bballnut90
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Most off seasons, there seem to be a thread or two on what was the best UCONN team or ranking them in order. This is going to be a long off season, and I'm bored, so I thought I'd start this thread to help pass the time.
The last ten years have been thoroughly dominated by UCONN (10 Final Fours, 6 titles, 370-14 record, etc), but there have been a lot of really good teams the past decade that don't get a whole lot of credit, either because they were overshadowed by UCONN, had injury issues, or another reason. Here is how I'd rank the best non UCONN teams from this era:
1. 2014 Notre Dame, they finished 37-1 and were one of the best offensive teams ever. Incredibly efficient, they shot over 50% from the floor, 40% from 3, and 75% from the line. Every starter had a positive assist/TO ratio and they were extremely dominant the entire season, winning 35 of their 37 games by double figures. Their only close call was against a very good Maryland team that made the Final Four with Alyssa Thomas and Lexie Brown. Their downfall was that they lost Achonwa and ended up getting blown out by one of the best UCONN teams ever. I do think UCONN wins it all even if Achonwa was healthy, but Stewart/Dolson had an absolute field day going up against freshman Taya Reimer and exploited that matchup from the get go. ND had 3 All Americans on the top 3 AP teams and had all the pieces to win it all in most years. I rank them over Baylor because I thought they were more dominant overall than the Bears were. In 2012 Baylor also didn't have to face a UCONN team with the likes of Stewart or Moore on the roster. At any rate, I think this was the best team Muffet ever had.
2. 2012 Baylor, they went 40-0 en route to a dominant championship. One of the better defensive teams women's basketball has seen, they were led by the incredibly dominant Brittney Griner. She made a big jump in her offensive ability from 2011 to 2012, and Sims also emerged as one of the top point guards in the country this year. Baylor was loaded with good role player supporting their 2 stars, none of whom were flashy, but all were effective. They played great basketball at the end of the season, shutting down the Ogwumikes, blasting a talented Tennessee team in the Elite 8 and using a dominant 2nd half to crush Notre Dame by 19. They did have the luxury of not facing a UCONN team with a mega superstar, but to their credit, they beat UCONN in the regular season and even if UCONN did have a mega superstar, I'm not sure they would've had an answer for Griner.
3. 2013 Baylor, 34-2, Sweet 16, similar to 2012....they were one of the more dominant teams we've seen in women's basketball. Virtually the same roster, but with a good freshman PG in Niya Johnson. They did have 2 losses, but one was when they played without Odyssey Sims and the other was the infamous Louisville game. I do think this squad overall was more dominant then the 2011-12 roster when they played their best, but I can't rank them above 2011-12 who went undefeated while this squad lost in the Sweet 16. Statistically, this team was definitely better offensively than 2011-12. Some may criticize putting this squad over other championship teams, but Baylor was solidly the #1 team almost the entire season and were viewed as the team to beat the entire year. Louisville needed a straight up miracle (plus some questionable calls/no calls) to pull off the upset. If that didn't happen, Baylor would've likely steamrolled to the title game and faced UCONN in a showdown.
4. 2018 Notre Dame, 35-3, National Champion. Notre Dame had many moments throughout the season where they looked shaky (their 4th quarter meltdown vs. UCONN, 33 point loss to Louisville and down by 23 to Tennessee for starters), but they persevered through adversity and proved they were an outstanding team capable of beating anyone. They had an absolutely brutal path to win the championship. They had to face:
-Texas A&M, a very good 4 seed who came close to beating ND in the Sweet 16 led by Carter, Williams and Howard
-Oregon in the PNW, most people predicted OU would beat Notre Dame
-UCONN who was 36-0..many people didn't think this would be a competitive game
-Mississippi State who was 37-1....another game where they were the underdog
They were a really unique team in that weren't going to beat you with size or athleticism, but seemingly found a way through sheer effort, smarts and playing within themselves. They got the job done agains the best competition, so that's why I have them here.
5. 2018 Mississippi State, 37-2 and the runner up. Like 2018 Notre Dame, players on the team knew their role and played within themselves. The championship game was a tad strange since the offensive plan became "pound it into McCowan" rather than running their weave offense and utilizing great three point shooters and Vivians/Johnson/William off the dribble. When they ran their normal offense, they were effective, especially with McCowan cleaning up everything inside. Once they got away from that, they struggled. Overall on the season, I thought they were a very complete team in all areas. They had strong weapons in all 5 starters and McCowan was a matchup nightmare for all opposing teams. Vic really maximized the talent on his roster, and they waltzed through a good SEC, finishing the regular season undefeated. If they win the title, I'd bump them up to number 3. The no-call on Mabrey was brutal, but in reality Mississippi State just stopped executing in the 4th and looked lost on the offensive end. They had their chances but didn't capitalize like they had all season long.
6. 2010 Stanford, 36-2, national runner up. First thing worth noting is that Stanford very possibly goes undefeated if there isn't Connecticut. They were 36-0 against everyone else, 0-2 vs the Huskies. They had a loaded roster with Appel, Nneka, Pederson and Pohlen...just a really had a fantastic season. Their record may be a tad inflated since the only good teams they played prior to the tournament were Tennessee, Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN. They also probably should have lost the regional final to Xavier if it weren't for 2 wide open blown layups at the end of the game. In the title game, everyone remembers how bad UCONN was in the first half....but Stanford really wasn't much better, only scoring 20 points. Their offense was completely shut down by UCONN. The second half, their struggles continued and they had scored just 31 total points until there were 2.5 minutes left and the game was out of reach. I think if they played in a tougher conference, they may have lost another game or 2, but for all the criticism I've given them, they really were a very strong team.
7. 2018 Louisville, 36-3, Final Four. I'm hard on Walz, but they were fantastic this season. They played a strong schedule and managed to come out with just 2 losses in the regular season and lost a heart breaker in the Final Four to Mississippi State, also on a somewhat questionable no call at the end of regulation. They weren't a dominant team most of the year, but they proved they could hang with anyone and gut out close wins. If they knocked off Mississippi State, I do think they would've beat Notre Dame a 3rd time, especially after seeing how much Mabrey struggled against their quick guards. Really is crazy how close the Final Four was this year.
8. 2017 South Carolina, 33-4, National Champions. I'm sure I'll get a lot of feedback on this ranking from the SC fans, but I thought they were a streaky team that got hot at the right moment and also caught a couple of huge breaks. They won the title and were a very deserving champion, as Dawn restructured the team after Coates went down which allowed Davis to shine. She also made a great move to have Harris be the lead PG over BCM. Wilson turned into a monster too and was an absolute workhorse inside. So why aren't they higher? They were inconsistent. Lost by double digits to Duke, couldn't stay competitive against UCONN, lost at home to a weak Tennessee team, and also lost to a mediocre Missouri team. In the tournament, I thought they caught a huge break when Brianna Turner injured her ACL. If she's healthy, ND likely beats Stanford, and ND would've been a much tougher matchup for SC than Stanford was. Then the major break they caught was avoiding UCONN, a team they were never competitive with, and instead faced a team they had beat 3x that season.
9. 2011 Stanford, 33-3, Final Four. I know I'll get flack for putting them ahead of Texas A&M who beat them, but overall on the year they were the better team. This may have been Tara's best team she's put together at Stanford. They had Pohlen outside, the Ogwumikes inside along with inside out threat Kayla Pederson. They lost on a layup with 3 seconds left after having a 10 point lead late against A&M...tough way to go out. On the year they handily beat UCONN, blew out Xavier by 37 (with Phillips/Harris), beat UCLA (3 seed that year) 3x, and had very few close calls. Their only close calls were the Final Four loss, an early season OT loss at Tennessee back when Tennessee actually had a really good squad (#1 seed, 34-3 on the year), and a close win over North Carolina in the Sweet 16. They did have a bad loss early in the year, but after shaking that off, they were rock solid the rest of the season.
10. 2013 Notre Dame, 35-2, Final Four. This was one of the best crunch time teams we've seen in women's basketball. They were not imposing on paper, and when you watched them they never looked like a dominant team, but they just knew how to win and won with great consistency. They only lost to Griner and Stewart led teams. They beat UCONN three times that year and waltzed through a good Big East Conference. Their inability to slow Stewart in the semifinals paired with awful shooting nights for Diggins/Loyd/McBride ended up being their undoing, but I thought this was one of Muffet's best coaching jobs.
11. 2011 Baylor, 34-3, Elite 8. Baylor was strong all year, but in hindsight, the Elite 8 exit shouldn't have been very surprising. They had numerous close calls throughout the year and lost by double digits to a mediocre Texas Tech team late in the season. Griner was far from a finished product as a sophomore, and the team struggled scoring against good teams. They never cracked 70 against at top 10 team. That said, they were a very good team and I thought they had a great shot to win it all that season. I have them above A&M because they beat them 3x that year and I think they were a better team overall despite losing that night.
12. 2011 Texas A&M, 33-5, National Champions. I'm not sure they should be this low considering they won it all (and beat both teams ranked above them en route to the title), but most of the year they just didn't look very strong. They lost 3x to Baylor, lost to Duke, and lost to unranked Kansas State very late in the season. By the end of the year they pulled it together and absolutely deserved the championship, but I don't think they're better than most teams on the list. They were ranked 5th-8th the entire year until the final poll.
13. 2015 Notre Dame, 36-3, Runner Up. They were streaky the first half of the season but really caught their stride after their embarrassing loss to Miami. Talent wise, they were really solid. Turner, Loyd, Allen, Reimer was good that year, plus solid role players on the roster too. They put up a good fight against one of the classic dominant UCONN teams.
14. 2012 Stanford, 35-2, Final Four. Only losses all year were to Connecticut and Baylor. They were led by the Ogwumike sisters, and they were very good once again. Their downfall this season was they didn't have any viable perimeter scorers and Chiney couldn't score against good teams, so when they faced UCONN/Baylor, they were one dimensional with Nneka. They also played a very light schedule, with the only strong opponents in the regular season being Tennessee and Connecticut. Again, to their credit, 36-2 is fantastic, plus they were competitive with Baylor in the semis.
15. 2012 Notre Dame, 35-4, Runner Up. Another great ND team that was loaded with experience and made a good run for the title. 3 wins against UCONN, plus they absolutely crushed Maryland and Tennessee. Lineup was solid all around with Diggins, McBride, Novosel, and Peters leading the way. Not sure they should be ahead of or behind 2012 Stanford, but they were a great team. In the finals, their shortcoming was Dev Peters inability to avoid fouls. She picked up 4 founds in maybe 10 minutes of play. When she was on the court, ND did quite well and she held her own against Griner. They were only down 3 in the second half when she picked up her fourth, and after that Baylor went on a massive run and had no answer for Griner.
HM:
2016 ND, 33-2, Sweet 16-a really good team that played well together and appeared to be on a collision course with UCONN for a rematch in the title. Stanford had a Louisville-esque performance and pulled the upset in the Sweet 16. They gave UCONN probably their best game of the year in the regular season, too.
2016 SC, 33-2, Sweet 16-one of Dawn's better teams that she's coached. They were fantastic all year besides a poor game against Connecticut. That was their only loss up until the Sweet 16. This was the year Wilson really came into her own, and they had a very strong roster with her, Coates, and Mitchell.
2015 SC, 34-3, Sweet 16-another one of Dawn's better teams. Very good all season long and they were ranked #1 most of the season. Very similar roster to the 2016 team, but made it 2 rounds further. They nearly knocked off Notre Dame in the Final Four in a classic.
2017 ND, 33-4, Elite 8-I feel like I'm getting quite repetitive here, but this ND team was very good and likely makes the Final Four with a healthy Turner. They definitely had their ups and downs (2nd round OT game, losing to Tennessee), but I don't think there was ever a question that they were one of the best teams in the country that year.
The last ten years have been thoroughly dominated by UCONN (10 Final Fours, 6 titles, 370-14 record, etc), but there have been a lot of really good teams the past decade that don't get a whole lot of credit, either because they were overshadowed by UCONN, had injury issues, or another reason. Here is how I'd rank the best non UCONN teams from this era:
1. 2014 Notre Dame, they finished 37-1 and were one of the best offensive teams ever. Incredibly efficient, they shot over 50% from the floor, 40% from 3, and 75% from the line. Every starter had a positive assist/TO ratio and they were extremely dominant the entire season, winning 35 of their 37 games by double figures. Their only close call was against a very good Maryland team that made the Final Four with Alyssa Thomas and Lexie Brown. Their downfall was that they lost Achonwa and ended up getting blown out by one of the best UCONN teams ever. I do think UCONN wins it all even if Achonwa was healthy, but Stewart/Dolson had an absolute field day going up against freshman Taya Reimer and exploited that matchup from the get go. ND had 3 All Americans on the top 3 AP teams and had all the pieces to win it all in most years. I rank them over Baylor because I thought they were more dominant overall than the Bears were. In 2012 Baylor also didn't have to face a UCONN team with the likes of Stewart or Moore on the roster. At any rate, I think this was the best team Muffet ever had.
2. 2012 Baylor, they went 40-0 en route to a dominant championship. One of the better defensive teams women's basketball has seen, they were led by the incredibly dominant Brittney Griner. She made a big jump in her offensive ability from 2011 to 2012, and Sims also emerged as one of the top point guards in the country this year. Baylor was loaded with good role player supporting their 2 stars, none of whom were flashy, but all were effective. They played great basketball at the end of the season, shutting down the Ogwumikes, blasting a talented Tennessee team in the Elite 8 and using a dominant 2nd half to crush Notre Dame by 19. They did have the luxury of not facing a UCONN team with a mega superstar, but to their credit, they beat UCONN in the regular season and even if UCONN did have a mega superstar, I'm not sure they would've had an answer for Griner.
3. 2013 Baylor, 34-2, Sweet 16, similar to 2012....they were one of the more dominant teams we've seen in women's basketball. Virtually the same roster, but with a good freshman PG in Niya Johnson. They did have 2 losses, but one was when they played without Odyssey Sims and the other was the infamous Louisville game. I do think this squad overall was more dominant then the 2011-12 roster when they played their best, but I can't rank them above 2011-12 who went undefeated while this squad lost in the Sweet 16. Statistically, this team was definitely better offensively than 2011-12. Some may criticize putting this squad over other championship teams, but Baylor was solidly the #1 team almost the entire season and were viewed as the team to beat the entire year. Louisville needed a straight up miracle (plus some questionable calls/no calls) to pull off the upset. If that didn't happen, Baylor would've likely steamrolled to the title game and faced UCONN in a showdown.
4. 2018 Notre Dame, 35-3, National Champion. Notre Dame had many moments throughout the season where they looked shaky (their 4th quarter meltdown vs. UCONN, 33 point loss to Louisville and down by 23 to Tennessee for starters), but they persevered through adversity and proved they were an outstanding team capable of beating anyone. They had an absolutely brutal path to win the championship. They had to face:
-Texas A&M, a very good 4 seed who came close to beating ND in the Sweet 16 led by Carter, Williams and Howard
-Oregon in the PNW, most people predicted OU would beat Notre Dame
-UCONN who was 36-0..many people didn't think this would be a competitive game
-Mississippi State who was 37-1....another game where they were the underdog
They were a really unique team in that weren't going to beat you with size or athleticism, but seemingly found a way through sheer effort, smarts and playing within themselves. They got the job done agains the best competition, so that's why I have them here.
5. 2018 Mississippi State, 37-2 and the runner up. Like 2018 Notre Dame, players on the team knew their role and played within themselves. The championship game was a tad strange since the offensive plan became "pound it into McCowan" rather than running their weave offense and utilizing great three point shooters and Vivians/Johnson/William off the dribble. When they ran their normal offense, they were effective, especially with McCowan cleaning up everything inside. Once they got away from that, they struggled. Overall on the season, I thought they were a very complete team in all areas. They had strong weapons in all 5 starters and McCowan was a matchup nightmare for all opposing teams. Vic really maximized the talent on his roster, and they waltzed through a good SEC, finishing the regular season undefeated. If they win the title, I'd bump them up to number 3. The no-call on Mabrey was brutal, but in reality Mississippi State just stopped executing in the 4th and looked lost on the offensive end. They had their chances but didn't capitalize like they had all season long.
6. 2010 Stanford, 36-2, national runner up. First thing worth noting is that Stanford very possibly goes undefeated if there isn't Connecticut. They were 36-0 against everyone else, 0-2 vs the Huskies. They had a loaded roster with Appel, Nneka, Pederson and Pohlen...just a really had a fantastic season. Their record may be a tad inflated since the only good teams they played prior to the tournament were Tennessee, Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN. They also probably should have lost the regional final to Xavier if it weren't for 2 wide open blown layups at the end of the game. In the title game, everyone remembers how bad UCONN was in the first half....but Stanford really wasn't much better, only scoring 20 points. Their offense was completely shut down by UCONN. The second half, their struggles continued and they had scored just 31 total points until there were 2.5 minutes left and the game was out of reach. I think if they played in a tougher conference, they may have lost another game or 2, but for all the criticism I've given them, they really were a very strong team.
7. 2018 Louisville, 36-3, Final Four. I'm hard on Walz, but they were fantastic this season. They played a strong schedule and managed to come out with just 2 losses in the regular season and lost a heart breaker in the Final Four to Mississippi State, also on a somewhat questionable no call at the end of regulation. They weren't a dominant team most of the year, but they proved they could hang with anyone and gut out close wins. If they knocked off Mississippi State, I do think they would've beat Notre Dame a 3rd time, especially after seeing how much Mabrey struggled against their quick guards. Really is crazy how close the Final Four was this year.
8. 2017 South Carolina, 33-4, National Champions. I'm sure I'll get a lot of feedback on this ranking from the SC fans, but I thought they were a streaky team that got hot at the right moment and also caught a couple of huge breaks. They won the title and were a very deserving champion, as Dawn restructured the team after Coates went down which allowed Davis to shine. She also made a great move to have Harris be the lead PG over BCM. Wilson turned into a monster too and was an absolute workhorse inside. So why aren't they higher? They were inconsistent. Lost by double digits to Duke, couldn't stay competitive against UCONN, lost at home to a weak Tennessee team, and also lost to a mediocre Missouri team. In the tournament, I thought they caught a huge break when Brianna Turner injured her ACL. If she's healthy, ND likely beats Stanford, and ND would've been a much tougher matchup for SC than Stanford was. Then the major break they caught was avoiding UCONN, a team they were never competitive with, and instead faced a team they had beat 3x that season.
9. 2011 Stanford, 33-3, Final Four. I know I'll get flack for putting them ahead of Texas A&M who beat them, but overall on the year they were the better team. This may have been Tara's best team she's put together at Stanford. They had Pohlen outside, the Ogwumikes inside along with inside out threat Kayla Pederson. They lost on a layup with 3 seconds left after having a 10 point lead late against A&M...tough way to go out. On the year they handily beat UCONN, blew out Xavier by 37 (with Phillips/Harris), beat UCLA (3 seed that year) 3x, and had very few close calls. Their only close calls were the Final Four loss, an early season OT loss at Tennessee back when Tennessee actually had a really good squad (#1 seed, 34-3 on the year), and a close win over North Carolina in the Sweet 16. They did have a bad loss early in the year, but after shaking that off, they were rock solid the rest of the season.
10. 2013 Notre Dame, 35-2, Final Four. This was one of the best crunch time teams we've seen in women's basketball. They were not imposing on paper, and when you watched them they never looked like a dominant team, but they just knew how to win and won with great consistency. They only lost to Griner and Stewart led teams. They beat UCONN three times that year and waltzed through a good Big East Conference. Their inability to slow Stewart in the semifinals paired with awful shooting nights for Diggins/Loyd/McBride ended up being their undoing, but I thought this was one of Muffet's best coaching jobs.
11. 2011 Baylor, 34-3, Elite 8. Baylor was strong all year, but in hindsight, the Elite 8 exit shouldn't have been very surprising. They had numerous close calls throughout the year and lost by double digits to a mediocre Texas Tech team late in the season. Griner was far from a finished product as a sophomore, and the team struggled scoring against good teams. They never cracked 70 against at top 10 team. That said, they were a very good team and I thought they had a great shot to win it all that season. I have them above A&M because they beat them 3x that year and I think they were a better team overall despite losing that night.
12. 2011 Texas A&M, 33-5, National Champions. I'm not sure they should be this low considering they won it all (and beat both teams ranked above them en route to the title), but most of the year they just didn't look very strong. They lost 3x to Baylor, lost to Duke, and lost to unranked Kansas State very late in the season. By the end of the year they pulled it together and absolutely deserved the championship, but I don't think they're better than most teams on the list. They were ranked 5th-8th the entire year until the final poll.
13. 2015 Notre Dame, 36-3, Runner Up. They were streaky the first half of the season but really caught their stride after their embarrassing loss to Miami. Talent wise, they were really solid. Turner, Loyd, Allen, Reimer was good that year, plus solid role players on the roster too. They put up a good fight against one of the classic dominant UCONN teams.
14. 2012 Stanford, 35-2, Final Four. Only losses all year were to Connecticut and Baylor. They were led by the Ogwumike sisters, and they were very good once again. Their downfall this season was they didn't have any viable perimeter scorers and Chiney couldn't score against good teams, so when they faced UCONN/Baylor, they were one dimensional with Nneka. They also played a very light schedule, with the only strong opponents in the regular season being Tennessee and Connecticut. Again, to their credit, 36-2 is fantastic, plus they were competitive with Baylor in the semis.
15. 2012 Notre Dame, 35-4, Runner Up. Another great ND team that was loaded with experience and made a good run for the title. 3 wins against UCONN, plus they absolutely crushed Maryland and Tennessee. Lineup was solid all around with Diggins, McBride, Novosel, and Peters leading the way. Not sure they should be ahead of or behind 2012 Stanford, but they were a great team. In the finals, their shortcoming was Dev Peters inability to avoid fouls. She picked up 4 founds in maybe 10 minutes of play. When she was on the court, ND did quite well and she held her own against Griner. They were only down 3 in the second half when she picked up her fourth, and after that Baylor went on a massive run and had no answer for Griner.
HM:
2016 ND, 33-2, Sweet 16-a really good team that played well together and appeared to be on a collision course with UCONN for a rematch in the title. Stanford had a Louisville-esque performance and pulled the upset in the Sweet 16. They gave UCONN probably their best game of the year in the regular season, too.
2016 SC, 33-2, Sweet 16-one of Dawn's better teams that she's coached. They were fantastic all year besides a poor game against Connecticut. That was their only loss up until the Sweet 16. This was the year Wilson really came into her own, and they had a very strong roster with her, Coates, and Mitchell.
2015 SC, 34-3, Sweet 16-another one of Dawn's better teams. Very good all season long and they were ranked #1 most of the season. Very similar roster to the 2016 team, but made it 2 rounds further. They nearly knocked off Notre Dame in the Final Four in a classic.
2017 ND, 33-4, Elite 8-I feel like I'm getting quite repetitive here, but this ND team was very good and likely makes the Final Four with a healthy Turner. They definitely had their ups and downs (2nd round OT game, losing to Tennessee), but I don't think there was ever a question that they were one of the best teams in the country that year.
