Women’s College Basketball 2024-25

[MU82]

With about a month to go till the tournament, thought we should get this going ...

Great game going on right now between USC and UCLA.

Juju Watkins has been ridiculous so far, with 25 points at the half. USC up 38-35. #1 UCLA is nation's last unbeaten team.

[Marquette Fan]

Sorry to miss this one - see that UCLA suffered their first loss of the season in this one.

[wadesworld]

JuJu is awesome.  She might be better than Clark by the end of her college career.

[MU82]

JuJu is awesome.  She might be better than Clark by the end of her college career.

Agree. She obviously has a different game - more power, more of a slasher, better defensively, less crafty scorer, not quite as gifted a passer, etc - but she's a hell of a player.

I doubt she plays 4 years of college ball, though. In fact, it's pretty silly that current rules won't let her go to the WNBA after this season ... though maybe she'll make more at USC than she would in the WNBA.

Finished last night with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 5 assists. She was the only USC to make a basket in the second and third quarters. At least half of her blocks were against UCLA's 6-7 All-American center Lauren Betts. Incredible stuff.

[JWags85]

Agree. She obviously has a different game - more power, more of a slasher, better defensively, less crafty scorer, not quite as gifted a passer, etc - but she's a hell of a player.

I doubt she plays 4 years of college ball, though. In fact, it's pretty silly that current rules won't let her go to the WNBA after this season ... though maybe she'll make more at USC than she would in the WNBA.

Finished last night with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 5 assists. She was the only USC to make a basket in the second and third quarters. At least half of her blocks were against UCLA's 6-7 All-American center Lauren Betts. Incredible stuff.

CC is like Steph Curry, Juju is like a young Carmelo.

I think in a more apples to apples comparison, JuJu has a similar game to Rhyne Howard.  I think she's gonna be great but I still probably take Bueckers if I had to draft one after this year, cause I think her game translates better like Clark's did...unless JuJu develops a reliable 3 ball, which she doesn't have.

[MU82]

CC is like Steph Curry, Juju is like a young Carmelo.

I think in a more apples to apples comparison, JuJu has a similar game to Rhyne Howard.  I think she's gonna be great but I still probably take Bueckers if I had to draft one after this year, cause I think her game translates better like Clark's did...unless JuJu develops a reliable 3 ball, which she doesn't have.

JuJu couldn't miss from 3 in the first half, but then she couldn't buy one in the second half. She made up for her shot not falling with several head-turning plays at both ends of the court.

I think she'll do well in the WNBA. Better than Bueckers? We'll see ... but not for a while.

[Uncle Rico]

UConn is waxing South Carolina

[MU82]

UConn is waxing South Carolina

If South Carolina had a good coach, that never would have happened.

[Marquette Fan]

Wow - South Carolina had a 71 game home winning streak coming into this game.  UCONN sure dominated in this one - wasn't expecting it - nice win for them.

On another UCONN note, I totally missed until the other day that their super frosh Sarah Strong is the daughter of Allison Feaster who played at Harvard and led them to a big 16-1 upset over Stanford in the NCAA Tournament and also had a long WNBA career. 

[Marquette Fan]

USC gets the season sweep over UCLA last night with an 80-67 win and they win the Big Ten title.  JuJu Watkins had 23 points in the first half and finishes with 30 points in the game.  UCLA moves to 27-2 on the season with their only losses coming to USC.

Fun to see Cheryl Miller with her USC gear on (won two national championships there) sitting next to brother Reggie Miller of course representing UCLA with a Lauren Betts jersey on.

[Marquette Fan]

I'm enjoying watching the third match-up of the season between USC and UCLA. 

[Marquette Fan]

It's being reported that Wisconsin coach Marisa Moseley has resigned - https://www.on3.com/her/news/wisconsin-head-womens-basketball-coach-marisa-moseley-resigns/

Hope they can hire a coach who is willing to play Marquette .  Ok - I know that's not a priority for them at all but I really miss the rivalry game even if the UW program has struggled for ages.  It will be interesting to me to see who they hire.

[MU82]

It's being reported that Wisconsin coach Marisa Moseley has resigned - https://www.on3.com/her/news/wisconsin-head-womens-basketball-coach-marisa-moseley-resigns/

Hope they can hire a coach who is willing to play Marquette .  Ok - I know that's not a priority for them at all but I really miss the rivalry game even if the UW program has struggled for ages.  It will be interesting to me to see who they hire.

Greg Gard could always get it done for them, too!

[Jay Bee]

Greg Gard could always get it done for them, too!

Certainly has experience coaching girls

[Billy Hoyle]

I'm enjoying watching the third match-up of the season between USC and UCLA. 

Took my MIL to the game yesterday. Nothing like two California schools playing a conference title game in Indiana. Juju gets ridiculous star treatment from the officials that even neutral fans were groaning, but UCLA shut her down in the second half until it was too late for USC. She's no Caitlin Clark. Really good halftime adjustments by Cori Close. Betts with 11 points in the second half was the difference. USC had 20 offensive rebounds, 26 more shots, but only made one more field goal that UCLA.

[MUstarman]

Took my MIL to the game yesterday. Nothing like two California schools playing a conference title game in Indiana. Juju gets ridiculous star treatment from the officials that even neutral fans were groaning, but UCLA shut her down in the second half until it was too late for USC. She's no Caitlin Clark. Really good halftime adjustments by Cori Close. Betts with 11 points in the second half was the difference. USC had 20 offensive rebounds, 26 more shots, but only made one more field goal that UCLA.

Spoken like true Caitlin Clark stan, lol

[Billy Hoyle]

Spoken like true Caitlin Clark stan, lol

sorry that I wasn't impressed with her 9 for 28 shooting performance (2-8 from three), which included multiple airballs and only 6 points in the second half when UCLA was chipping away at a 13 point lead until scoring five with 15 seconds left, as well as her two assists on the day.

[MU82]

sorry that I wasn't impressed with her 9 for 28 shooting performance (2-8 from three), which included multiple airballs and only 6 points in the second half when UCLA was chipping away at a 13 point lead until scoring five with 15 seconds left, as well as her two assists on the day.

You'd have been plenty impressed with her had you seen the two regular-season USC-UCLA games.

Even great players aren't great every single game. Caitlin isn't. Neither is LeBron, for that matter.

[MU82]

After ratings for the women's tournament beat the men's tournament for the first time ever (and did so handily), it will be interesting to see the numbers this year now that Caitlin Clark has moved on to the WNBA.

So far this season, the women's game has done A-OK on ESPN, where viewership is up 3 percent from last season, according to The Sports Business Journal.

More than 1M tuned in to see UCLA beat USC in the B18G title game last Sunday. That's really good compared to most recent years, but it's only 1/3 the audience of last year's game, which of course featured Iowa and Clark.

The women's tournament can have outstanding ratings but still not equal (or even be all that close to) last year's, which set what some might consider an unrealistic bar.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I saw in the New Haven Register this morning that UConn 's Final and semi-final wins in the women's Big East tournament were the highest rated women's games ever on Fox.

[Marquette Fan]

I saw in the New Haven Register this morning that UConn 's Final and semi-final wins in the women's Big East tournament were the highest rated women's games ever on Fox.

That's interesting as those were blowouts but I can see UCONN being a big draw.

[MU82]

Agree. The teams I really like watching are UConn, USC and South Carolina. Glad I recently got a new TV because I'm gonna be watching a TON of hoops over the next 3 weeks!

[MU82]

Devastating to see JuJu Watkins suffer what appears to be a significant knee injury.

UPDATE: Just announced that her season is over. Damn.

[Marquette Fan]

Devastating to see JuJu Watkins suffer what appears to be a significant knee injury.

UPDATE: Just announced that her season is over. Damn.

A frickin ACL injury - ugh!!! 

[MuggsyB]

Absolutely terrible to see Ju-Ju tear her ACL.  Destroys the women's tournament pretty much.