Regarding Notre Dame or any other ranked team, I think we are getting ahead of ourselves if we are too dismissive of very good teams that we believe we are better than. The best team doesn't always win, or anywhere close to it. This team because of injuries to Paige, Ice and now Dorka is not a lock against any ranked team. Last year during the height of our injuries we were vulnerable to good unranked teams.
Yes a couple of the Brianna Stewart led teams might have been 10 points a game better than anyone else in the country, but that kind of dominance is very rare. Our out of conference schedule is full of competitive games, and based on early season results maybe three other Big East teams would be in that category too. We play those twice each, plus the conference tournament so there are plenty of games we could lose, if we are bad when the opponent is better than expected.
So far we have met the challenge in each of those games against good competition and raised our rating as a result. We have many more tests to come. If we win all of those, then we will get a number 1 seed, and perhaps overtake Stanford and South Carolina. I am not that much of an optimist, but do think if we only come up short in a couple of those challenges, that we still have a crack at a number 1 seed, and that would be a remarkable regular season under the circumstances.
The other potential top seeds all face at least a couple of serious in conference competitors, and are likely to lose a game or two as well. If we only slip up a couple of times, I think we will be well positioned for the tournament, and have exceeded most expectations after the injuries to Paige and Ice. If we do better than that, we might be co-favorites for the National Championship with probably South Carolina and/or Stanford.