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Mark Patton

’24-’25 NCAA Women’s Basketball, just as Exciting Post-Clark

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse during the 2024 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game in April. Source: Wikipedia.

The tip-off to the 2024-2025 women’s college basketball season is Nov. 4, and here is where your obsession with the season begins. As we cover this ’24-’25 women’s college basketball season, BGX will keep you updated on the top players, scores and injuries. We’ll also be covering the players getting to that NIL money, atop the WNBA prospect list, who’s using their voice for social justice/change, as well as the loveable underdogs and more. We’ll also keep you current on the Top 25 teams and, as the season progresses, the players racing to the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year award.

 

After a historic ‘23-’24 season full of smashed statistical, attendance, and viewership records, ‘24-’25 has its work cut out for it. But it comes well prepared to expand women’s basketball. The post-Caitlin Era has no shortage of names that will soon become household ones. JuJu Watkins (USC), Paige Bueckers (UCONN), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Rori Harmon (U of Texas), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), MiLaysai Fulwiley (South Carolina), and Flau’jae Johnson (LSU) are just some of the talented players to keep an eye on this season. The talent pool in women’s college basketball is diverse, vibrant, dynamic, and abundant, offering fans a broad representation and reflection of the power of women in the sport.

 

USC player Judea Skies "JuJu" Watkins is one of many players who will likely make a name for herself in the '24-'25 season. Source: Instagram

The Black woman leading the women’s college basketball charge is Philly’s own Dawn Staley, the University of South Carolina Basketball’s all-time winningest coach. She’s also a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, an Olympic gold medalist, a five-time National Coach of the Year and a three-time Women’s Basketball National Champion—to name just a few of her accomplishments. Staley’s embrace of social media, coupled with her popular fashion sense, maturity and self-awareness, exploits the strength of vulnerability and shows a different vision of leadership and success on and off the court. Communication is core to Staley’s leadership style, and it reflects her success.

 

The ’24-’25 season has plenty of talent throughout. In addition to the Top 25, there are teams and players outside of the Top 25 who will captivate and compete. Teams like Stanford, Texas Christian University, and Tennessee aren’t to be overlooked or counted out; any of them could make their way into the Top 25 at some point during the season. Players like Colorado State’s McKenna Hofschild, Creighton’s Lauren Jensen, Ohio State’s Chance Gray, North Carolina State’s Aziaha James, Arizona’s Jada Williams, and Oregon’s Deja Kelly are expected to be significant contributors to their team’s success, but they lack national name recognition … for now.

 

Media darlings JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers are this season’s headliners looking to make their impact on the game even more significant. The season’s most prominent conferences are the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12. Each conference added new teams in the off-season, bringing different dynamics that will take some getting used to. For example, USC and UCLA are now part of the Big Ten and must travel as far East as Maryland to play a conference game. In the SEC, new teams, Oklahoma and Texas, are the new kids; every attempt will be taken to treat them as such. Heavyweights South Carolina and Texas are new conference rivalries we can look forward to for many seasons.

 

Halloween’s over, and the masks have been put away for another year. The pretenders had their day. It’s time for the real-life players to show up and show out. With the added attention and awareness of women’s college basketball, this ’24-’25 season has the potential to further the game and endear a legion of new fans.

 

NCAA Women’s Basketball Top 25

 

1.     South Carolina

2.     UConn

3.     USC

4.    Texas

5.     UCLA

6.    Notre Dame

7.    LSU

8.    Iowa State

9.    North Carolina State

10.  Oklahoma

11.    Duke

12.   Baylor

13.   Kansas State

14.  Ohio State

15.   North Carolina

16.   West Virginia

17.   Louisville

18.   Maryland

19.   Florida State

20.  Ole Miss

21.   Creighton

22.  Kentucky

23.  Nebraska

24. Alabama

25.  Indiana

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