With March and the end of the regular season fast approaching, NCAA Women’s Basketball has turned its attention to the biggest stage: the March Madness tournament. The pressure is on as Power Five teams battle for in-conference wins and climb the power rankings. Regular season play will determine which teams will still be dancing in March and which will begin preparing for the offseason.
The top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll is as follows as of Feb. 24: University of Texas; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Notre Dame; University of Southern California; University of Connecticut; University of South Carolina; Louisiana State University; University of North Carolina; North Carolina State University; and Texas Christian University. The SEC and ACC lead with three teams each, while the Big Ten has two and the Big East and Big 12 have one apiece. These teams are currently facing tough conference competition that will ultimately determine their conference championship seeding and their hopes for an automatic qualification or at-large bid to March Madness.
Notre Dame has emerged as one of the powerhouse teams of the 2024-25 season, rising from No. 6 in the preseason polls to No. 3 in the power rankings. The team is led by a high-powered offense featuring sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo, a First Team All-American as a first-year who is currently second in the country in points per game (PPG) at 24.7. She is joined by senior guard Olivia Miles, who returns this season from a knee injury that sidelined her in February 2023, and senior guard Sonia Citron, who hit multiple career highs last season and has continued to prove herself as a steady force on offense. Notre Dame holds a 24-3 record (as of Feb. 24), with its only three losses coming against TCU and Utah in the Cayman Islands Classic in November and North Carolina State on Feb. 23. The Fighting Irish look to close out their final two conference games and clinch a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Among the other top teams, University of Connecticut has emerged as the current favorite to win the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. After defeating South Carolina by a decisive 87-58 margin, the Huskies shook up the power rankings and proved why they should not be counted out. With this win, UConn snapped South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak, showing that they could rise to the occasion despite earlier losses to non-conference opponents such as Notre Dame, USC and Tennessee. A key part of UConn’s offensive success in that game was guard Azzi Fudd, who finished with a game-high 28 points, including 18 in the third quarter while shooting six-for-ten from three-point range. Fudd, a redshirt junior who missed nearly all of last season with an ACL tear, has since averaged 13.0 PPG, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists this season.
This was not the only upset of the week, as No. 3 (now No. 1) Texas took down No. 5 (now No. 7) LSU, 65-58, and No. 6 (now No. 4) USC handed No. 1 (now No. 2) UCLA its first loss of the season. As teams continue to challenge one another in the regular season, they are setting the stage for highly competitive matchups in conference tournaments in the coming weeks.
