Women's college basketball Power Rankings: Are upsets a sign of shake-ups to come in SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten races?

[Carnac]

It was a week in women's college basketball of things that had never happened before or hadn't in a very long time. And those results have us wondering about the 2021-22 preseason favorites in the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.

Women's college basketball Power Rankings: Are upsets a sign of shake-ups to come in SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten races?

Recent losses by South Carolina, Maryland and Baylor have us rethinking the preseason favorites in some Power 5 conferences.

www.espn.com

 

[SECbbfan24]

Baylor has some talent but it feels like things are in disarray right now. Egbo has always been inconsistent but she has really hit a wall this year. The team isn't super deep but they seem to be in love with jacking up 3's these days instead of getting quality shots. Defense isn't as physically imposing and the intensity just doesn't look like its there right now.

Unless things change quick for them I would guess Texas or Iowa St will win the Big 12 this year. They have lost to all the decent teams they have played so far with the exception of Missouri (who almost beat them at home).

 

[JellyBean]

I am just glad that we are into conference play now. Time for teams to separate themselves from the pack within their conferences.

 

[bballnut90]

Baylor looks like they're falling from grace quickly under Collen. They have a lot of talent but lose most of it after this year and probably fall to middle of the pack in the Big 12. I don't think this is a big surprise as Kim was the big draw for Baylor and Collen has no experience coaching at a strong women's college basketball program. Texas appears to be positioned to be the league standout going forward and might win the conference this year.

Maryland has had some tough injuries this year. They were missing Miller, Masonius, and Benzan in the tournament where they got blown out by Stanford and NC State. They looked better vs SC and Indiana but lost both of those in hard-fought games, and didnt have a healthy Diamond Miller for either game, who is one of the most dynamic players in the country when healthy. Once she's healthy Maryland might start rolling again, but Indiana also looked primed to be a very good team this year and is a legitimate threat for a #1 seed.

SC hasn't come close to dominating their conference like Baylor/Maryland have. South Carolina has only won 1 regular season title in the past 4 years, where as Maryland has won 6 of the last 7 in the Big Ten and Baylor has won 11 straight regular season titles. The loss to Mizzou seemed like a let down game where they probably overlooked their competition and Mizzou capitalized. SC has by far the best resume of wins in college basketball and is still the overwhelming favorite to win the SEC. The SEC has a ton of depth this year but I don't see any team challenging SC at the top.

 

[visitingcock]

K-State and A. Lee will beat several of those others. She can dominate.

 

[Carnac]

No. 1 South Carolina to be missing players for women's college basketball matchup vs. No. 13 LSU​

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley acknowledged that her top-ranked team will be missing some players against No. 13 LSU on Thursday.
"We've got a few people out," Staley said Wednesday. Staley did not say who won't play in the SEC matchup against Kim Mulkey, who is in her first season coaching LSU (14-1, 2-0).

South Carolina played short-handed Sunday against Mississippi State with reserves LeLe Grissett, Saniya Rivers, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson in virus protocols. Amihere, who usually is the first player off the bench, is averaging 7.2 points a game and is third on the team in steals (14) and blocks (17). Grissett has missed the last three games as part of virus protocols.

Wed 1/5: Texas Tech 74 - Texas 61 Texas Tech hands the Longhorns their 2nd loss of the season tonight in Austin. Tech was 34/44 from the stripe. Texas was 12/19. The Longhorns had 33 rebounds, 21 of them were offensive.