NCAA 2025 Women's Basketball DI

[Rogue Valley]

ESPN pre-season rankings.

1) South Carolina
2) UCONN
3) USC
4) UCLA
5) Texas
6) Notre Dame
7) LSU
8) Iowa State
9) NC State
10) Duke
11) Baylor
12) Oklahoma
13) North Carolina
14) Ohio State
15) Kansas State
16) West Virginia
17) Louisville
18) Maryland
19) Florida State
20) Ole Miss
21) Creighton
22) Nebraska
23) Kentucky
24) Alabama
25) Illinois

 

[Rogue Valley]

Watched the pre-season opener between 2024 Champion South Carolina and Michigan. South Carolina wins 68-62.

The Gamecocks will miss 6'7" center Kamilla Cardoso. This is a guard-heavy team but perfectly capable of doing a 3-peat. Senior Guard Ta-Hina Paopao remains a deadly 3 point shooter and will almost certainly be a top 10 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. I like forward Chloe Kitts for her high-energy motor, but she is only a Junior. The Michigan Wolverines are also a guard heavy team featuring the most heavily recruited freshman in 6' guard Syla Swords. She is as good as advertised and reminds me of a freshman Paige Bueckers of UCONN.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Got to watch my #2 UCONN Huskies play yesterday. They beat #14 North Carolina 69-58 and are 3-0 at this early juncture. Senior guard Paige Bueckers had 29 points in 36 minutes. She is virtually unguardable. Unlike towards the end of last year when UCONN could only suit up 8 players due to injury, the team has some players back which adds height and length. Now Coach Auriemma can add height via 6'5" redshirt freshman center Jana El Alfy, No. 1-ranked freshman recruit 6'2" forward Sarah Strong, and 6'3" redshirt sophomore forward Ice Brady. They have also added point guard Kaitlyn Chen via NIL. Not quite back yet is guard Azzi Fudd who is recovering on schedule from ACL surgery. Forward Aubrey Griffin (ACL) is behind schedule, and the team has no idea when guard Caroline Ducharme (head) will return. Ducharme has been plagued with head issues since her freshman year after becoming dizzy during bad turbulence on the team’s flight to the Cayman Islands.

Sarah Strong and Ice Brady really looked good yesterday, as did guard Ashlyn Shade. With the win Coach Geno Auriemma tied Tara VanDerveer with the most Division I wins in college basketball.

UConn's Geno Auriemma ties Tara VanDerveer as NCAA's all-time winningest coach as Huskies top North Carolina

Auriemma reached win No. 1,216 on Friday with UConn's win over North Carolina

www.cbssports.com

PS. The 2025 WNBA draft order will be determined tomorrow (Sunday 11/17) at 5pm ET on ESPN. The LA Sparks, Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics have the best odds to draft guard Paige Bueckers of UCONN #1. The Chicago Sky will again have two picks in the top ten. The Sky need a proven 3-point shooting guard (Azzi Fudd?, TeHina Paopao?), and perhaps a scoring forward (Aneesah Morrow?, Janiah Barker?).

PSS. Any WNBA team looking for a promising rookie center should give 6'6" center Ayoka Lee of Kansas State a look. She is really good and holds the NCAA Division I women's single-game scoring record with 61 points. She is a grad student eligible for the draft and is strong with very good footwork under the basket. She's a scoring/rebounding beast and would be a good pickup. She'd look good in a Lynx uniform.

 

[Rogue Valley]

NCAA Women Basketball DI Top Ten AP rankings. Tuesday December, 3, 2025.

UCLA (8-0)
Big Ten Women
792 (25)
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UConn (6-0)
Big East Women
771 (7)
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South Carolina (7-1)
SEC Women
727 (0)
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Texas (7-0)
SEC Women
704 (0)
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LSU (9-0)
SEC Women
629 (0)
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USC (6-1)
Big Ten Women
619 (0)
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Maryland (8-0)
Big Ten Women
572 (0)
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Duke (8-1)
ACC Women
564 (0)
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TCU (8-0)
Big 12 Women
513 (0)
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Notre Dame (5-2)
ACC Women
501 (0)

 

[Rogue Valley]

Tonight the #2 UCONN Huskies are visiting #8 Notre Dame in South Bend at 7pm ESPN.

ND features 3 premier guards - Hannah Hildago, Olivia Miles, and Sonia Citron. All three are very difficult to guard and can score at all levels. Hildago is everywhere on the court and led the NCAA DI in steals last year. I believe ND F Maddy Westbeld is still out. UCONN's G Azzi Fudd is also likely to miss the game. That means G Paige Beckers will have to step up again. I think the Huslies have a definite advantage in the paint with 6'3" F Ice Brady, 6'2" F Sarah Straong, and 6'5" C Ana El-Alfy. Should be a good game. If the Husklies fail to limt Hildago's buckets, assists, steals and rebounds, ND will win at home. Turnovers and rebounding will be decisive.

 

[Rogue Valley]

UConn lost to Notre Dame 68-79. Huskies G Azzi Fudd (16.5 ppg as a starter) did not play and her backup Ashlynn Shade (21 minutes/0 pts) did not contribute much this time out. An entirely healthy UConn team is required to defeat Notre Dame. UConn's Paige Buekers tallied 25 pts and ND's Hannah Hidalgo tallied 29 points. Notre Dame has the best 3 person backcourt in womans NCAA DI basketball with Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, and Sonia Citron. ND can go as far as their guards take them.

 

[Trippy Trekker]

NBA Legend Shaq has 3 daughters. The middle one plays for LSU; the youngest one, a freshman, plays for Florida Gators.

 

[Trippy Trekker]

I just feel like Girls Basketball, from high school to the WNBA, doesn’t get its due! I coached girls youth league basketball for more than a decade.

I introduced a young friend’s daughter (maybe age 7 at the time) to Suncoast Youth League in Sarasota FL. In 9th grade, she started for Bradenton FL-based Southwest High School. They made it to the FINAL FOUR State Championships. Her Senior year, she played for Sarasota FL-based Booker High School and made it to the FINAL FOUR again!

It takes an enormous amount of skill and passion for a girl to play basketball at the collegiate level!

That little girl, Kymani Freeman, a college sophomore, took her game to a small college in Iowa, Graceland University:

2024-25 Women's Basketball Roster

2024-25 Women's Basketball Roster

www.gujackets.com

While I doubt Kymani ever plays in the WNBA, I expect her to maintain a love for girls basketball the rest of her life. Maybe she can generate an income coaching in the future!

Easy to mistake the handsome young man in one of the photos as Kymani’s dad. Not her dad; one of her dad’s tight friends and my Godson. We went and watched Kymani play.