The weather may not have felt like March, but the basketball schedule did.
The slate of women’s basketball action on Sunday rivaled that of a mid-NCAA Tournament weekend with seven ranked-on-ranked matchups. That pitted more than half of the ranked teams in Division I against each other within a span of four hours. Including one of what’s become weekly SEC-ranked matchups played on Friday, 64% of the ranked teams played against each other over this weekend.
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It’s understandable if your clicker finger is tired.
The top 10 teams (mostly) stood up to their number for a chalky day, signaling more to come when we get into March. And what stood out most was the separation at the top.
Connecticut, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas have swapped spots through 14 weeks of the Associated Press Top 25 poll while remaining the top four teams. They compose the 2024 Final Four group that led to UConn’s national championship victory in a runaway over South Carolina.
None appears ready to move anytime soon, and Sunday’s results cemented that claim. No. 1 UConn (23-0, 12-0 Big East) is on its way to an undefeated regular season after passing its final test of the schedule in a 98-68 win over then-No. 15 Tennessee (14-5, 6-1 SEC). It’s the second-largest margin of defeat in Lady Vols history, one short of the 31 points to Texas in 1984. The deficit is the largest in the rivalry by seven points.
The end result doesn’t tell the rivalry game’s competitive nature. Tennessee climbed back from a 21-5 deficit to take the lead at 3:03 left of the second quarter and enter halftime tied at 42. It was the first time UConn had trailed in the second quarter, per the FOX broadcast, and the first time the Huskies entered the locker room without a lead.
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They re-grouped behind the National Player of the Year contending duo of Azzi Fudd (27 points) and Sarah Strong (26 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists). UConn was 58.5% from the floor and an even better 65.6% in the second half. They combined for six of 12 3s, five of which came from Fudd.
The field is better than it was during UConn’s reign of terror … but it sure feels as if any other team lifting the trophy in April would be a shock. If any do, it’s more than likely to come from the top.
No. 2 UCLA (21-1, 11-0 Big Ten) won by 23 at home over Iowa (18-4, 9-2), their closest competition in the conference standings heading into the weekend. The Hawkeyes are heading home after a difficult 0-2 trip to Los Angeles. UCLA extended its win streak to 15, only taking a single loss this season to Texas in the neutral-site Players Era Championship in November.
No. 4 Texas (21-1, 6-2 SEC ) led then-No. 10 Oklahoma by 21 in the second quarter and held off multiple rallies with a balanced offensive attack. Four starters and a bench player reached double-digits on a rare day of five 3-pointers for Texas.
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The best of the rest remain an ever-moving, murky bunch.
No. 5 LSU (21-2, 7-2 SEC), a leading contender of this bunch for a Final Four run, cracked the century mark for a 12th time in a 40-point winning margin over then-No. 24 Alabama, 103-63. They also shot north of 56% overall and nearly as much from the perimeter (10-of-21).
Vanderbilt, ranked No. 5 last week, ran shaky this week, needing a second-half rally to oust lowly Florida, 82-60, after its Friday night loss to then-No. 17 Ole Miss, 83-75. No. 6 Louisville (21-3, 11-0 ACC) didn’t play a ranked opponent in the so-so ACC, but remained undefeated with a 71-59 win over California. West Virginia, previously ranked No. 22, upset Big 12 foe then-No. 14 Baylor, 70-60. Four teams are within one-half game of each other in those standings, and a fifth is within one game of the leaders.
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That logjam came out of one of the better games of the day. TCU (20-3, 8-2 Big 12), previously ranked No. 12, survived a Kansas upset bid on Thursday night. It didn’t have as much luck against then-No. 21 Texas Tech, 62-60. Snudda Collins scored a career-high-matching 28 off the bench for the Red Raiders and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute.
The highlight of the day came out of East Lansing, Michigan, where in-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State met for the first time while ranked in the top 15 of the AP poll. Michigan, ranked ninth, outlasted then-No. 13 Michigan State, 94-91 in overtime after nearly losing it in regulation. The midcourt shot by Inés Sotelo rimmed out.
It was everything one could want from an elite matchup. Seventeen lead changes. Thirteen ties. History. Overtime. How very March.
Performer of the week: Clara Strack, Kentucky
Clara Strack, a 6-foot-5 junior center, scored a career-high 33 points with 15 rebounds in a 93-73 win over Arkansas (11-12, 0-8) on Sunday. She fell one shy of tying her career-high on the boards and secured her 11th double-double of the season.
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Although it wasn’t a surprising result — Arkansas remains winless with the conference’s worst defense — the Wildcats needed this one with Teonni Key, Strack’s paint partner, back in action after nearly a month away due to injury. Key had a 15-point, 10-rebound game. The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing skid to Mississippi State, Tennessee and Georgia that pushed them deep into the loaded SEC rankings.
Strack did not tally a block in the game and sits at 63, second-most in Division I. She is 10 from tying her own single-season school record.
Stat of the week: 297 wins
Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly became the winningest coach in Big 12 conference history last week, passing former Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey with his 297th victory. The Cyclones upset then-No. 21 Texas Tech, 84-70, on Wednesday night. They stretched their winning streak to four on Saturday with a 65-52 win over UCF.
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Fennelly began at Iowa State in 1995 and is 818-383 all-time, including his seven seasons at Toledo. His career victories rank 17th all-time among Division I leaders, and he’s reached the NCAA Tournament 23 times at Iowa State with three Big 12 Tournament titles.
Games of the week
Three major conference-defining games will take place this week in the SEC, ACC and Big Ten.
Duke (16-6, 11-0) at Louisville (21-3, 11-0), Thursday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Louisville’s balanced offensive approach leads the ACC in scoring margin (23.3 points per game) by nearly five points as the star of the conference. Duke’s early-season struggles against the nation’s best competition faded away once the Blue Devils hit ACC action. This will be the most difficult game they’ve had since a blowout loss to LSU in early December.
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LSU (21-1, 7-2) at Texas (21-2, 6-2), Thursday, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)
It’s a rare conference rematch. LSU won the first meeting in Baton Rouge, giving the Tigers their first win over a top-2 team since 2008 and the Longhorns their first loss of the season. A win keeps both in good position to slide into second place in the conference tournament seedings. South Carolina (7-1) and Tennessee (6-1) have yet to play each other.
UCLA (21-1, 11-0) at Michigan (19-3, 10-1), Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on FOX
UCLA hasn’t missed a beat from its Final Four run a year ago, but it’s Michigan that leads the conference in scoring (87.8) and is nearly the Bruins’ equal in differential (30 points per game for UCLA to 26.5 for Michigan). If the Wolverines lose, the Bruins unofficially lock up the conference title, as every other team would have at least two losses.
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Yahoo Sports’ AP Top 25 ballot
1. UConn
2. Texas
3. UCLA
4. South Carolina
5. LSU
6. Michigan
7. Louisville
8. Oklahoma
9. Vanderbilt
10. Michigan State
11. Iowa
12. Baylor
13. Tennessee
14. Ohio State
15. Kentucky
16. TCU
17. Duke
18. West Virginia
19. Ole Miss
20. Princeton
21. Maryland
22. Nebraska
23. Texas Tech
24. Washington
25. Rhode Island
Official AP Top 25
1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Louisville
7. Vanderbilt
8. Michigan
9. Ohio State
10. Iowa
11. Oklahoma
12. Michigan State
13. Ole Miss
14. TCU
15. Baylor
16. Kentucky
17. Duke
18. Texas Tech
19. Tennessee
20. West Virginia
21. Alabama
22. Maryland
23. Princeton
24. Washington
25. North Carolina
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