Women’s College Basketball 2024-25

[MU82]

No problem. But honestly your arguments are pretty easy to bat down when simple logic is applied.

Thanks, Officer.

[MU82]

South Carolina is good, as always. But this isn't one of Dawn Staley's superpower teams. Kudos to her for getting them back to the Final Four.

[Marquette Fan]

I found it interesting that there are all number 1 seeds in the Men's Final 4 - felt like it doesn't happen much for the Men.  And I do see it's the first time since 2008 and only second time ever.  But then I looked it up on the Women's side of things and realized it has happened less often there than I would have expected - 4 times and the last time was 2018.  I don't expect it to happen this year for the women as I expect 2 seed UCONN to be there.  I think UCONN had a good chance of beating an at full strength USC team and now has a much better chance of doing so with JuJu Watkins sidelined.  And heck TCU could upset Texas - I'd just say a team from the state of Texas is going to win that game .

I liked the Sunday-Tuesday lineup for the Women - not sure why they changed it back to Fri-Sun but just assumed the ratings weren't really better for Sun-Tue.  I don't think they are ready for neutral sites for the first two rounds but am not a big fan of only two regional sites.  There are still too many women's basketball fans who have the 'my girls' syndrome and only want to watch/root for their team - don't think there are enough fans who want to watch multiple women's teams play yet.  That's not an issue for me though and this time of year I just have more basketball to watch since I enjoy watching the men's and women's tourneys .

[Marquette Fan]

Doug Bruno retires as DePaul coach.

786-405 over 38 seasons, with 25 NCAAT appearances. (Sat out this past season with health issues.)

He's 74 and will continue to be part of the athletic department.

Kudos to Bruno and his incredible run at DePaul.  It will be interesting to hear who they hire - not sure if they will look at Pizotti or not who was the interim head coach this year and had coached at St. Louis previously.

[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.

Very unimpressed with Wisonsin's hire of former Missouri Coach Robin Pingeton - not sure why they made that hire and she does not seem to be the one to get that program going in the right direction.

[Marquette Fan]

Villanova has advanced to the WBIT Semfinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indy.  They will take on Belmont University at 2:30P Monday.  Former MU player Emily LaChapelle plays for Belmont now.  Belmont won at JMU 90-45 in their last game - JMU is where MU lost in OT last game - that's quite the big victory on the road for Belmont.

[The Sultan]

Very unimpressed with Wisonsin's hire of former Missouri Coach Robin Pingeton - not sure why they made that hire and she does not seem to be the one to get that program going in the right direction.

They're not going to come out and say this, but I just don't think its that important a program for them. Football, volleyball, men's basketball and men's and women's hockey are all going to be given more resources. And I feel this is a place where they just don't feel they can compete.

[yamarama]

Kudos to Bruno and his incredible run at DePaul.  It will be interesting to hear who they hire - not sure if they will look at Pizotti or not who was the interim head coach this year and had coached at St. Louis previously.

My understanding is that Bruno is advocating for Pizzotti for the job. 14 year assistant and Associate HC. DePaul has definitely slipped a bit post pandemic in the past 5 or so seasons, also coinciding with the portal, NIL, etc..

There has been some discussion that DePaul might improve their financial support for Women's Basketball. We'll see. For what it's worth, some other possible names I have heard mentioned as possibilities. They are not using a search firm:

Bart Brooks: Belmont HC and former 11 year assistant at DePaul.

Cary Thibault-DuDonis: Fairfield HC. She has turned down some P4 opportunities the past couple of cycles.

Carrie Moore: Harvard HC.

Erin Dickerson-Davis: William & Mary HC.

Kristen Gillespie: Illinois State HC.

[yamarama]

Very unimpressed with Wisonsin's hire of former Missouri Coach Robin Pingeton - not sure why they made that hire and she does not seem to be the one to get that program going in the right direction.

Yep. Surprising hire. Her program has definitely slipped the past  half dozen seasons since the more successful Sophie Cunningham years. Pingeton would have been let go sooner at Missouri, but they had a unique situation of having 3 different AD's in roughly 4 years. It bought her a little more time. She was in the bottom tier of SEC compensation ($650k) with a limited budget there.

The new AD there, Laird Veatch, is making a much bigger commitment to Women's Basketball. They reached out to Jeff Mittie (Kansas State), Molly Miller (GCU, now Arizona State), and Jacie Hoyt (Oklahoma State). Hoyt previously worked for Mittie (Veatch worked with both) and she was very close to taking the job. But both Hoyt and Miller had some NIL and other budget concerns. Harper was next up and she was available.

Harper's pay is $900k base with incentives that would put her into seven figures. She is receiving a $950k staff hire budget. And she is receiving an annual $100k personal family travel budget. These are roughly top 25 range. 3rd place finishes and Sweet 16's weren't good enough for what Tennessee wanted, but that would go over well at Missouri.

It will be challenging for Pingeton at Wisconsin unless she can secure some improved resources there. With just 1 NCAA tourney appearance in the past 23 seasons, the bar is low at Wisconsin.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Kudos to Bruno and his incredible run at DePaul.  It will be interesting to hear who they hire - not sure if they will look at Pizotti or not who was the interim head coach this year and had coached at St. Louis previously.

Per the Sun Times, Bruno suffered a stroke that left him in a coma for weeks. Sounds like he's doing much better now.

[Marquette Fan]

Per the Sun Times, Bruno suffered a stroke that left him in a coma for weeks. Sounds like he's doing much better now.

I hadn't heard yet what his medical issue had been - that sounds scary.  Glad to hear he seems to be doing much better now.

[Marquette Fan]

Penn State has had 8 players enter the transfer portal this year.  I was surprised PSU kept Kieger after this season and this certainly won't help.  One of those players to enter the portal is Gabby Elliott - sister of former MU player Greg Elliott - she's already played at Clemson, Michigan State and Penn State now.

I also saw Aizhanique Mayo has entered the transfer portal out of Xavier.  She was a MU commit originally and seemingly left MU less than a week before the season started her frosh year.

[MU82]

After a slow start, UConn got rolling. They have so many offensive weapons and they're defensively sound, too. And they're finally healthy. Hard to believe Geno hasn't won a title in years ... but this one feels like it's his.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

The key is they're collectively all healthy for the first time in years.

I know the games are different in the tournament, but the UConn ladies blew out South Carolina in South Carolina by like 20 points in February.

[MU82]

Notre Dame PG Olivia Miles decided against leaving for the WNBA, even though she was being projected as the #2 overall draft pick. She opted for the transfer portal instead.

[yamarama]

Notre Dame PG Olivia Miles decided against leaving for the WNBA, even though she was being projected as the #2 overall draft pick. She opted for the transfer portal instead.

WNBA salaries and other perks will increase after next season. So waiting a year isn't super surprising.

As far as transferring, she is expected to go to TCU where she knows the head coach Mark Campbell. He was an assistant at Oregon when the Ducks were one of Miles' finalists out of high school. A few others were the HC at then Princeton, now UNC, as well as UConn and a few others).

[MU82]

WNBA salaries and other perks will increase after next season. So waiting a year isn't super surprising.

As far as transferring, she is expected to go to TCU where she knows the head coach Mark Campbell. He was an assistant at Oregon when the Ducks were one of Miles' finalists out of high school. A few others were the HC at then Princeton, now UNC, as well as UConn and a few others).

Did she not like ND, or does she simply like Campbell/TCU more?

[Marquette Fan]

The key is they're collectively all healthy for the first time in years.

I know the games are different in the tournament, but the UConn ladies blew out South Carolina in South Carolina by like 20 points in February.

I'm expecting a South Carolina-UCONN matchup in the final and think UCONN will prevail again just as they did in the blowout in the regular season.  Of course I've been wrong many times before so we will see what happens 😀.

Does Geno retire if they win the national championship?

Fun to see the shot of Sarah Strong's mom Allison Feaster in the stands last night - I remember her playing for Harvard when they were a 16 seed and won at 1 seed Stanford.

[yamarama]

Did she not like ND, or does she simply like Campbell/TCU more?

She likes ND a lot. No issues there. She early enrolled there, and she spent 4 years there. She almost chose the WNBA. And if it were a year from now, she would have very likely done that.

My understanding also is that NIL is not a big factor in the decision.

She does not have a do not contact tag. So she's open to listen to everyone.

Note: I inadvertently left Stanford off of her high school finalists list with UConn, ND, Princeton, Oregon.

[yamarama]

Arizona's Adia Barnes is expected to be hired as the next HC at SMU. New SMU AD Damon Evans didn't waste any time changing the Women's Hoops Head Coach. Barnes almost became the new head coach at Auburn this cycle.

She almost became the HC at Auburn this cycle. Lindy La Rocque from UNlV is expected to be one of Arizona's targets. The current AD at Arizona is the former AD at UNLV that hired La Rocque.

[MU82]

Two anti-climactic games.

South Carolina-Texas was boring. As soon as Booker got her third foul, Texas had no chance. And though South Carolina obviously is very good, this isn't one of their dominant or super-efficient teams that's fun to watch.

UConn's win over UCLA was pretty much never in doubt. UConn is a joy to watch. They are such a good passing team, and they have so many ways to score. Their defense is active, they hustle, and they play smart. Bueckers didn't even have a good game, and they still won in a rout.

You'd like to think tomorrow's game will be closer than when UConn crushed South Carolina during the season, but I don't see how UConn loses unless they go ice cold shooting.

[yamarama]

Arizona's Adia Barnes is expected to be hired as the next HC at SMU. New SMU AD Damon Evans didn't waste any time changing the Women's Hoops Head Coach. Barnes almost became the new head coach at Auburn this cycle.

She almost became the HC at Auburn this cycle. Lindy La Rocque from UNlV is expected to be one of Arizona's targets. The current AD at Arizona is the former AD at UNLV that hired La Rocque.

Lindy La Rocque announced she is staying at UNLV, in her hone town. It's significant because she has multiple ties to Arizona. Her godfather was Lute Olson. Olson coached Lindy's dad in college and the families remained close. Also, long time Arizona Men's Basketball assistant Jack Murphy, coached AAU basketball for La Rocque's dad. And their families are also close. But she announced she is staying at UNLV.

[Marquette Fan]

Two anti-climactic games.

South Carolina-Texas was boring. As soon as Booker got her third foul, Texas had no chance. And though South Carolina obviously is very good, this isn't one of their dominant or super-efficient teams that's fun to watch.

UConn's win over UCLA was pretty much never in doubt. UConn is a joy to watch. They are such a good passing team, and they have so many ways to score. Their defense is active, they hustle, and they play smart. Bueckers didn't even have a good game, and they still won in a rout.

You'd like to think tomorrow's game will be closer than when UConn crushed South Carolina during the season, but I don't see how UConn loses unless they go ice cold shooting.

I had such high hopes at the start of the first game and then it became a blowout.  The second game went exactly as I expected it to.  I think UCONN wins in another blowout tomorrow. 

[Uncle Rico]

Congrats to UConn

[Billy Hoyle]

Staley getting embarrassed. You hate to see it.

This UConn team is ridiculous. Bueckers is their third leading score so far tonight and they're up 29