The 2023-2024 NCAA Women’s College Basketball season has started off INTENSE, featuring upsets, record breakers, and sold out crowds. Here are some of the biggest highlights from the season so far:
- Caitlin Clark
When someone brings up college basketball, it would not be a surprise to hear the name CAITLIN CLARK. The 6’0’’ senior from the University of Iowa has continued to achieve many historic goals, recently surpassing Kelsey Plum (University of Washington Alum) on the all-time NCAA WBB scoring list. She is known for her incredible ability to shoot far range shots, but also her use of impressive handles to make her way to the basket. It is without a doubt that Clark has made a big impact on WBB and has inspired many generations of young basketball players.
2. South Carolina Team
After their loss in the Final Four of the NCAA playoffs last year, the South Carolina WBB has come back stronger than ever. They are the only undefeated team in the rankings, which has placed them in the number one spot every week. Many doubted their ability to come together as a team without their star player, Aliyah Boston, who currently plays for the Atlanta Fever in the WNBA, but their 25-0 record says otherwise. They are led by Kamilla Cardoso, Te-hina Paopao, and of course Dawn Staley, their coach.
3. Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer
On January 21, 2024, Tara VanDerveer became college basketball’s winningest coach. With her 1,203 victories, she surpassed Coach Mike Krzyzewski, “Coach K”, who is currently the head coach of Duke’s men’s basketball team.
VanDerveer started her coaching career at Stanford in 1985 when she was just 24 years old. Since then, she has continued to be one of the best coaches in NCAA history, and has given life to the Stanford WBB program. As head coach, she has brought her team to the top of the rankings, to the playoffs, and has also won 3 championships.
4. Juju Watkins
Though Caitlin Clark is the biggest name in women’s basketball at the moment, Juju Watkins, star player at USC, has made her presence felt. As a freshman, Juju has been named the Pac-12 Player of the Week 3 times, and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week 13 times. She has also been a very prominent scorer for her team, averaging 27.5 points a game. She recently scored 51 points in an insane upset against Stanford. With her stats, people say she might even beat Caitlin Clark and her scoring record!
5. Open tryouts at TCU
Throughout January of this year, the TCU women’s basketball team took a brutal hit, or, in reality, multiple brutal hits: All of the team’s bench and starting players were injured. This forced TCU to forfeit two games due to the shortage of players. Faced with this grand obstacle, Coach Mark Campbell decided that it would be best to hold open tryouts and recruit players from the TCU student body. They were able to recruit 4 players: Piper Davis, Ella Hamlin, Mekhayla Moore, and Sarah Sylvester, who is currently a volleyball player for TCU. After a few weeks of conditioning and practice, the 4 found themselves on the bench in a game against UCF. The recruits subbed in sporadically and contributed to TCU’s amazing comeback win against UCF.
