Does anyone want to be ranked No. 2?
This season, that slot in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll seems to be bad luck, as numerous teams with that ranking — including Iowa, UCLA and most recently Kansas State — have been upset. If you’re the coach of those teams, you’re less than thrilled. But if you’re a women’s basketball fan, you’re probably rubbing your hands together eagerly as you contemplate just how fun the NCAA tournament is going to be next month.
It’s crazy to think we’re only seven weeks away from the madness.
It’s plausible that any of the teams listed below could play their way to Cleveland, particularly if their star players — like Georgia Amoore (Virginia Tech), Madison Booker (Texas), Cameron Brink (Stanford) and others — take over games.
But the first step to a Final Four trip involves getting a good seed, and to do that, you have to take care of business during conference play. That leads us to this weekend’s must-see games.
This has all the makings of a trap game. It’s really hard to win on the road this year in the Pac-12 — which is why Washington’s upset of USC last weekend turned so many heads. It won’t be easy for Utah, but Alissa Pili, the defending Pac-12 player of the year, and the Utes are desperate to get back on track after getting smoked at Oregon State last weekend. Pili (22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds) will need to be her usually dominant self for that to happen, and it will help if Kennedy McQueen (9.9 points) can get hot from the perimeter.
Once again, the Hoosiers are quietly dominating the Big Ten. Getting a win over one of the other two teams atop the standings — Iowa, Indiana and Ohio State are all 9-1 — would go a long way. This game will be a battle between two of the best forwards in the country in Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes (20.5 points, 66.8% from the field) and Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon (13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds).
Sometimes it feels like everyone forgets Virginia Tech went to the Final Four last year and returned nearly everyone. The Hokies have one of the best inside out games with Amoore (17.4 points, 7.1 assists) launching from the perimeter and feeding her teammates while two-time ACC player of the year Liz Kitley (21.9 points, 11.0 rebounds) patrols the paint. But they’ll have their hands full with UNC’s Deja Kelly (16.2 points, 3.3 assists), a do-it-all player who can explode offensively at any point.
The Wildcats won’t be ranked this high when the next poll comes out after being upset by unranked Oklahoma on Jan. 31, but KSU can salvage its conference record with a win over the Longhorns. Texas isn’t nearly as good without point guard Rori Harmon, lost for the season to a knee injury, but Booker (15.1 points, 5.2 rebounds), a freshman, has stepped up in a huge way, nearly doubling her scoring output from non-conference games to conference games.
A favorite to win the Pac-12 this year, the Bruins had an impressive 14-0 start with wins over UConn, Florida State and Ohio State. But UCLA has struggled a bit in conference play, losing three of its last five games to crosstown rival USC, Utah and unranked Washington State. Meanwhile, Brink (17.5 points, 11.4 rebounds) and Stanford are hungry to prove they still rule the conference of champions. This is also the only time these teams will meet in the regular season. The biggest storyline going into this game: Bruins star sophomore Lauren Betts (15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds), who’s emerged as one of the most dominant post players in the country, transferred last offseason … from Stanford.
Follow Lindsay Schnell on social media @Lindsay_Schnell
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