Four The Win
As the 2024-2025 collegiate basketball season is quickly coming to an end, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is heating up. Over the past few years Women’s Basketball viewership has significantly increased, leading to record breaking numbers for not only the championship tournament, but also the regular season. With the outstanding growth rate in fans for NCAA Women’s Basketball Division 1 many have their own biases on who they believe will be the last four standing. Each year, the field of 64 teams narrows down, and only a handful of elite programs stand out as potential contenders for the desirable championship title. From the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four to the Championship Game it is a fight all the way to the end, and even sometimes, unexpectedly, the underdogs will show out.
On Sunday, February 23rd, Notre Dame, ranked number one at the time, faced off against the number 13 ranked team, NC State. Walking into this game it was very apparent that Notre Dame’s fans, staff, and players believed this would’ve been a very obtainable victory, However NC state was not going down without a fight. In a double overtime the underdogs came out on top with a 104-98 victory, this causing the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Community to be knocked down to ranking number 3 and the NC State girls to move back up to top 10, reclaiming the place that slipped away from them earlier in the season. Shocking the whole collegiate basketball community, the seeming unbeatable Hannah Hidalgo, the newly shining star of the Leprechauns, and the other Notre Dame players were humbled by the North Carolina Women’s Basketball Program showing that no one is truly safely secured in their spot. As February comes to an end and the stakes start to rise let’s take a look at who are believed to make it all the way to the Final Four in NCAA Women’s Basketball Division I.
University Of Texas (UT)
The Longhorns, homed in Austin Texas, has had a quiet week off, allowing their number 1 spot to not be threatened. Before their time off they had an amazing three straight games beating three excellent teams, South Carolina, Kentucky, and LSU. Going into their final week of the regular season, they are now viewed as one of the most respected teams in the league.
This upcoming week will be much more pact then the last. With three SEC play games coming up the Longhorns have to stay focused as they take on Georgia and Mississippi State before heading home to take on Florida State, finishing the regular season. If this upcoming week goes well for Texas they are able to make a impact by winning a potion of the regular season in their first season in the SEC. Lets hope the jet lag does not get to them.
UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles has not had the smoothest time in the Big Ten games since the upsetting loss on February 13th against their rivals, USC. After that unfortunate loss they had to take on rough teams, Michigan State and Illinois, really challenging their determination. Then, the Bruins took on Iowa, needing a tough second half they barely walked away with the win to avoid yet another upset.
In the upcoming week UCLA finishes their regular season as they take on Wisconsin before heading back home to take on USC once again. The rematch against USC is seen as the biggest game of the women’s basketball season. To stay in the Big Ten in the regular season UCLA will more then likely need to win, given this game may decide who walks away with the Big Ten title. Both UCLA and USC having one loss each, and will battle it out to the end.
Notre Dame
As the 2024-2025 season progressed Notre Dame made it clear that they were a force to be messed with, bringing many upsets to many highly ranked teams, it was very clear that their egos were larger then most NCAA Women’s Basketball athletes. Going into the Sunday, February 23rd, matchup against NC State, to get a hold of the ACC for the regular season all Notre Dame had to do was beat NC State. Coming up short, losing in a double-overtime nail biting game, the loss was Notre Dame’s first in ACC play, and their first since November, losing against Utah.
This upcoming week the Leprechauns are looking to avoid another upset as they finish their regular season at home against Florida State. Needing to build up their energy for the postseason to proceed onto the Sweet-sixteen all the way to the Final Four, and hopefully to the Championship Game many have Notre Dame as their top pick.
USC
California is a force to be reckoned with this year as not only UCLA is in the top four rankings but also USC, University of Southern California. Last week USC hardly pulled away two tough wins beating Michigan State and Illinois, although not ranked in the top ten still two very tough teams, so avoiding any slip ups was critical. With the Big Ten on the line USC is preparing to take on UCLA once again.
USC has had six big wins since their last loss. USC has one more regular season game where they will be on the road against their rivals UCLA. Hoping to come out on top once again.
With stats and rankings it is very clear why these four teams hold the places that they do but from what we learned after the Notre Dame and NC matchup is to never get to comfortable, so here are some other teams to look out for; Ranked number 5 UConn, Number 6 South Carolina, Number 7 LSU, Number 8 North Carolina, Number 9 NC State, and Number 10 TCU. All of these teams being powerhouses, they are constant returners to the Big Ten and the NCAA tournament and definitely contenders for the Final Four. Keep your eyes on NCAA Women’s Basketball Division 1 as history is being made every season, and tune into the Final Four when the time comes on the weekend of April 4th-6th. However maybe wait until closer to the Final Four matchups to bet, because that parlay may not end up in your favor, that team you are counting on so badly may be knocked out in the Sweet-sixteen, not speaking from experience (maybe).
