ESPN preseason ranking

[The CDR-Ret]

I just finished making the Prognosticator's Predictions tally sheets for all of the games except game number 6 and you aren't prognosticating this year because you think you jinxed them last year? You didn't jinx them the NCAA wanted CC playing in the Finals so the refs had to find a way to get it done.

100% - phantom fouls on AE & company to put her [CC] on the charity stripe. Just ask my wife, one of the few times she was more unconsolable than I was after a loss in the FF.

I am thinking with PB as the consensus NPOY this year, the FF game will be called even for UConn this year.

Looking forward to a season that allows more than 95% of those predicting are able to convince themselves to predict wins every game for the women who play for UConn. [I cannot in good faith predict against them, as my bias for them is welded into my brain permanently...]

Go Huskies!!!

 

[CL82]

I am really not trolling

You are only pretending?

 

[sun]

According to Massey, UConn's preseason SSF rank is #24.
FWIW, SSF stands for Strength of Schedule Including Future Games which stands apart from Strength of Schedule alone which only includes games played.
Even though UConn is ranked #2 overall by Massey, maybe it's possible that UConn's ranking could be affected by it's "potentially weaker" SOS as the season progresses.
Maybe not by much but perhaps it's something to be aware of.

Massey Ratings - College Basketball Women's Ratings

Computer ratings and rankings for CBW (College Basketball Women's), with links to team predictions, scores, and schedules.

masseyratings.com

 

[Rowdy831]

No team will have a better roster. That is true pretty much every year and consequently they are always in the conversation regarding who will win it all. As always it will come down to to a couple breaks here and there and the health of the players. I am excited to finally see Paige and Azzi both healthy and playing together. I think Sarah fills a need that was lacking last year they should have a couple bigger players when needed.

If they have full availability I think it is theirs to lose.

 

[Bone Dog]

According to Massey, UConn's preseason SSF rank is #24.
FWIW, SSF stands for Strength of Schedule Including Future Games which stands apart from Strength of Schedule alone which only includes games played.
Even though UConn is ranked #2 overall by Massey, maybe it's possible that UConn's ranking could be affected by it's "potentially weaker" SOS as the season progresses.
Maybe not by much but perhaps it's something to be aware of.

Massey Ratings - College Basketball Women's Ratings

Computer ratings and rankings for CBW (College Basketball Women's), with links to team predictions, scores, and schedules.

masseyratings.com

It's worth thinking about. But finally, the only games that will matter for tournament seeding are the ones against USC ND SC Iowa St and maybe Tennessee. If we win those, or even just most of them, we'll be a #1 seed.

 

[yhun89]

It's worth thinking about. But finally, the only games that will matter for tournament seeding are the ones against USC ND SC Iowa St and maybe Tennessee. If we win those, or even just most of them, we'll be a #1 seed.

Tennessee probably won’t matter this year, they lost Jackson and Key, and the Pauldos aren’t coming until 2025. Who else do they have? I could be wrong.

 

[maple]

Tennessee probably won’t matter this year, they lost Jackson and Key, and the Pauldos aren’t coming until 2025. Who else do they have? I could be wrong.

And they have a brand new coach coming from a small time program. There's going to be some rebuilding for them.

 

[Cuango]

And they have a brand new coach coming from a small time program. There's going to be some rebuilding for them.

I think this coach is going to finally get Tennessee back to relevance again! By all accounts, she is a real winner and given the resources she now has access to a whole different level of athlete! If she can get Tennessee level recruits and purge that locker room of everything since Pat died, I think she will have them back among the elite before very long.

 

[Vowelguy]

Computer Rankings are built on data. There is none for 24-25 season, so any "preseason computer ranking" is entirely built on results from last year, and thus is basically meaningless.
Computer rankings are not reliable until after a few weeks and enough games have been played.

 

[Steelerone]

With the growing popularity of women's basketball the chances of any team going undefeated are dwindling. I'll be ecstatic if we can go through a season with a minimum of injuries. If so our chances are as good as any team in the nation.

 

[Bone Dog]

With the growing popularity of women's basketball the chances of any team going undefeated are dwindling.

I'm omitting the second half of your comment because it uses the inj*** word and I won't tempt karma by reproducing it. But I really love this first part. I don't expect to see any undefeated teams this season, though a couple of teams will probably come within 2 or 3 of that target, and UConn will be one of them.

 

[Bald Husky]

These Massey ratings are for the end of last year. They won't mean anything until everyone plays at least 10 games this season. It is perfectly obvious when they rank the Caitlin Clarkless Iowa team #1 in offence.

 

[CBus13]

@GirlBoo1020

Piqued my interest, so I took a visit over to the Ohio State roster page.
Looks like the main person in the middle this year will be:

- Ajae Petty, the 6'3" post/forward who came over from Kentucky. She averaged 14.2 ppg (on 51% shooting from the field) and 10.6 rebounds per game. She'll join Taylor Thierry and Cotie McMahon up front. [They also have Eboni Walker, who has had a curious career at Ohio State. I think she had a great first season after stepping up when Mikulasikova was injured and was crucial in their 2022 NCAA tournament run, but then struggled to find playing time last season, which frustrated fans. On her senior night, she played low minutes, then all of a sudden wasn't on the bench and then missed the next few games with no reason given. She is back for one final season.]

Beyond that, three underclassmen possibly in the pipeline:
- Faith Carson, a 6'4" post from Michigan who barely got off the bench last year [Carson is with the team but she and Hobbs were the only players not practicing at the first day of practice. No reason given for Carson's absence]
and

• Ella Hobbs, a 64" forward from North Carolina [I believe Hobbs tore her ACL or had a knee injury in her high school season. Not sure if she's cleared to play yet or when she will be]
• Elsa Lemmila, a 6'6" post from Finland. She might be worth paying attention to at some point for Kevin McGuff seems to have a knack for finding tall talent overseas (see Dorak Juhasz, Rebeka Mikulaskova).

 

[Charliebball]

As I always say at this time of the year........who cares about rankings! The only rankings that matter will be the ones on April 7th 2025!

 

[Greg]

I just finished making the Prognosticator's Predictions tally sheets for all of the games except game number 6 and you aren't prognosticating this year because you think you jinxed them last year? You didn't jinx them the NCAA wanted CC playing in the Finals so the refs had to find a way to get it done.

No, it was my fault. No predictions from this corner this year.

 

[Steelerone]

oo Pittsburgh Steelers make Justin Fields decision ahead of Russell Wilson return
I'm omitting the second half of your comment because it uses the inj*** word and I won't tempt karma by reproducing it. But I really love this first part. I don't expect to see any undefeated teams this season, though a couple of teams will probably come within 2 or 3 of that target, and UConn will be one of them.

Good thinking BD.

 

[meyers7]

I think this coach is going to finally get Tennessee back to relevance again! By all accounts, she is a real winner and given the resources she now has access to a whole different level of athlete! If she can get Tennessee level recruits and purge that locker room of everything since Pat died, I think she will have them back among the elite before very long.

Well I do hope you are wrong.

 

[DefenseBB]

With due respect, DefenseBB, a poster who signed on in 2011 and has more than 60,000 reactions and almost 20,000 posts seems to have the history to make such a statement, IMO. Whether it's Triad's only forum, I don't know.

Even though I'm a relatively new Boneyard poster at about three years, and I'm a Wake Forest guy, I have been a huge fan of UConn for many decades and this is my forum. I do also venture onto other forums, but this is my home.

I welcome comments and posts from anyone, no matter his or her school of origin/preference.

I am not sure what you are referring to as I replied to CL82 and then referenced GirlBoo1020 as the new poster. Please reread my thread and tell me how you were insulted? Seems much ado about nothing...

 

[Kaizen]

Cannot believe ESPN has this 2025 NCAA women basketball tournament out already..

The demise of the Pac-12 began when USC and UCLA made the jump to the Big Ten. These moves are always predicated on football, but this one also gave the Big Ten, already a deep and historic women's basketball conference, two of the best teams in the country. The Trojans and Bruins are big favorites to finish 1-2 in the Big Ten and are now projected as No. 1 seeds. JuJu Watkins brings her star power to another part of the country after propelling the Trojans to a top seed and an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, and now USC adds top transfers Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State). The Bruins did the same, adding Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) to couple with 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts and point guard Kiki Rice. The race is already on in the new-look Big Ten.

Women's Bracketology: One final projection before the bracket is revealed

All 31 auto-bids are spoken for. Will UConn or UCLA be No. 1 overall? And where will the hosts be seeded?

www.espn.com

 

[Dugway]

Cannot believe ESPN has this 2025 NCAA women basketball tournament out already..

The demise of the Pac-12 began when USC and UCLA made the jump to the Big Ten. These moves are always predicated on football, but this one also gave the Big Ten, already a deep and historic women's basketball conference, two of the best teams in the country. The Trojans and Bruins are big favorites to finish 1-2 in the Big Ten and are now projected as No. 1 seeds. JuJu Watkins brings her star power to another part of the country after propelling the Trojans to a top seed and an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, and now USC adds top transfers Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State). The Bruins did the same, adding Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) to couple with 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts and point guard Kiki Rice. The race is already on in the new-look Big Ten.

Women's Bracketology: One final projection before the bracket is revealed

All 31 auto-bids are spoken for. Will UConn or UCLA be No. 1 overall? And where will the hosts be seeded?

www.espn.com

I bet he is wrong

 

[nwhoopfan]

The Bruins did the same, adding Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M)

Don't forget about Timea Gardiner. She might be the best of the 3.

 

[Alydar]

Cannot believe ESPN has this 2025 NCAA women basketball tournament out already..

The demise of the Pac-12 began when USC and UCLA made the jump to the Big Ten. These moves are always predicated on football, but this one also gave the Big Ten, already a deep and historic women's basketball conference, two of the best teams in the country. The Trojans and Bruins are big favorites to finish 1-2 in the Big Ten and are now projected as No. 1 seeds. JuJu Watkins brings her star power to another part of the country after propelling the Trojans to a top seed and an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, and now USC adds top transfers Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State). The Bruins did the same, adding Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) to couple with 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts and point guard Kiki Rice. The race is already on in the new-look Big Ten.

Women's Bracketology: One final projection before the bracket is revealed

All 31 auto-bids are spoken for. Will UConn or UCLA be No. 1 overall? And where will the hosts be seeded?

www.espn.com

How did LSU's transfers work out? Signing talent can help a lot as long as the players compliment each other. LSU got a sg and a power forward when they needed a pg. They still need a pg.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think USC did better in the Portal than UCLA did. And coach Gottlieb did better at integrating her talent last season than Cori Close did. In the end, I think Juju herself will be all that really matters and she'll carry her teammates farther than Betts or Rice will be able to. There's no one comparable to her on UCLA.

 

[GoChips20]

I think USC did better in the Portal than UCLA did. And coach Gottlieb did better at integrating her talent last season than Cori Close did. In the end, I think Juju herself will be all that really matters and she'll carry her teammates farther than Betts or Rice will be able to. There's no one comparable to her on UCLA.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here as both are fairly evenly matched but I think Leger-Walker, Gardiner, and Barker are a better portal pickup group than Iriafen and TVO. Iriafen is the best player of the group but UCLA’s trio is more versatile and I find TVO to be slightly overrated. I do agree that Gottlieb is better at integrating her talent and that Juju can carry like no one on UCLA. But I don’t think either school will sweep the other.

 

[yhun89]

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here as both are fairly evenly matched but I think Leger-Walker, Gardiner, and Barker are a better portal pickup group than Iriafen and TVO. Iriafen is the best player of the group but UCLA’s trio is more versatile and I find TVO to be slightly overrated. I do agree that Gottlieb is better at integrating her talent and that Juju can carry like no one on UCLA. But I don’t think either school will sweep the other.

Iriafen’s issue is her complete lack of ability to space the floor on offense. She’s not a good shooter outside 6-7 feet from the basket.

UCLA had good pickups, but the real question is how Close will use them. Because my god, her complete misuse of her post players should be studied. Betts was better off at Stanford TBH, at least they had guards who knew how to pass her the ball without bumbling it. Instead, there’s no communication and she’s unprepared for every pass they try to give her. UCLA’s best transfer is CLW by far since she can actually pass the dang ball.

 

[jake0414]

I think USC did better in the Portal than UCLA did. And coach Gottlieb did better at integrating her talent last season than Cori Close did. In the end, I think Juju herself will be all that really matters and she'll carry her teammates farther than Betts or Rice will be able to. There's no one comparable to her on UCLA.

There is no one comparable to Juju on UCLA’s roster nor on most, if not all, other teams for that matter. Both USC and UCLA filled their specific needs from the transfer portal. The Trojans got arguably the most talented player in the portal in Kiki Iriafen and gives USC a top front line with Iriafen and Marshall. Von Oelhoffen brings valuable point guard experience to the backcourt as the Trojan guards lack experience other than Juju Watkins.

UCLA needed a high percentage outside shooter who can score when opponents double or triple team Lauren Betts inside. The Bruins appears to have filled that need by getting Timea Gardiner from the portal. Timea Gardiner shot 39.5% from three point range on five attempts per game (54% of her shot attempts) and 50.3% from inside the arc. Charlisse Leger-Walker is a deceptively effective point guard who will spell Kiki Rice with ball handling once she returns to the court. Will watch with great interest to see what roles athletically gifted forward Janiah Barker takes on.

No doubt Juju will carry her teammates to success this season, farther than Betts or Rice can or will carry theirs. Fortunately the Bruins have so much experience and depth that they won’t rely solely on Betts and Rice to carry the team to a successful season.

 

[MSGRET]

There are somethings that ESPN and others are not considering when it comes to the addition of the former PAC-12 teams into the other conferences. The main one is the increased travel, which will effect both the old PAC-12 teams and conferences that they joined having more cross country flights during their conference play of the regular season. Yes they can try to minimize the travel by playing a couple of games during each flight but it's still going to be something that will have some effect on them.

 

[jake0414]

Iriafen’s issue is her complete lack of ability to space the floor on offense. She’s not a good shooter outside 6-7 feet from the basket.

UCLA had good pickups, but the real question is how Close will use them. Because my god, her complete misuse of her post players should be studied. Betts was better off at Stanford TBH, at least they had guards who knew how to pass her the ball without bumbling it. Instead, there’s no communication and she’s unprepared for every pass they try to give her. UCLA’s best transfer is CLW by far since she can actually pass the dang ball.

Iriafen‘s outside shooting improved as the season progressed last year. I expect continued improvement with the Trojans.

Betts would be better off at Stanford? She didn’t get that many minutes her freshman year playing behind Brink and a plethora of other bigs and saw her minutes decline at season’s end. Lauren has said time and again she’s really happy she transferred to UCLA. There were a lot of passes she bumbled last season but Betts led the team in scoring. As the season progressed she continually faced two defenders in the post. The bigger problem was UCLA’s inconsistent outside shooting let opposing teams get away with the double or triple teams on Betts.

 

[yhun89]

Betts would be better off at Stanford? She didn’t get that many minutes her freshman year playing behind Brink and a plethora of other bigs and saw her minutes decline at season’s end. Lauren has said time and again she’s really happy she transferred to UCLA. There were a lot of passes she bumbled last season but Betts led the team in scoring. As the season progressed she continually faced two defenders in the post. The bigger problem was UCLA’s inconsistent outside shooting let opposing teams get away with the double or triple teams on Betts.

She isn’t developing for a pro career under Close in the slightest. Close’s misuse of Betts against LSU is why they lost.

She’s an elite player. Under a better coach, she easily goes in the lottery in her year. She’s a good player coached by someone who has no idea how to use her when the time comes.

The other problem has been the guards surrounding her. They never communicate the pass and that’s why she bumbles it. CLW should solve that problem thankfully.

 

[Cuango]

I think USC did better in the Portal than UCLA did. And coach Gottlieb did better at integrating her talent last season than Cori Close did. In the end, I think Juju herself will be all that really matters and she'll carry her teammates farther than Betts or Rice will be able to. There's no one comparable to her on UCLA.

I’d say it’s pretty clear that Gottlieb is a much better coach than Close! I think the jury is still out as to how much better perhaps but she (Gottlieb) is imo clearly better. I’m anxious to see how the dynamic of that team (USC) changes with the addition of another Alpha scorer next to JuJu. Will JuJu be OK with reducing her shots to accommodate Kiki? That is going to be an interesting team to watch! They could be truly monstrous or could possibly have some growing pains. As for UCLA, I still have my doubts. It is possible though, that they have so much talent that they are dominant in spite of Close. I think Rice is a keeper who gets better every year and of course, they have the big girl and quite the portal haul as well. It’s difficult for me to get past Close though.