Women's hoops: Top five shuffles again with just three unbeaten teams left

And then there were three.

We started 2024 with seven undefeated teams remaining in Division I women’s college basketball, but the number has dwindled to three after a revealing, thrilling week of conference play.

South Carolina, UCLA and Baylor all sit at 14-0 on the season, each in its own way surprisingly dominant to start the 2023-24 campaign. In fact, not one of them was picked in the preseason to win its respective conference.

Four previously unbeaten teams — NC State, West Virginia, TCU and Oregon State — suffered their first defeats this week. But no game or result was as noteworthy as the Wolfpack’s last-second loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Elizabeth Kitley‘s game-winning shot with 0.9 seconds left, made possible by some fabulous playcalling from Kenny Brooks, inbounding from Cayla King and screening from Georgia Amoore.

NC State — which was without starting center River Baldwin (ankle) — was in control most of the game, and it took some unflappable shot-making from Kitley and Amoore, plus a nearly eight-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter, for the game to slip away. It was both a crushing result — given the way the Wolfpack lost, Saniya Rivers even scored a go-ahead layup with 2.1 seconds remaining — and a reassurance that they are still one of the best teams in the country, even if they now have a loss attached to their record.

That result, and Baylor’s decisive win over No. 23 TCU, shuffled the top five of the Week 9 Power Rankings.

Notre Dame and Utah lost for the second consecutive week — the Irish to North Carolina at home and the Utes to Arizona on the road — and fell out of the rankings. Injury/illness luck hasn’t been on either team’s side this season. Members of Utah (already down Isabel Palmer and Gianna Kneepkens) were apparently dealing with a bout of food poisoning during the trip.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, had some good news in the form of Sonia Citron‘s return Sunday after a knee sprain that kept her out nearly two months. But the Irish sorely missed Maddy Westbeld, who was sidelined with a concussion.

Which two teams took the places of Notre Dame and Utah?

---

We try not to have repeat winners in these weekly awards, but sometimes an individual or team does something so extraordinary we have to make an exception. Dropping a 40-piece with a game-winning, step-back logo 3 at the buzzer, and following it with a triple-double, qualifies. No one had a better start to 2024 than Caitlin Clark, who added to her legendary status with those heroics against Michigan State and then notched the 14th triple-double of her career (and third of the season) her next time out, finishing with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists at Rutgers. The Hawkeyes are 14-0 all time when Clark records a triple-double and, more importantly, 15-1 on the season.

Team of the week: North Carolina

The Tar Heels have shown they can compete with some of the best teams in the country, but they haven’t always translated that into wins. Things haven’t been going their way healthwise, either, with several rotation players dealing with an array of injuries that have left North Carolina short-handed (as recently as this week Kayla McPherson was ruled out for the season). The Tar Heels even dropped out of the AP poll last week for the first time this season despite having defeated Clemson.

But one team beat two ranked squads this week: North Carolina. The Tar Heels picked up their first ranked win of the season with a 75-51 statement against No. 25 Syracuse and then beat No. 16 Notre Dame 61-57 for UNC’s first win in South Bend. Alyssa Ustby was the star against the Orange, recording the program’s first triple-double (16 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists), and Stanford transfer Indya Nivar had her best game of the season Sunday with 10 fourth-quarter points against the Irish.

This team can be dangerous the more its players — Nivar and fellow transfers Lexi Donarski (Iowa State) and Maria Gakdeng (Boston College) — mesh together and if it can find more consistent offensive firepower. Taking down another ranked opponent in Florida State in Tallahassee on Thursday would show the country that North Carolina is putting it together.

Also receiving consideration: Vanderbilt. The Commodores’ 15-1 start is second-best in program history after wins over Mississippi State and Florida.

These two teams will meet again Feb. 8 in Raleigh (and perhaps once more in the ACC tournament), but this win came at a great time for the Hokies, who — fresh off their first Final Four appearance — are more of a work in progress than some expected. That’s in part a testament to what Taylor Soule and Kayana Traylor brought to the team, as well as some of the ups and downs that come with incorporating new transfers. After losses to Iowa and LSU in November, Sunday was an opportunity to show they are still a contender in the ACC and nationally.

Aside from a certain buzzer-beating, game-winning logo 3 Tuesday evening, no finish this week was more exciting than what happened in Blacksburg on Sunday. Virginia Tech ended the game on a 14-2 run, took its first lead with 1:28 remaining and then perfectly executed Brooks’ ATO for the game winner. It was the program’s third victory against a top-five opponent, and it came in front of 8,925 fans, the first regular-season home sellout at Cassell Coliseum.

Also receiving consideration: Arizona, which helped its NCAA tournament chances greatly with a win over Utah and nearly took down Colorado the game before.

Coach of the week: Charmin Smith, California

Charmin Smith was tasked with bringing Cal back to relevance when she was hired to replace Lindsay Gottlieb ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, and although the process has taken some time, this season — and this weekend in particular — has shown meaningful steps in that direction. Led by the trio of fifth-year senior Leilani McIntosh and transfers Ioanna Krimili and Marta Suarez, the Golden Bears are off to their best start under Smith (their sole losses are to Texas A&M, Gonzaga and Stanford). Their 12-3 record is good for the program’s best 15-game start since 2016-17, and their next victory will mark the most in a season for Cal in the Smith era.

In beating then-one-loss Washington by 13 on Friday and later taking down Washington State in overtime, Cal swept the Washington schools for the first time since 2018-19, which gives its résumé a huge boost as Smith looks to return the program to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.

---

Power Rankings

1. South Carolina Gamecocks (14-0)
Previous ranking: 1
This week: at Missouri (Thursday)

Two SEC games, two wins for the top-ranked Gamecocks. They breezed by Florida 89-66 and, although they led Mississippi State comfortably after the first quarter Sunday, coach Dawn Staley wasn’t pleased with her team’s performance. “We did enough to win the basketball game but probably not enough to win this league,” she said after the game. Staley pointed to what she saw as undisciplined play on both ends, and after the game gave her team a locker room speech that she said, “You would need to turn your camera off to get the full gist of it.” While Mississippi State enjoyed an early advantage most of the first quarter, South Carolina jumped ahead by as many as 27 before ultimately besting the Bulldogs by 19.

Sunday might not have lived up to Staley’s standards, but the Gamecocks are still on a roll, having won 49 straight home games, the longest active streak in Division I, as well as 33 consecutive regular-season conference games. They last lost a regular-season SEC contest over two years ago, at the end of December 2021 — at Missouri, where they head on the road next.

2. UCLA Bruins (14-0)
Previous ranking: 2
This week: at USC (Sunday)

With the Oregon schools in town this weekend, the Bruins extended their undefeated streak to 14-0, their best season start since going 16-0 in 2019-20. It hasn’t been the best stretch offensively for the Bruins, who have shot 40% or worse the past three games — they hadn’t shot that poorly in any of their previous 11 contests — but they did enough to keep the Ducks and Beavers (who entered the weekend undefeated) at bay. Coach Cori Close lauded her team’s ability to respond when the Beavers pulled within six with 3:30 remaining in the game Sunday, and once more fifth-year senior Charisma Osborne did it all, finishing with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

The Bruins have a week until their next game, a much-anticipated rematch against USC at the Galen Center. UCLA took Game 1 by seven, and the Trojans will surely have revenge on their minds.

3. Baylor Bears (14-0)
Previous ranking: 5
This week: at Kansas (Wednesday), at Iowa State (Saturday)

The Bears played their first games in the new Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion, Baylor basketball’s new home after 35 years in the Ferrell Center. On Wednesday, Nicki Collen’s club routed No. 23 TCU 71-50 after breaking open the Horned Frogs’ zone in the second half, when the Bears doubled them up in scoring. With the win, Baylor joins South Carolina and UCLA as the only teams with a 4-0 mark against ranked opposition this season, further cementing their status as contenders come March.

After Sunday’s 87-58 matinee dub against Houston, Baylor is 14-0, its best start aside from the 2011-12 campaign, when Kim Mulkey guided her team to an undefeated national championship. That’s pretty good company for Collen’s squad.

4. NC State Wolfpack (14-1)
Previous ranking: 3
This week: vs. Virginia (Thursday)

It was an up-and-down week. The high: The Wolfpack beat Florida State 88-80 in overtime, after Baldwin went down with an ankle injury at the end of the third quarter. The low: In Sunday’s thriller, they led by as many as 13 points and scored a go-ahead bucket with 2.1 seconds remaining — yet still lost the game. Wes Moore thought his team’s offense was too stagnant in the fourth quarter, and the Hokies capitalized off of the lengthy lull.

There were some silver linings. Madison Hayes had a career-high 21 points, her second career 20-piece. And after the game Moore said Baldwin’s ankle injury should keep her out for only two to three weeks. Getting Baldwin back healthy will be critical for the Wolfpack’s long-term aspirations, and fortunately for them their more difficult remaining ACC regular-season games aren’t until February.

5. Colorado Buffaloes (13-1)
Previous ranking: 4
This week: vs. Cal (Friday), vs. Stanford (Sunday)

The weekend started with a thriller for the Buffs, who, for the second consecutive game, clawed back from a fourth-quarter deficit to come away with the win. This time, they trailed upset-minded Arizona by eight early in the fourth before storming back to 75-74 with a late Jaylyn Sherrod and-1, followed by a final defensive stand, to clinch the program’s first win in Tucson in the JR Payne era. Colorado didn’t have a great second half Sunday against Arizona State, but it had built enough of a lead earlier on to win by 13, extending its win streak to seven games and marking the program’s first 3-0 Pac-12 start since the school joined the conference in 2011-12.

The Arizona game especially reiterated how Colorado needs its entire Big Three of Aaronette Vonleh, Sherrod and Frida Formann going to be at its best. That, plus playing a full 40 minutes, will be critical for Colorado to knock off Stanford on Sunday in Boulder.

6. LSU Tigers (15-1)
Previous ranking: 6
This week: vs. Texas A&M (Thursday), at Auburn (Sunday)

Kim Mulkey has been saying for some time that her team isn’t a polished product yet, and that was on display this week in its first foray into SEC play, even as the Tigers came out with a pair of double-digit wins. Missouri took LSU out of its game in the first half, preventing the Tigers from dominating the boards and from the free throw line, while also hitting some early 3s. Ole Miss forced the Tigers to turn over the ball 19 times, bested them in paint scoring and fast-break points, and even got to the free throw line more often.

In both games, LSU thrived off standout performances from its younger players, a good sign for the team’s overall development: Against Mizzou, Flau’jae Johnson (24 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 monstrous block) helped make the difference, and Sunday, freshman Mikaylah Williams hit more 3s (4-for-5) than the Rebels (3-for-11) to give LSU a major advantage from the arc.

7. Iowa Hawkeyes (15-1)
Previous ranking: 7
This week: at Purdue (Wednesday), vs. Indiana (Saturday)

The Hawkeyes tallied 100 points for the fifth time this season in Sunday’s 103-69 beatdown of Rutgers, in which they saw four others join Clark in double figures and improved to 4-0 in Big Ten play. Iowa has rattled off 12 consecutive victories, its longest win streak since 13 in a row in 2004-05. To surpass that mark, it’ll have to take down one of the best teams in the Big Ten this weekend: the Indiana Hoosiers, who appear to be heading in the right direction after an early-season loss to Stanford. The matchup is must-watch given its conference race implications, plus it’ll be the first ranked opponent the Hawkeyes have faced since November. But also, remember what happened the last time these two teams faced off?

8. UConn Huskies (12-3)
Previous ranking: 8
This week: vs. Providence (Wednesday), at St. John’s (Saturday)

Fueled by its four-guard lineup and the emergence of KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade, UConn has played its best basketball of the season the past few weeks, capped by Wednesday’s blowout 94-50 win over Creighton and Sunday’s 83-55 rout of Georgetown. The former was the Huskies’ largest victory over a ranked team since February 2017 and largest road win against a ranked team since November 2015. The Huskies boast the most ranked wins of any team in the country (five), although they also have three losses to top-10 competition.

But just when things seemed to be on the upswing in Storrs after a rocky first few weeks, more adversity struck: Graduate student Aubrey Griffin suffered a noncontact knee injury against Creighton, and Geno Auriemma indicated it is likely serious. UConn already has three players out for the season due to injury and another sidelined indefinitely. It appears the Huskies will have an even shorter bench and even slimmer margin for error as they try to get back to the Final Four this spring.

9. Texas Longhorns (15-1)
Previous ranking: 9
This week: vs. TCU (Wednesday), at Kansas State (Saturday)

The loss of Rori Harmon was a punch in the gut to the Longhorns, who have their sights set on Cleveland. But in the weeks since her season-ending ACL tear, things have gone just about as smoothly as they could have for Vic Schaefer’s team. Texas did suffer a narrow loss to Baylor (although the Longhorns were in the game the entire time), but it has comfortably won its other three contests, including most recently a 70-49 road takedown of previously undefeated West Virginia.

It’ll help enormously to have leading scorer and rebounder Taylor Jones back after she was sidelined four games with a hip injury (she finished with 8 points and 3 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench against the Mountaineers). But the emergence of freshman Madison Booker also has been a huge bright spot. She’s averaging 18.5 points, 7.5 assists and 7.0 rebounds since taking over the reins at the point for Harmon, although she’ll have to clean up her turnovers (5.0 per game).

10. Stanford Cardinal (14-1)
Previous ranking: 10
This week: at Utah (Friday), at Colorado (Sunday)

Plenty of statistics demonstrate Stanford’s dominance over the years, but one of the craziest might be that the Cardinal have never lost to Washington State and, after Friday’s 74-65 victory, are 73-0 all time against the Cougars. ESPN’s recordkeeping goes back only 25 seasons, but we can tell you that Stanford’s 45-0 record in that span is the best mark versus a single opponent in all of Division I basketball, men’s or women’s.

Speaking of historical greatness, Tara VanDerveer is just three wins from surpassing Mike Krzyzewski’s career wins record, with Sunday’s 71-59 victory over Washington putting her at 1,200 for her career. But a pair of dubs this upcoming weekend will be more difficult to come by: The Cardinal are set to visit Utah and Colorado in arguably their toughest stretch of the Pac-12 slate.

11. Kansas State Wildcats (15-1)
Previous ranking: 11
This week: vs. Oklahoma (Wednesday), vs. Texas (Saturday)

The strong start continued as the Wildcats rang in 2024 with victories over new Big 12 members Houston and UCF, extending their win streak to nine straight, tied for the program’s longest under coach Jeff Mittie. After Ayoka Lee paced the group with 27 points and 11 rebounds against the Cougars, guard Serena Sundell came through with a season-high 22 points versus the Knights.

Awaiting this week are Oklahoma and Texas. Both opponents should present a good test for the Wildcats, but especially the one-loss Longhorns, who have a litany of post players capable of containing Lee. One thing to watch: Lee is 23 points from becoming the second active player to score 2,000 points and collect 1,000 rebounds, joining Virginia Tech’s Kitley.

12. Virginia Tech Hokies (12-2)
Previous ranking: 13
This week: vs. Miami (Thursday), at Florida State (Sunday)

In case anyone doubted, Kitley and Amoore showed Sunday why they are one of the very top duos in all of women’s college basketball. The pair scored 48 of Virginia Tech’s 63 points, including all but five in the second half and the team’s final 31. Amoore’s second-half surge after going into the locker room 1-for-8 from the floor was particularly impressive. Yes, the Hokies will need a third reliable scorer to emerge long term, and yes, they still have some growth required on the defensive end. But the greatness and poise those two continue to exhibit can win them a lot of games this year.

Some potential developments to watch: the growth of freshman Carys Baker (6 points, 2 rebounds) and redshirt freshman Carleigh Wenzel (6 rebounds), both of whom came off the bench and closed the game for the Hokies.

13. USC Trojans (12-1)
Previous ranking: 12
This week: vs. UCLA (Sunday)

Little came easy to the Trojans this week, but they prevailed in a pair of tough contests against the Oregon schools. The Oregon State matchup went down to the final seconds, with USC coming through with a final defensive stand to pull out a 56-54 victory and hand the Beavers their first loss of the season, while the Trojans warded off the Ducks with a big fourth quarter for a 68-54 decision.

Freshman phenom JuJu Watkins had one of her quieter scoring outputs of the season with 17 points against Oregon, but teammates Rayah Marshall and McKenzie Forbes pitched in 16 points apiece to make sure the weight didn’t fall solely on the rookie’s shoulders. The game before, Kayla Padilla was the one who stepped up big to complement Watkins with 14 points that included four 3-pointers. USC will need everyone involved and firing when the second-ranked, undefeated Bruins come to visit Sunday.

14. Indiana Hoosiers (13-1)
Previous ranking: 14
This week: vs. Penn State (Wednesday), at Iowa (Saturday)

The Hoosiers took care of business against two of the better Big Ten teams this week, handing each its sole conference loss. First they cruised to an 80-59 victory over Michigan (which had upset Ohio State in its previous outing), converting their first 15 shot attempts from the floor. They then handily defeated Nebraska 91-69 on the road Sunday. The Hoosiers have won 12 straight games since falling to Stanford the first week of the season, improving to 4-0 to start Big Ten play for the second time in program history.

Indiana’s biggest test yet awaits Sunday, when it will face Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hoosiers will need to keep hitting 3s like they have the past two games (23-for-42 from deep, with nine apiece from Sara Scalia and Sydney Parrish) to dethrone Clark and hand the Hawkeyes just their second loss of the season.

15. Louisville Cardinals (13-2)
Previous ranking: NR
This week: at Pitt (Thursday), vs. Wake Forest (Sunday)

Losses by Notre Dame and Utah helped open the door for the Cardinals to make their Power Rankings debut for the 2023-24 season. There were question marks surrounding what this group would look like after the transfer of Hailey Van Lith and graduation of the program’s heart and soul in Mykasa Robinson. But Jeff Walz’s team has just two losses and is riding a three-game win streak with victories over Washington, Miami (Florida) and Duke — the latter marking the Blue Devils’ largest defeat of the season (17 points) after Louisville held them to four points in the second quarter.

The Cardinals, led by James Madison transfer Kiki Jefferson and senior Olivia Cochran, have a fairly forgiving stretch of ACC competition coming up before some tougher matchups in February that will provide a better sense of whether this team can truly contend in a loaded ACC.

16. Ohio State Buckeyes (11-3)
Previous ranking: NR
This week: vs. Rutgers (Thursday), vs. Michigan State (Sunday)

The Buckeyes climbed back into consideration based off the Irish’s and Utes’ current downswings. After a loss to Michigan, Ohio State got back on track Friday with a 90-60 win over Northwestern in which six players finished in double figures.

Dropped out: Notre Dame (15), Utah (16)