Throughout a calendar year, there aren’t many days we are without women’s basketball. College basketball’s regular season turns into March Madness, which blends seamlessly into the WNBA draft and its season. Now just a few weeks after the WNBA Finals, the college game is back and ready to pick up from the drama we saw in the spring.
It may be hard to top how last season ended, especially with a tournament that saw two No. 1 seeds missing the Sweet 16, an undefeated South Carolina team that held the No. 1 ranking all season booted in the Final Four and an LSU squad full of transfers and first-year players becoming champions.
We can expect a lot of familiar names to dominate throughout the season—Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes, Angel Reese and the Tigers, Paige Bueckers and the Huskies—but if last year taught us anything, there’s always room for chaos come March.
Will this season see another underdog claiming the crown? Or will a stacked LSU team cruise to back-to-back titles? Our staff makes its predictions for the season ahead.
Joesph Cress/USA TODAY Network (Clark); Matthew Hinton/AP (Reese)
Which transfer will have the biggest impact on their new team?
Clare Brennan: Lauren Betts, UCLA. It’s hard to overlook the big-time addition of Hailey Van Lith to the splashy reigning national champions LSU’s roster. But my eyes will be on Betts’s move from Stanford to UCLA. She immediately injects this seasoned Bruins lineup with considerable size (at 6'7") and a daunting presence at the rim. The combination of Betts and veteran guard Charisma Osborne could likely prove lethal, putting UCLA in prime position to make a deep run come March.
Sarah Vasile: Hailey Van Lith, LSU. It has to be her, right? Kim Mulkey is crafting a superteam down in Baton Rouge, and Van Lith will have a key role in it. She was a huge part in taking Louisville to the Elite Eight (2021, ’23) and Final Four (’22) in its last three seasons and is personally coming off a season when she averaged 19.7 points a game. The Tigers already have a marquee player in Reese, and Van Lith has star power in her own right—let’s call it a co-headliner.
Wilton Jackson: Hailey Van Lith, LSU. The Tigers put together an incredible season capped with a national championship in 2022 behind the outstanding play of Reese, Alexis Morris, Flau’jae Johnson & Co. But with Morris’s departure, Mulkey needed another superb guard with a strong personality to command LSU’s offense, and Van Lith fits that mold. While she averaged career highs in scoring (19.7 ppg) and assists (3.2) last year, her biggest attribute for LSU will be her ability to get Reese, transfer Aneesah Morrow, Johnson and others consistently involved offensively. Every good team needs a solid point guard, and Van Lith will likely be the key piece that helps LSU’s chances of securing back-to-back titles.
Which team are you looking at as a dark horse?
CB: UNC. Courtney Banghart made good use of the transfer portal, adding Lexi Donarski from Iowa State to her experienced UNC team. Donarski fits in with Banghart’s disciplined defensive ethos and will also add a dynamic quality to the Tar Heels’ offense, which is led by veteran Deja Kelly. Hungry for some hardware, or at least to make a splash, Kelly & Co. will look to ride their chemistry—which many starters have cultivated over years in Chapel Hill together—to the postseason.
SV: Maryland. Last season, I was the only Sports Illustrated expert who didn’t pick South Carolina to win it all ... because I chose Maryland. Obviously neither of those teams won, but I think the Terps have a shot at rebounding this season following their Elite Eight departure last year. Maryland is returning Shyanne Sellers, who scored a career-high 26 points against fan-favorite Iowa last season. And while not as splashy as the Van Lith transfer, the Terps will get some extra help from Maryland native Jakia Brown-Turner, who could bounce back in College Park following an admittedly lackluster last season with NC State.
WJ: Tennessee. There were a lot of expectations for the Volunteers last season with stars Jordan Horston, Tamari Key and transfer Rickea Jackson. But even with the departure of Horston (WNBA’s Storm), Tennessee is loaded once again with top-tier talent. Jackson’s offseason play with the 2023 USA Women’s AmeriCup should help her take a step forward in her second season with the Vols, especially as a leader. As Key continues to regain full strength—she sat out with blood clots in her lungs last year—and the additions of transfers Destinee Wells (Belmont) and Jewel Spear (Wake Forest), things look promising. All the attention will be on LSU and a new-look South Carolina, giving Kellie Harper’s squad a chance to sneak up in a tough SEC.
Which team won’t meet expectations?
CB: Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have a ton of potential—with freshman Hannah Hidalgo already attracting plenty of hype—but there is a lot still up in the air as the season begins. With Olivia Miles’s status still a question mark as she recovers from a knee injury, Notre Dame is somewhat of an unknown quality. If Miles ends up healthy and/or Hidalgo makes a huge impact in her first season, then I am prepared to eat my words.
SV: Iowa. Call me a hater, call me a contrarian, call me whatever else you want—I don’t care! I don’t doubt that triple-double queen Clark is one of the best— if not the best—players in college basketball. Her stats back that up. But does she have enough backup on the court? Iowa won’t have Monika Czinano anymore, and while her statlines weren’t quite as flashy as Clark’s, she did average 17.1 points per game in her last season with the Hawkeyes. Together, Clark (1,055) and Czinano (650) accounted for 1,705 points last season—more than the rest of Iowa’s roster combined (1,611). Clark is a star, no doubt, but Iowa as a whole lacks the depth of top competition like LSU.
WJ: Indiana. The Hoosiers won the regular-season Big Ten title last year behind the stellar play of Grace Berger and All-American forward Mackenzie Holmes. With Berger off to the WNBA, Holmes remains the face of the program. Indiana will have veteran experience from senior Chloe Moore-McNeil and fifth-year senior Sara Scalia, who provides some flexibility to the backcourt. Yarden Garzon, who is superb beyond the arc, should also see some growth in Year 2, and it’ll be interesting to see how Freshman of the Year Sharnecce Currie-Jelks fits into Teri Moren’s system. But in a league dominated by Clark, an experienced Ohio state squad and solid Maryland team, it could be hard for the Hoosiers to live up to last year’s successes.
Who is winning it all this season?
CB: UConn. The national championship will return to Storrs this season. Bueckers is healthy, and after a year away, she will likely feel she has something to prove. Azzi Fudd has another season under her belt, while Caroline Ducharme and Nika Mühl are coming off promising performances in a trying campaign. Should UConn stay injury-free, it will be a force to be reckoned with, not to mention eager to cut down the nets for the first time since 2016.
