The NCAA women’s basketball season begins Monday, No. 21 Clayton beat No. 23 South Dakota 78-69 to advance to the top 25.The major midfield caused early problems for the team in the NCAA Tournament last March and is one of the stories to watch in 2022-23. Yahoo Sports is looking at a few more things to get ready for the season.
Will South Carolina rejoin dynasty status?
There aren’t many programs that have been repeated as NCAA champions, and they’re all considered dynasty powerhouses.South Carolina is about to be one of them.
Gamecocks unanimous player of the year with Aaliyah Boston Continue to be the number one team in the country After cutting the net in April.
Their main focus is to fill the point guard spot left by Destanni Henderson, and they have the talent to do it. Relying on senior guard Zia Cook, who carries the .
Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley, who is in his 15th year, said, “She would like to take on a bit more of a point guard role. told the country“She’s a senior. You don’t have to tell her to play point guard. Go get the ball. Do your thing.”
Power forward Leticia Amijia scored points and Henderson, who missed several games with injury last season, has team experience.
Raven Johnson, the No. 2 recruit in the 2021 class, looks like a strong contender as the only point guard on the roster. She’s coming out of her torn ACL that ended her freshman season after her eight minutes into the campaign. Staley said at the SEC Media Day last month that Johnson is “coming back on pretty well” but that she “want to take the burden off of her before she can play full time.” rice field.
And Kiera Fletcher, who transferred from Georgia Tech, started all four years. She said Fletcher was going to return for a fifth year with the Yellow Jackets, but she couldn’t because of a foot injury, Staley said of practicing consistently with “some nagging injuries.” did not.
South Carolina conducts early test against Maryland Potential WNBA Lottery Picks Friday Boston and shooting guard Diamond Miller are set to face off. Miller leaves Monday’s opener with knee injurybut is not considered to be serious.
Can Iowa carry Clayton’s defeat hunger to the Final Four?
Iowa had one of the more disastrous exits from the NCAA Tournament when No. 10 Clayton upset the No. 2-seeded Hawkeyes (64-62). That might be the one to join the 1993 team and drive the country’s second-best offense to the Final Four, the second in school history.
“From our greatest failure comes our greatest success.” Caitlin Clarke, USA told the Des Moines Register. “…Last year we thought we would reach the final four. But we never felt that sour taste in our mouths. No, and I think that’s the difference this year.
“We think about that Clayton game every day, that early exit.”
Iowa, who averaged 84.2 points per game last season, has all five starters back and ranks fourth in preseason polls. Clarke, who leads the nation with 27 goals scored and his eight on the field, leads dynamic duo Monica Chinano (21.2 points), who has led Division I in his goal percentage on the field for the past two years.
Seniors McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin and Gabby Marshall round out the experienced group, adding Molly Davis (Michigan) to take over some of the ball-handling responsibilities from Clark.
They must first overcome the tough Big Ten. Six of the conference’s teams are in the top 25 polls, and non-conference opponents include his 10th-ranked North Carolina State University and his 6th-ranked Phil Knight in the Legacy College Basketball Tournament. Includes UConn or Duke.
Will UConn’s Elite Eight run end?
It’s a common question Connecticut continues to answer the phone despite graduations, injuries and the rise of other programs. There are 14 appearances. Elite Eight’s run also dates back to his 2006 tournament two years earlier. Since the 1993 tournament, the Huskies have never been ejected before a Suite 16.
Former Player of the Year Paige Buckers is gone. In August, he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee while playing pick-up basketball. The 5-foot-11 guard missed most of his sophomore year with a noncontact leg injury, but returned to lead the Huskies to the title game in his home state of Minnesota. She also had surgery on her ankle at the end of her freshman year. Buckers, who led the team with 14.6 points per game, said she would stay at UConn for the senior season even though she is WNBA Draft eligible.
They’re also missing 6-3 freshman Ice Brady, the fifth-ranked recruit in his class who had surgery for a dislocated right knee last month. , Husky’s non-conference schedule is not kind.
UConn will face five teams in the AP Top 25 before the start of the year, with No. 5 Tennessee and No. 1 South Carolina on the agenda for 2023. They haven’t lost a double-digit game since their 18-11 campaign in ’92-93.
What can you expect from the 2022 Tournament upset team?
The Final Four was pretty much a blank slate, but the road to get there wasn’t so easy. Can the upset team sustain its success?
The No. 2 seed Clayton, who ruined Iowa’s tournament, ranked No. 21 in the AP preseason polls and was voted No. 2 in the Big East. They played a five-out system without any true bigs and relied on an average of 10.1 field goals per game. They lead a Division I team with 20.2 assists per game Return 84% of scoring offense. Among them was Lauren Jensen, who hit the winning 3 against Iowa.
Ending Baylor’s year, No. 10-seeded South Dakota first beat Ole Miss in their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament before dominating Baylor and came within three points of overthrowing Michigan in the Sweet 16. Kayla Karius at the helm after Dawn Prydzvait leaves for West Virginia. Guard Chloe Lam, guard Liv Colungabre and center Hannah Schelven have all graduated. The trio accounted for his 63% of scoring output, and he was the only three to achieve a double-digit average.
the summit league was mainly racing It was ranked 24th in the AP poll, among Coyotes and South Dakota State Jack Rabbits. Jackrabbits return 4 of the 5 starters and 6 of the 7 top scorers from the WNIT Championship teams.
Princeton also achieved three consecutive victories in the Ivy League tournament and entered the season ranked 25th. The Tigers upset his SEC champion Kentucky and in the second round he lost to Indiana by one point. Belmont won the ballot after upset Oregon in the tournament, losing to Tennessee by a margin of three to him. They return seven of his top nine scorers, including Destinee Wells.
Final Four Picks and Awards
Final Four: Favorites will always be there, but it’s no longer just a few powerhouses and everyone else’s game. There are plenty of teams available for the final weekend.
Picks: South Carolina, Iowa, Stanford, Notre Dame
South Carolina has so much talent back that it can win again. UConn has always been a favorite team, but they face the tougher test of extending their Final Four record streak. Stanford still has strong Final Four-level talent with a 2021 winner. And both Iowa and Notre Dame are built on a strong aggressive core with chips on their shoulders.
Title Pick: South Carolina
Upset Title Pick: Iowa
Player of the Year: This is the race last season between Clark, Iowa and Boston, South Carolina for the ultimate prize. Clark became the first player to lead Division I in both points scored and assists. Boston dominated the post and were very efficient heading into the national championship.
Pick: Kaitlyn Clarke
There is no doubt that Boston, a likely #1 pick in the WNBA Draft, will continue to be all of these things. Clarke has a desire to dig deeper in the tournament that Boston had after his 2021 Finals loss to the Four, with all five of the starting lineup returning and the added benefit of adding an extra element.
Coach of the Year: Title winners are always considered, so South Carolina’s Staley deserves a mention here. There are other coaches who may not take the team to the final weekend, but are laying the groundwork to do so in the future.Kim Mulkey, before taking over, pushed LSU to his 9-13 mark. Following the campaign he made a 26-6 team. And she’s added major transfers, including Angel Reese, who is largely considered her player at Portal. Tennessee’s Kelly Harper and Notre Dame’s Neil Ivey have returned powerhouses to the top tier. And Vic Schaefer led Texas to the Elite 8 in his first two years in a row.
Pick: Dawn Staley
Historically, this award is given to coaches of teams en route to national competition. But if UConn returns to the Final Four, Geno Auriemma is arguing it, given the obstacles they’ve already faced. *duck*
