The brightest stars and major storylines of the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season.

Women’s college basketball has never been in a better place. Yes, there have always been great talents in sports, but now the whole world sees it. Last year’s Iowa-South Carolina national championship game averaged 18.7 million viewers and peaked at 24 million. This broke previous records set earlier in the NCAA Tournament, which broke previous records set the year before in the postseason.

The Kaitlyn Clark effect was very real, as the two-time National Player of the Year and her insanely deep threes attracted millions of new fans, many of whom stayed to watch the Dawn Staley dynasty as well as UConn’s attempt to return to the top of the mountain. sport. But Clark has left for the WNBA, and there are plenty of superstars ready to fill the vacated spot in the spotlight.

Oh, and Staley’s team is certainly poised to repeat as national champions, although a Gamecocks’ win will look a little different after losing Camille Cardoso. Plus, we have two Los Angeles schools now favored to win the Big Ten Conference, a changing of the guard at Stanford, and plenty of other storylines to follow once the season begins in earnest.

Here are the major storylines for the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season:

Caitlin Clarke is gone. Who’s next?

Clark was a generational talent and a draw unlike anything we’ve seen in any sport in a long time. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer led Iowa to two national championship games, but for me, the most memorable images from her collegiate career will always be the lines of fans swirling around arenas and parking lots waiting to see her. play. Or photos of little girls (and boys) smiling as Clark signed their autographs.

Caitlin was a household name. There are also stars of the college game this season, and if not, they will appear soon. USC’s JuJu Watkins, last year’s National Freshman of the Year and ESPY winner of Breakthrough Athlete, is ready to take over the sport, swag and all. UConn guard Paige Bueckers has been the face of the sport in the past and plans to be one again if her Huskies stay healthy. And we can also expect Notre Dame sophomore Hannah Hidalgo to take another step toward greatness as one of the brightest young players in the game.

The race for National Player of the Year between JuJu, Paige and Hannah could be one of the most competitive in years.

The Big East runs through UC Bueckers.

Analyst Kim Adams joins Zora Stevenson and Megan McKeon to examine the Big East, where they expect UConn and Paige Bueckers to continue their dominance.

Can South Carolina come back?

Of course, the Gamecocks can, and they return so much talent that it’s understandably tempting to draft them to become the sport’s first repeat national champions since UConn did it in 2016. I would never count out a team coached by Dawn Staley, but especially not this year. South Carolina returns four starters, led by Milaisia Fulwiley, Te-Hina Paopao and the rest of the talented deep backcourt. The biggest question mark for South Carolina will be its domestic presence.

Center Camille Cardoso led the Gamecocks in points, rebounds and blocks last season. She clearly made a difference, as evidenced by the national title game against Iowa. Without her, how will Staley decide to attack and protect the paint (especially in early season games against UCLA and Iowa State)? It’s unclear at this point because forward Ashlyn Watkins has been suspended since his August arrest. Freshman Joyce Edwards may be the answer, but she’ll have to learn as she goes.

South Carolina could be more dangerous in the SEC

Carolyn Peck joins Zora Stevenson and Megan McKeon to look at the SEC, where the South Carolina Gamecocks could be even more dangerous than the team that won the national championship last year.

Will the revamped Big Ten come through – *checks notes* – Los Angeles?

There’s a very good chance that this is the case. USC was ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten in the league’s preseason poll, followed by UCLA. Now, it’s no surprise that former Pac-12 women’s basketball teams are top contenders in their new leagues, especially considering how deep the Pac-12 was a year ago in its final season. But both USC and UCLA are uniquely positioned to lead the Big Ten in their first year. Both teams are loaded with talent and experience, and neither is afraid to say they are chasing a national championship.

The Trojans are led, naturally, by JuJu Watkins. And coach Lindsay Gottlieb went out and added two former familiar foes in Kiki Iriafen (from Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (from Oregon State), as well as top freshmen led by Kennedy Smith, to take this USC team to another level. level.

Meanwhile, the Bruins are once again led by Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts, two of the best players in the country in their own right. Coach Corey Close also added pieces: Texas A&M transfer Janiya Barker, Washington State transfer Charlissa Leger-Walker and Oregon State transfer Timea Gardiner. UCLA was disappointed with a Sweet 16 exit last season, which will continue to motivate and push this team forward.

CONNECTED: NBC Sports Women’s College Basketball Schedule 2024-25

How else will perestroika affect women’s hoops?

Well, it will take some getting used to, but it’s happening across all sports this year. The strangest part of the new world order in college athletics when it comes to women’s basketball is the dissolution of the Pac-12 as we knew it. This league was the gold standard of women’s basketball, and it was home to some of the sport’s greatest coaches, such as Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who won more games than any other Division I college basketball coach. VanDerveer decided to retire after his final Pac-12 high school season, a fitting end to an incredibly successful era. Now it will be strange to see Stanford travel across the country to play Virginia and Syracuse in ACC play. It will also be strange to see Arizona in the Big 12 and Washington playing Rutgers in the Big Ten. As stated, the two Los Angeles schools could dominate a conference that was previously known for its roots in the Midwest.

And then, of course, Texas joins the SEC. Can the Longhorns knock the Gamecocks off their perch? The Longhorns return Rory Harmon (from injury) and Madison Booker (who is coming off a stunning freshman campaign in which she won the Big 12 Player of the Year award), and this could very well be the best backcourt in the country. The transition to SEC play may not be easy (and certainly physical), but Texas also enters its new league in its best possible position.

Which new coaches will perform best in their first year?

This is always difficult to predict, and in the era of transfer portals it is even more difficult. But I’m very pleased that Kentucky hired Kenny Brooks, who took Virginia Tech to the Final Four in 2023. Star guard Georgia Cupid followed Brooks to Lexington, which will help build a strong foundation for Brooks in his freshman year. I also think Jan Jensen Season 1 will go relatively smoothly with Hannah Stühlke returning and Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen.

Two of the most interesting first-year coaches to watch are Tennessee’s Kim Caldwell and Kate Pay from Stanford. Both take on iconic programs that demand excellence. Caldwell is an unconventional candidate for athletic director Danny White, who hopes her fast-paced style of play will lead to victories for the Lady Vols. Paye, meanwhile, follows directly from the Hall of Famer to lead a new conference program that plays most of its games within 3,000 miles of Palo Alto. This is, to put it mildly, not an easy task.