UConn back on top in Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2023-24
The 2022-23 season is in the books. Where will Iowa and LSU start off next season? South Carolina is ready to reload, but UConn is the early favorite.
Women's College Basketball Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2023-24
by Charlie Creme, ESPN.com
DALLAS -- Two No. 1 seeds were bounced from the 2023 women's NCAA tournament before the Sweet 16. No top seeds reached the title game. The 2022-23 season was a wild ride, but don't take off the seat belt just yet. There's no time like the present to take an early look at next season.
Magical seasons like we got from the Iowa Hawkeyes and Virginia Tech Hokies this year are impossible to predict. Both were in last year's Way-Too-Early Top 25, but not in the top four. The LSU Tigers, who beat Iowa 102-85 for the national title Sunday, were nowhere to be found. At this time a year ago, Angel Reese wasn't even in Baton Rouge. That's what the transfer portal can do for teams, and just like a year ago, the portal will have plenty to say about how these rankings evolve. More than 350 players are in the portal, and that number will rise significantly in the coming weeks. So many decisions are yet to come.
This coming season is also the last in which players impacted by COVID-19 may opt for an extra year of eligibility, and several programs will benefit from one last season for their veterans.
Only one team from the top five of these rankings a year ago is back at the top now, another sign more balance has arrived in the sport. And it's a familiar one. Coach Geno Auriemma said recently that next season's UConn Huskies will be the program's best chance for a national championship since 2017, when the Huskies were unbeaten until losing in the national semifinals. Full seasons from Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd could go a long way toward UConn raising a trophy for the first time since 2016.
There's little debate heading into this offseason around the national player of the year. It's Caitlin Clark's award to lose, although Reese and Bueckers, the 2020-21 winner, also are in the mix.
As a fantastic season wraps up, let's start the conversation for 2023-24 with a Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings.
1. Connecticut
2. Utah
3. LSU
4. Iowa
Monika Czinano, Iowa's sure-handed can't-miss center, is moving on. And although the chemistry of this season's team likely can't be duplicated, Clark keeps the Hawkeyes in the national picture despite losing to LSU in Sunday's national title game. It helps that Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin have elected to stay for their extra years, which should mitigate the losses of Czinano and McKenna Warnock some. Look for 6-2 rising sophomore Hannah Stuelke and 6-5 rising junior Addison O'Grady to play much bigger roles -- and for Clark to continue to dazzle on a nightly basis.
5. Indiana
Last year at this time, the Hoosiers had to deal with the loss of a group of veterans who had come to define the program. They still got better. Only time will tell whether that's possible with this spring's loss of Grace Berger, but the immediate future still looks bright in Bloomington. Mackenzie Holmes grew into one of the nation's best players. Sara Scalia also elected to return for another season and Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish will be seniors. The breakout star could be Yarden Garzon, who was Indiana's best 3-point shooter this season and played well in big moments.
6. UCLA
7. South Carolina
8. Ohio State
The Big Ten finished this season with three teams ranked in the top 10. It should start 2023-24 that way, too. Jacy Sheldon's decision to come back stabilizes the Buckeyes significantly. She will be a leader of a team full of young talent. Cotie McMahon was the Big Ten's freshman of the year and looks to be one of the game's next stars. Rikki Harris and Taylor Thierry are also talented scorers and playmakers. Taylor Mikesell's shooting and leadership will be missed, but with Sheldon back to lead the press, Ohio State will be a Final Four contender.
9. Stanford
10. Notre Dame
11. Tennessee
12. Maryland
No coach has restocked better over the past few years than Brenda Frese. She has a little more to do heading into next season. Diamond Miller is off to the WNBA, so Shyanne Sellers will now be the No. 1 option. The return of Faith Masonius, Lavender Briggs and Brinae Alexander as graduate students gives Frese a more substantial foundation than she had at this time last year. Riley Nelson, a 6-0 guard and local product, heads a solid recruiting class, and the Terps still have three scholarships available. Expect some more additions from the transfer portal.
13. Texas
14. Virginia Tech
15. Mississippi
16. Duke
17. Baylor
18. Oregon
19. Florida State
20. Colorado
21. USC
22. Louisville
23. Creighton
24. North Carolina
25. Washington State
Also Considered
Kansas State, North Carolina State, Nebraska, Arkansas, Washington, Kansas
