angeles

As tough as South Carolina’s nonconference schedule is, that is the one true highway sport towards top-25 groups and the primary of two highway video games towards a potential NCAA match crew (Dec. 8 at TCU is the opposite). With Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker, the Bruins match up effectively with the Gamecocks gifted guards, Raven Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley, Tessa Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao. One key to the sport: How Lauren Betts seems to be towards the size of South Carolina’s frontcourt.


No. 4 Texas at No. 6 Notre Dame

Dec. 5 (7 p.m., ESPN) in South Bend, Indiana

Hidalgo will get pitted towards one other All-American-level sophomore in Madison Booker within the ACC/SEC Problem. The Texas star took over the Longhorns when Rori Harmon went down with a torn ACL in late December — simply as Hidalgo needed to step up at Notre Dame with the absence of injured Olivia Miles. Each Hidalgo and Booker have their operating mates again, making this the backcourt matchup of the 12 months.


No. 11 Duke at No. 1 South Carolina

Dec. 5 (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Columbia, South Carolina

That is the temperature-check sport for the Blue Devils and the second sport of the marquee doubleheader within the SEC/ACC Problem. In Kara Lawson’s tenure in Durham, the Blue Devils face their highest expectations in years. Their deep and versatile roster can have already performed Maryland, South Dakota State and Kansas State, however nothing measures a crew’s readiness for the following degree than taking part in the Gamecocks in Columbia. If Duke freshman Toby Fournier has already dunked for the primary time in her school profession, the eyeballs on this sport will develop exponentially.


Dec. 5 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Tar Heels symbolize the hardest nonconference sport for the remade Wildcats underneath Kenny Brooks, however at the least they’re a well-known opponent for the long-time Virginia Tech coach and guard Georgia Amoore, who adopted Brooks from Blacksburg to Lexington. Led by Lexi Donarski, Alyssa Utsby and Maria Gakdeng, North Carolina is loaded with veterans and can be getting its final take a look at earlier than ACC play begins 10 days later.


Dec. 7 (7 p.m. ET, FOX) in Brooklyn, New York

The Ladies’s Champions Basic pits two extremely seen applications — one from current success, the opposite with an extended historical past — that every have first-year coaches and are coping with the lack of a top-five WNBA draft choose. And one month into the season, this sport serves as a check-in to see how the changes are going. Iowa is not simply coping with Caitlin Clark’s departure. Lisa Bluder retired too, leaving the Hawkeyes to long-time assistant Jan Jensen. Tennessee stunned some by hiring Kim Caldwell, who had only one 12 months of Division I teaching expertise at Marshall, as Kellie Harper’s substitute. The Woman Vols have an skilled roster, however Rickea Jackson’s scoring can be missed.


No. 2 UConn at No. 6 Notre Dame

Dec. 12 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) in South Bend, Indiana

This sequence stays top-of-the-line — if not the most effective — rivalries in ladies’s basketball. Final 12 months UConn had seemingly righted the ship after a troublesome begin to the season when Notre Dame went to Storrs and dominated the fourth quarter in a 15-point win. It was additionally the evening when Hidalgo went from top-of-the-line freshmen within the nation to top-of-the-line gamers within the nation after a 34-point, 10-rebound, 6-assist efficiency.


No. 8 Iowa State at No. 2 UConn

Dec. 17 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1) in Uncasville, Connecticut

Three weeks previous to assembly the Huskies, Iowa State will play South Carolina at a Thanksgiving occasion in Fort Myers. The Cyclones are testing themselves. At this similar time final season, Audi Crooks wasn’t but a family title. Now she’s the cornerstone of a top-10 crew and one of many nation’s most expert publish gamers. Each applications are identified for operating easy and environment friendly offenses. Count on some factors on this Basketball Corridor of Fame Ladies’s Showcase sport.


No. 3 USC at No. 2 UConn

Dec. 21 (8 p.m. ET, FOX) in Hartford, Connecticut

A gathering between these groups final March determined a visit to the Remaining 4. This 12 months it might assist decide the nationwide participant of the 12 months race. Bueckers and Watkins can have competitors however they’re the front-runners to begin the season. Will this sport present some separation between them? In UConn’s 80-73 victory within the Elite Eight in Portland, Bueckers had 28 factors, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Watkins was 9-for-25 from the sector however received to the free throw line 9 occasions and in addition had a double-double (29 factors and 10 rebounds). A subplot is likely to be the matchup inside between USC senior Kiki Iriafen and UConn freshman Sarah Sturdy.


No. 2 UConn at No. 1 South Carolina

Feb. 16 (1 p.m. ET, ABC) in Columbia, South Carolina

Ladies’s basketball does sure issues higher and that is one among them. The opposite main school sports activities do not play marquee nonconference video games like this late within the season. Coaches are sometimes unwilling to step away from the rhythm and rigors of league competitors to play a sport towards one of many different finest groups within the nation. However Geno Auriemma and Daybreak Staley have been up for the problem for years. South Carolina dominated final 12 months’s assembly, however the earlier two have been thrillers. The Gamecocks have received 4 of the final 5 within the sequence, together with the 2022 nationwide title sport. Bueckers, who missed the 2023 assembly attributable to a knee damage, has averaged 21.0 factors in 4 video games towards South Carolina, however 21 factors from Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao in final February’s assembly overshadowed Bueckers’ 20.

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