Here’s something I haven’t said much in 2025: Pay attention to the Big 12. What a fun week for the conference as it moves up the pecking order ahead of the ACC.
The Big 12 delivered the regular-season game of the year over the weekend between Kansas and Iowa State, as Mackenzie Hare’s buzzer-beating heroics put the cherry on top of another iconic Audi Crooks performance — one that S’Mya Nichols did her absolute best to spoil. Expectations were sky high for the Cyclones last season, but they are finally delivering on the potential of the special 2023 class of Crooks and Addy Brown.
Advertisement
Texas Tech and Baylor put on a show of their own, even if it was outshined by the game farther north. The Red Raiders kept their undefeated record intact by ending a 31-game losing streak against Baylor. They won despite the Bears’ seemingly re-creating a Disney Channel original movie in the final minutes: Baylor brought in a limping Taliah Scott (who had missed the previous game) to help its offense, and she looked like Heather Burge from “Double Team,” drawing in the defense before kicking out to Yuting Deng for the go-ahead score.
Unlike in the Disney movie, however, 52 seconds still remained, and Texas Tech regained the lead while Scott aggravated her injury.
Two more Big 12 teams exited the weekend undefeated. TCU was the least surprising of the bunch — kudos to coach Mark Campbell for already making sustained success commonplace at the program that ended a 14-season tournament drought last year. Olivia Miles and Marta Suárez had twin triple-doubles in their first game of the week (it was the third in a row for Miles), and they comfortably handled Kansas State in the Big 12 opener as Miles turned more scorer than facilitator with 29 points.
And then came Arizona State! It finished 10-22 a season ago but already has 14 wins and zero losses after beating Colorado on Sunday. Molly Miller’s squad has multiple power-conference wins, plus victories at Gonzaga and Oregon State. The Sun Devils are defending their tails off and have completely changed their outlook in Miller’s first season.
Advertisement
Even the lower-ranked Big 12 teams have had their moments this season, like West Virginia’s five-player second-half comeback against Duke and Kansas State’s upset of Ole Miss.
The Big 12 wasn’t one of the big winners in conference realignment, but it has acquitted itself well to start the season and has two realistic Final Four contenders. Not a bad place to be heading into 2026.
|
Rank |
Team |
Previous rank |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
UConn |
1 |
|
2 |
Texas |
2 |
|
3 |
South Carolina |
3 |
|
4 |
UCLA |
4 |
|
5 |
LSU |
5 |
|
6 |
Michigan |
6 |
|
7 |
Iowa State |
7 |
|
8 |
Louisville |
10 |
|
9 |
TCU |
9 |
|
10 |
Maryland |
8 |
|
11 |
Oklahoma |
11 |
|
12 |
Kentucky |
14 |
|
13 |
Vanderbilt |
15 |
|
14 |
North Carolina |
13 |
|
15 |
Nebraska |
16 |
|
16 |
Iowa |
12 |
|
17 |
USC |
18 |
|
18 |
Alabama |
20 |
|
19 |
Ole Miss |
22 |
|
20 |
Notre Dame |
23 |
|
21 |
Tennessee |
17 |
|
22 |
Texas Tech |
NR |
|
23 |
Stanford |
NR |
|
24 |
Ohio State |
24 |
|
25 |
Georgia |
25 |
Dropped out: Baylor (19), Washington (21)
Also considered: Washington, Michigan State, Baylor
Tough schedule pays off for Louisville
It isn’t exactly ordinary to place a three-loss team in the top 10 at this point of the season, but it’s hard to find much fault in a 13-point loss to UConn and a two-point defeat to South Carolina. Louisville scheduled hard, took a couple lumps early and is now reaping the rewards against slightly less challenging opposition. The Cardinals beat North Carolina on the road last week and followed up with a convincing neutral site victory over Tennessee.
Advertisement
Their offense has been particularly impressive. Louisville has four guards (Tajianna Roberts, Reyna Scott, Skylar Jones and Imari Berry) who can create their own shots. Elif Istanbulluoglu and Laura Ziegler are versatile bigs who can space and act as hubs on offense. Add in the rim pressure from Mackenly Randolph and Anaya Hardy, and there is a lot to work with. This is coach Jeff Walz’s first Louisville offense averaging at least 80 points per game, currently 82.4. Louisville is an efficient shooting team, making 46 percent, and it ranks 15th nationally in turnover percentage.
Against the Lady Vols, the Cardinals weaponized their pace against them. They scored quickly off of makes and misses. When they were stuck in the halfcourt, they cut backdoor against the pressure. And if necessary, Roberts and Berry were able to generate looks off the dribble.
Louisville will always defend — players can’t get on the floor for Walz if they don’t. Having a little more offensive juice could make this version of the Cardinals a conference champ for the first time in five years.
Stanford has some structure again
It has been a rough 18 months for Talana Lepolo. After a promising freshman season when she won the Stanford starting point guard job, she won a gold medal with Team USA at the U19 World Cup and had the Cardinal cruising towards a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Then she hurt her knee in March 2024, was hobbled during the Pac-12 tournament and the remainder of the postseason, and Stanford’s season ended with a whimper. Lepolo lasted five games in her junior season with the same injury as the Cardinal’s NCAA Tournament streak came to an end in 2024-25.
Advertisement
Now, Lepolo is back and moving well, playing 28 minutes per game. Her statistical output isn’t all that impressive, but Stanford turns over the ball on 4.1 percent fewer possessions when Lepolo plays. The Princeton offense sets work better with a veteran like Lepolo, who ranks in the 94th percentile in total assists, delivers the ball. Having someone to conduct the offense puts everyone else into more natural roles.
Courtney Ogden has flourished as a scorer with a natural point guard on the floor. She scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in Stanford’s win over Washington — the first ranked win of coach Kate Paye’s tenure. Then Ogden followed with 20 points, four rebounds and four steals to beat Oregon, which helped vault Stanford into the power rankings for the first time this season.
Stanford has exciting young players to develop for the future, including the freshman trio of Lara Somfai, Hailee Swain and Alexandra Eschmeyer. The Cardinal should still try to find significant time for Lepolo, provided her body holds up. She’s the lone holdover from Stanford’s recent glory days who knows what the system is supposed to look like in action.
Alabama’s defense carries the day
The Crimson Tide graduated a lot of talent after last season, including WNBA rookies Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye. Unlike NC State, which has had a harder time replacing the production of Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James, Alabama leans on its defense to maintain success in this new era.
Advertisement
Kristy Curry’s squad has the 14th best defensive rating in the country, more than 10 points per 100 possessions better than any Tide team this century. Alabama has a conservative scheme and doesn’t cause many turnovers, but it forces bad shots, limiting 3-point attempts and layups, and it cleans up the glass. Against Troy, the Tide completely shut off the Trojans’ water in the second half. Troy attempted five more shots after halftime but made less than 30 percent as Alabama turned a halftime deficit into an 18-point win.
The Tide will end 2025 undefeated, but they also haven’t played a true road game yet, and their first one comes on New Year’s Day against South Carolina. Alabama should enjoy the sterling record now, because a reckoning is coming.
Does Kentucky have a bench?
Coach Kenny Brooks isn’t exactly known for using a deep rotation, and this season’s Wildcats aren’t an exception. But we’ve seen flashes from the second unit, even if Brooks hasn’t yet found a reserve big to help spell Clara Strack and Teonni Key — they mostly sub for one another.
Advertisement
Asia Boone knows what her role is and she shoots with confidence. She makes 37 percent of her 3-pointers and has attempted only 25 2-pointers this year. Pressed into the starting lineup against Wright State in Key’s absence, she took 11 triples and scored 17 points. Freshman Kaelyn Carroll hasn’t seen the floor as much as Boone, but she has the same marching orders. In her season-high 25 minutes against the Raiders, she also made 6 of her 11 3-point attempts. Boone and Carroll were only the fifth pair of teammates this season to each attempt at least 11 3s in one game.
Lexi Blue has a rare skill for a Kentucky player: She can draw fouls. She also defends and doesn’t turn over the ball, which has kept her on the fringes of the rotation despite being unable to hit a shot.
The SEC schedule has the potential to wear down the Wildcats (like last season when they finished 3-5) unless they find more credible bench options. Boone is a fixture, but Blue and Carroll will have to pop for Brooks’ squad to make its way up the SEC standings.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
North Carolina Central Eagles, USC Trojans, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Maryland Terrapins, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Stanford Cardinal, UCLA Bruins, Tennessee Lady Volunteers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Ole Miss Rebels, Georgia Lady Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Kentucky Wildcats, Vanderbilt Commodores, Louisville Cardinals, Iowa Hawkeyes, TCU Horned Frogs, Iowa State Cyclones, Connecticut Huskies, LSU Lady Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Texas Tech Lady Raiders, Texas Longhorns, Women’s College Basketball
2025 The Athletic Media Company
