The holidays have passed us by, the new calendar year is here and time is flying. As it relates to women’s college basketball, time is really flying — conference play has begun and just about half of the season is in the books.
Many things have developed over time, including key injuries, huge upset losses, and both surprising and disappointing seasons from several teams.
But through all of the season’s happenings, some things have remained the same: the preseason’s elite teams are still the ones best in position to win a national championship.
From longest to shortest, here are the five women’s college basketball teams with the best title odds at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+1500)
Led by sophomore Olivia Miles, who may be the best point guard in the nation, Notre Dame is off to a 13-1 start. The Irish’s only blemish came on the first day of December when future WNBA lottery pick Diamond Miller sunk them with a buzzer-beating game-winner.
Notre Dame is 6-0 since the heartbreaking loss and appears to be as legitimate as the preseason polls projected (AP No. 9).
Sonia Citron, Dara Mabrey, Lauren Ebo and Maddy Westbeld round out the starting lineup to make ND one of the more complete teams in basketball. With the aforementioned healthy players, the Irish will have a shot in March and April.
LSU Tigers (+1200)
For a while, the popular opinion was that LSU’s schedule was too easy to put the team in the conversation about being the best in the nation. Well, the schedule is getting ready to pick up during SEC play, so I guess those skeptics will get learn if their criticisms were valid.
I’m not one of those pessimistic about the Tigers. They’re 14-0, have a proven head coach (Kim Mulkey), roster a Player of the Year candidate (Angel Reese) and are beating teams by an average of 41.2 points per game. They’re the real deal and any championship bet placed on them is justified.
UConn Huskies (+700)
It feels like this UConn team is destined for the NCAA Championship Game, right? Already without superstar guard Paige Bueckers (ACL), the Huskies were going to be up against it this season. But they were awesome to begin the season as Azzi Fudd transformed into one of the elite players in the sport. However, she injured her knee about a month ago and hasn’t played since.
UConn is 6-1 since the injury with impressive wins over Florida State and Creighton. Fudd should be back in the lineup soon, which will only make UConn a better team. Don’t think twice about betting on Geno Auriemma’s squad to win another national championship. It could happen.
Stanford Cardinal (+270)
South Carolina.
That’s it — that’s the only team to defeat Stanford this season (76-71 OT). The overtime loss isn’t anything to be ashamed of considering the defending champion Gamecocks have just one total loss over the past two seasons.
The Cardinal won the 2020-21 NCAA championship and still have their two best players rostered from that run. Alongside them, Tara Vanderveer has put together another championship-caliber squad that would relish seeing South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina Gamecocks (+130)
If you follow the sport, you know who the cream of the crop is. The South Carolina brand, Dawn Staley and Aliyah Boston — all names that scream elite.
On the heels of a national championship-winning season, the Gamecocks are undefeated and are the undisputed No. 1 team in the nation. There’s a good possibility they will run the table this season. Surely, a title bet on them is a relatively safe one,
