HARTFORD, Conn. — Geno Auriemma thought he’d know more about his Connecticut Huskies team by the holiday break.
“I lied,” Auriemma bantered in the bowels of XL Center late on Saturday night. “I don’t know any more now than I did when I told you that I would know before Christmas. But obviously certain things are evident, right?”
The Huskies (10-2) closed out the meat of their non-conference schedule playing four ranked or previously ranked teams in the span of 15 days. They went 3-2 over the stretch with wins against Louisville, Georgetown and Iowa State. But in the largest games, they took the ‘L.’ First on Dec. 12, they lost in South Bend to former Big East rival Notre Dame, then ranked eighth. And on Saturday, it was the program’s first loss to the resurging Southern Cal, then ranked seventh.
It is evident the Huskies need a consistent third option offensively. Paige Bueckers can and should be the No. 1. But besides her and Sarah Strong, they don’t have anyone available who can confidently step up into the role in big moments throughout the game. That person should be Azzi Fudd, but until she’s fully healthy and ready to go, someone needs to step up.
As UConn and the rest of the women’s basketball world begins its week-long game hiatus over the Christmas holiday, let’s take stock of how the biggest preseason quandaries are playing out so far.
UConn’s depth: not nice
UConn came into the season high on voters’ lists because the Huskies have one of the nation’s best players, were supposed to be healthy and would have incredible depth. That hasn’t been the case.
Auriemma wants more contributions from the bigs and his younger players to be patient when the first shots don’t fall. Those need to happen early and ideally from beyond the arc. They missed all seven 3-point attempts in the first half against Notre Dame and were 2-of-9 against USC. They’ve played their worst performances against the best competition. The program-record 20 3-pointers against Iowa State is an anomaly so far.
“That’s the million dollar question, right?” Auriemma said. “How you learn to make these in these games? … I think we’re a good 3-point shooting team, but I can’t keep saying that. We have to prove it and not just one night. We have to do it more than one night.”
Much like seasons past, they can topple most teams but can’t measure up to the new small handful of programs leading the championship-contending pack. Auriemma has to hope his season goes somewhat like those big games.
“if you look at our first-half team, we’re nowhere,” Auriemma said. “If you look at our second-half team, we’re a really, really good basketball team that can probably beat anybody in the country.”
South Carolina’s championship chances: nice
South Carolina’s loss to UCLA was significant but also overblown. The Gamecocks (11-1) remain safely atop the championship contender list as they adjust to a new era without an established star post. Chloe Kitts is playing stronger and freshman Joyce Edwards scored a career-high 20 points this week against Charleston Southern. Her one double-double was in 23 minutes against Iowa State and center Audi Crooks.
Much like last year with her “daycare” group, Staley said this week she didn’t think ahead about where she wanted her team to be or what record it should have at the break.
“I just took every game as it came because you never know who you’re going to get,” Staley said. “If you get the (South Carolina) team that is focused and ready to go, I mean, you feel a lot of comfort in that. If you get our first quarter team … aerhhh, it makes you wonder.”
The Gamecocks will learn more about themselves in a tougher SEC that added Texas and Oklahoma to a group already including Tennessee and LSU. They’ll play Wofford on Dec. 29 and UConn at home in February as their final non-conference games. All these are increasingly larger measuring sticks to learn from their Bruins slip-up.
Notre Dame’s backcourt chemistry: very nice
The Fighting Irish (10-2) could have had a serious backcourt issue with two award-winning point guards playing next to each other for the first time. Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo put that question to bed early and continue to pump out highlight-reel plays.
When Sonia Citron is your No. 3 guard, you’ve got an incredible thing going. If there’s one thing to take from Notre Dame’s first half, it’s the idea of “any given Sunday.” Every opponent is a danger and they can’t only get up for elite games.
Iowa State to the Final Four: nice to say
Iowa State (9-5) may be the largest non-conference dud of the year. The Cyclones haven’t taken the next step with returning stars, senior point guard Emily Ryan and sophomores Audi Crooks and Addy Brown. They’ve free fallen from long-shot title contenders and the preseason No. 8 to long-shot Elite Eight hopefuls and unranked.
That’s in large part due to the incredibly tough non-conference schedule head coach Bill Fennelly designed. They’ve played three of the four 2024 Final Four teams and did it with tough luck on their side: South Carolina (76-36 loss after the Gamecocks were blown out by UCLA), Iowa (75-69 loss in a rivalry contest) and UConn (101-68 during the program’s record 3-pointer day). They also lost to Northern Iowa.
“If you play a bunch of bad teams, do you really get better?” Fennelly said last week. “Do you really know what you are not good at? Do you put yourself in stressful, uncomfortable situations not just in good teams but in road environments? All that kinda stuff that you are going to see in conference play.”
That might pay off in conference play, the second of a three-act season culminating in the NCAA tournament. It also could just be more of the same. They’re 0-1 in the Big 12 with a loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday despite Crooks’ 28-point double-double.
Will the holiday poll forecast the Final Four?
We can’t take stock of this one quite yet, but we can look at last year and see if the top AP teams through the majority of the non-con season went on to the final weekend.
South Carolina reigned over the AP poll released on Christmas a year ago, followed by UCLA, NC State and Iowa. Three of those made the Final Four.
South Carolina and Iowa with their future lottery pick star players made the national championship game. The Gamecocks cruised by NC State in the Final Four, while Iowa outlasted a hampered and hobbling UConn squad ranked No. 15 at Christmas.
The next five: Texas, USC, LSU, Colorado, Stanford and Baylor. Texas (lost to NC State), USC (to UConn) and LSU (to Iowa) reached the Elite Eight. The other berth was Oregon State. The Beavers didn’t break into the AP rankings until Week 12.
Official AP rankings
1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. USC
5. Texas
6. LSU
7. UConn
8. Maryland
9. Oklahoma
10. Ohio State
11. TCU
12. Kansas State
13. Georgia Tech
14. Duke
15. Tennessee
16. Kentucky
17. North Carolina
18. West Virginia
19. Michigan State
20. Alabama
21. California
22. NC State
23. Michigan
24. Iowa
25. Ole Miss
Yahoo Sports AP ballot
1. Notre Dame
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Texas
5. USC
6. Maryland
7. UConn
8. Oklahoma
9. LSU
10. Georgia Tech
11. Kansas State
12. Ohio State
13. Tennessee
14. Duke
15. TCU
16. North Carolina
17. Kentucky
18. Michigan
19. West Virginia
20. Michigan State
21. Iowa
22. California
23. Nebraska
24. Alabama
25. Vanderbilt
