College Basketball

Women’s college basketball power rankings: Is Maryland a Final Four team?

Conference realignment in women’s college basketball came into full effect this week. The theoretical matchups fans anticipated during the offseason are finally starting to play out on the court, adding a new wrinkle to the traditional rivalries of league play.

California and Stanford ventured to the opposite coast for the first time, both struggling in the Eastern time zone. Oklahoma went into Knoxville and barely escaped with a win over Tennessee. Nebraska and Michigan were the first Big Ten teams to make the Los Angeles trip, and the young teams were treated to the harsh reality of playing two top-five teams in the span of a few days.

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In the age of mega-conferences, most teams play each other only once in league play. Several coaches, including Maryland’s Brenda Frese and Iowa’s Jan Jensen, likened the singular meetings to conference tournament games, which bore out during the Hawkeyes’ dramatic, yet ultimately unsuccessful, rally against the Terrapins.

If you have a favorite team or a matchup that catches your eye, make sure to mark it on your schedule ahead of time, because there is no guarantee of an encore in the new conference setup. Fortunately, that gives each matchup heightened stakes, not that this time of year needed any extra oomph.

Dropped out: Illinois (25)

Almost famous: Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma State

Three rising teams

Notre Dame vs. South Carolina

Differentiating between Notre Dame and South Carolina for the second and third spots in these rankings has been difficult, given both teams’ collection of marquee wins and the quality of their losses. The Irish arguably have the best set of wins of any team (home against UConn and Texas, on the road versus USC and North Carolina), but the Gamecocks have lost only once (to No. 1 UCLA), and they beat the two teams’ only common opponent, TCU.

Nevertheless, from the eye test, it’s hard to lower Notre Dame, especially after the Irish picked up a road victory in Chapel Hill this week. Notre Dame has the best backcourt in the country with Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo, who have inexplicably turned into the splash sisters and combined for 10 3-pointers in the win. Plus, with the return of Maddy Westbeld, the Irish’s frontcourt is as deep as South Carolina’s.

Even at No. 3, the Gamecocks are a terrifying opponent, especially as their 3-point shooting has progressed to 2023-24 levels. They shot 39.5 percent from long distance last season and have returned to 35.4 after a slow start to 2024-25. It’s too difficult for a defense to contain the likes of Chloe Kitts and Joyce Edwards inside while staying attached to Te-Hina Paopao and Tessa Johnson, high-volume, high-accuracy shooters.

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South Carolina trailed by 7 in the first quarter against Mississippi State when Johnson came into the game. She played the final 14 minutes of the first half and drained four 3s as the Gamecocks took an 8-point lead into halftime. Whether it was off a screen or a catch-and-shoot, Johnson made the Bulldogs pay for giving her any extra space. Johnson made four 3s out of the team’s 10, only the second time this season the defending champions have hit double figures.

Notre Dame and South Carolina create impossible choices for opponents with their distribution of offensive firepower. Any hope that the jump-shooting wouldn’t travel was dispelled with two dominant road wins.

Maryland remains unbeaten

One of five remaining undefeated teams in the country (three of which are in the Big Ten), the Terrapins have passed every test they’ve faced, the latest in resounding fashion on Lisa Bluder appreciation night in Iowa City. Maryland attacks the basket relentlessly on offense, which creates an abundance of options. The Terrapins can kick out for 3s, which led to 12 triples in the win over Iowa. They can power through for trips to the line, as they did with 32 free-throw attempts against Rutgers and 23 against Michigan State. Even when they miss, this is the seventh-best offensive rebounding team in the country, per Her Hoop Stats.

But it’s Maryland’s defense that has dramatically improved in recent seasons. Over the last four years, the Terrapins’ defensive rating has ranged from the 24th percentile nationally to the 56th. This year, they’re in the 93rd percentile. Their defensive rebounding has been markedly better, despite their tallest rotation players standing 6 feet 2. They don’t play particularly aggressively on defense, but they are long, and that leads to a lot of deflections. The Hawkeyes had difficulty passing the ball around Maryland, just as the Spartans did last week, and the Blue Devils earlier in the season; the Terrapins forced an average of 18 turnovers in those wins over ranked opponents.

There are no more caveats left in Maryland’s resume. The Terrapins have beaten enough quality opponents and done so away from home. Any discussion of Big Ten title contenders and Final Four hopefuls isn’t complete without Maryland’s name.

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Utah’s thriving in Big 12

The Utes have made a triumphant return to the Big 12, winning two games against fellow Pac-12 migrants Arizona State and Arizona and then going into Ames, Iowa, and beating Iowa State in a back-and-forth affair. They join TCU and Kansas as the conference’s unbeaten teams.

There aren’t a lot of questions about Utah’s offense — their pace and movement in the half court challenge most teams, especially those that are seeing that style for the first time. The curiosity against the Cyclones was whether the Utes could contain Audi Crooks inside; Utah starts 6-2 Jenna Johnson and Mayé Touré in the frontcourt, both of whom are lankier than they are broad.

But the Utes’ doubles worked effectively enough against Crooks, who scored 29 points but coughed up the ball five times in the loss. The sophomore center was spooked into traveling multiple times as the second defender came, and she threw an errant pass to the corner on another double-team in the fourth quarter. Utah will have to continue to rely on its speed and length to contain bigger centers, as Ayoka Lee and Sedona Prince await in upcoming games. Hanging tough against Iowa State and winning the Crooks minutes by nine was a good start.

Touré’s emergence as an offensive threat is also worth monitoring. She had a season-high 24 points, scoring on rolls to the basket, post-ups, pick-and-pops and even a drive from the top of the key. She also hit four 3-pointers, bringing her season total to 12. (Keep in mind Touré arrived at Utah with only 12 3s total in her four-year Rhode Island career.) She’s drinking the Utes’ special sauce, though, and her versatility will present difficulties for the Big 12’s other bulkier centers.

Two falling teams

Tennessee stumbles

The Lady Vols suffered their first loss of the season to Oklahoma, and their half-court defense was atrocious in the process. Tennessee is a press team under coach Kim Caldwell, so it stands to reason the bulk of its defensive effort is focused on creating turnovers, especially in the backcourt. However, there was simply no resistance for the Sooners once they broke through the press, which is how the Lady Vols dug themselves a 19-point hole before nearly clawing back.

Not having an answer for Raegan Beers inside is one thing, most teams don’t have the heft to contend with the junior center in the post. Failing to match up on shooters in transition and getting beaten over the top are unacceptable mistakes.

Tennessee isn’t going to press less often — that simply isn’t its identity. But there are other defensive principles the Lady Vols need to address against tougher opponents.

Where’s Ole Miss’ offense?

On the surface, it’s easy to excuse the Rebels’ 2-point loss to Texas A&M. Losing by one possession on the road to a conference opponent at the end of a long week with three games is perfectly justifiable.

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But Ole Miss took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter and proceeded to miss all 12 field-goal attempts in the final period, including a potential score-tying layup at the buzzer. That layup attempt came from Tameiya Sadler, who shoots 38 percent from the field but took four shots in the fourth. For a team that already has offense concerns, a quarter like this loudly sounds the alarm about what the Rebels are doing on that end of the court. Kennedy Todd-Williams is their leading scorer, and she was subbed out on offense during the final minutes — it’s hard to even argue with that decision since Todd-Williams is making 35.6 percent of her field goals this season and shot 2 of 6 against the Aggies.

Since Ole Miss upset Stanford in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, we’ve been waiting for this team to take the next step forward. But so long as the Rebels are fighting against a 60-point ceiling in SEC games, where is the offense upside?

Games to watch

The schedule picks up this week, but here are three of my favorites.

USC at Maryland

8:30 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, FS1

Harvard at Princeton

2 p.m. Saturday, ESPN+

Texas at South Carolina

1 p.m. Sunday, ESPN

(Photo of Shyanne Sellers: Keith Gillett / IconSportswire)

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