Ignatius L Hoops
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2015
- Messages
- 10,268
- Reaction score
- 3,193
- Points
- 113
Five storylines to watch during the Big Ten women’s basketball season
The Big Ten is stacked with true contenders and up-and-comers biting at their heels.
www.nbcsports.com
There is a dogfight brewing for this Big Ten women’s basketball season.
The conference boasts three teams expected to be in the thick of the national title conversation – Iowa, Indiana and Ohio State. Those teams feature, respectively, Caitlin Clark, the biggest star in women’s college basketball, Mackenzie Holmes, a First-Team All-American in 2022-23, and Celeste Taylor, the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year looking to make a splash in a new conference.
Add in a host of teams with something to prove hoping to crash that hierarchy, and the conference could be in for a special year. Here are five storylines to keep track of as the season approaches:
1) Does Iowa have the depth to get over the hump?
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa went on the ride of a lifetime in winning the Big Ten Tournament and advancing all the way to the national title game last season. Clark was and is the driving force for the team, but does she have enough help to build on last season’s standard?
The departures of Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock, the second and third-leading scorers and rebounders last season, are major blows. Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall offer experience as fifth-year players but will have to make major statistical leaps to replace Czinano and Warnock’s production.
The X factor is sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke, who won the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year as a freshman. If she can be a reliable second option for the Hawkeyes, there’s no limit to what this team can achieve.
2) Can Holmes, Indiana make the leap?
Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
We all know what Holmes can do as the rare high-volume, high-efficiency post scorer. Losing All-Big Ten guard Grace Berger hurts, but the Hoosiers return all four other starters. Yarden Garzon’s 45.8% mark from three led the conference last season, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia are big-time role players, and UT Martin transfer Sharnecce Currie-Jelks offers frontcourt depth coming off a freshman of the year season in the OVC.
After falling short of expectations with a second-round loss to Miami, though, following through on the potential is all about internal motivation. The Hoosiers proved their top-notch credentials by beating out everyone to win the Big Ten regular season title in 2022-23. They have to back that up with another great season and then push further with more postseason success.
3) Will addition of Taylor make Ohio State an elite defense?
Clare Grant/The Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Buckeyes’ press defense was already a nightmare to deal with; just ask UConn, whom Ohio State sent home in the Sweet Sixteen for the Huskies’ earliest postseason departure since 2005. Now add to that 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor and, hopefully, a full season of Jacy Sheldon, who averaged a whopping 3.5 steals in her 13 games.
It will be a struggle to get the ball over halfcourt against the Buckeyes. And that could be a huge boon, because they actually finished an unspectacular 141st in the country in defensive rating. The 26th-ranked offense was the better side of the ball, and while that unit did lose leading scorer Taylor Mikesell, reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Cotie McMahon and junior Taylor Thierry are just two of the options available to pick up the slack.
Supplementing that up-tempo attack with a truly stifling defense would make Ohio State very difficult to beat.
4) Which newcomers will make the biggest impact?
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Taylor isn’t the only example of a Big Ten team banking on newly-arrived talent.
Maryland brings in NC State transfer Jakia Brown-Turner and five-star recruit Riley Nelson to help offset the loss of Diamond Miller and Abby Meyers on the wing. Michigan welcomes Elissa Brett from Bowling Green, Lauren Hansen from Missouri and Taylor Williams from Western Michigan after losing two First Team All-Big Ten selections in Leigha Brown and Emily Kiser. Michigan State’s roster overhaul under Robyn Fralick starts with Jocelyn Tate, who follows Fralick from Bowling Green, and Lauren Ross, who averaged 21.8 points per game for Western Michigan before a knee injury ended her season.
Notice how prevalent the transfer portal is for some of the teams trying to distinguish themselves from the middle of the conference. In this new age of college basketball, we’re going to keep seeing more and more of that.
5) How valuable is continuity?
NCAA Photos via Getty Images
The flip side of the rise of the transfer portal is the question of how valuable it is to let talent grow together over multiple years. Multiple Big Ten teams are looking to take a jump behind returning players.
Illinois brings back all five starters, four of which received all-Big Ten honors: Makira Cook, who made first team; Kendall Bostic and Genesis Bryant, who made second team; and Adalia McKenzie, an honorable mention. Nebraska was disappointed to miss the NCAA Tournament after losing 11 of their final 17 conference games, but First Team All-Big Ten guard Jaz Shelley returns with Allison Weidner and Alexis Markowski to form a solid foundation. Three players who started as freshmen for Minnesota last year -- Mara Braun, Mallory Heyer and Amaya Battle -- are back, as well.