Who’s hot and who’s not: DI women’s basketball midseason roundup

UConn is starting to pull away from the pack.

March Madness is near.

Some college women's basketball teams are fighting to keep their rankings, others are trying to stay undefeated, and a few look like strong NCAA Championship contenders.

After dropping two games in a row to Kentucky and Ole Miss, once top ranked Oklahoma has dropped eight spots in rankings.

With back-to-back games coming up against No. 5 ranked LSU and No. 3 ranked South Carolina, the Sooners are going to have to go through some tough teams to get their ranking up before heading into the tournament. 

Iowa State is on a three-game losing streak.

Two of those losses being against unranked opponents leading to a big loss in ranking and expectations for the season.

Recently losing junior Addy Brown, a star forward, indefinitely due to a lower body injury, the Cyclones are going to need to rework their offense going into the remainder of the season. 

There are three undefeated teams left this season: UConn, Texas Tech, and Vanderbilt.

No. 1 ranked UConn has always been one of the most talked about teams in women’s basketball, and this season is no different.

Though UConn has already fought through some adversity with injuries to key players such as KK Arnold and Ayanna Patterson, being undefeated comes with more pressure as it gets later into the season. 

Though there is still a good bit of the season to go before Selection Sunday and the tournament, there have been some standout teams so far this season. 

The UCLA Bruins are a dangerous team led by dominant senior center Lauren Betts as well as versatile guard Kiki Rice. Currently standing at 15-1 and No. 2 in the country, the Bruins are looking at a high tournament seed, however, they have matchups against No. 12 Maryland and No. 15 Iowa in the coming weeks.

Barring any detrimental injuries or big losses, UCLA could be in line for a big tournament show. 

The Texas Tech Lady Raiders are also coming into the final stretch of the season and March Madness with an impressive record and a chip on their shoulder.

The Lady Raiders have not made the tournament since 2013, but currently rank in the top 25 with some big matchups against Iowa State and TCU coming up. They have opportunities to prove themselves to the selection committee. 

The final surprise standout team that is looking promising heading into the tournament are the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Vanderbilt is the only school with both their men’s and women’s basketball teams still undefeated in the top 25 rankings, and their women’s team had some impressive wins so far this season.

Early in the season the women gave LSU one of their only two losses, however, as the season progresses, they have a few ranked matchups that will reveal whether or not they have real tournament chances.

Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Clara Romae Slowinski is a student-intern at Penn State University.