Just because the power conferences have wrapped up their regular season tournaments doesn’t mean that there is no women’s basketball left to watch.
This is the true week of the Ball-Knower. The women’s hoops hipster that likes to say they enjoyed watching a gamebreaking transfer before they arrived in Storrs or Columbia or Baton Rouge. If you are someone that just enjoys the stakes of the game, in which a final matchup is the thing that decides if you get to bask in the glory of March Madness, then this is the week for you.
Let’s get into it…
American (AAC)
March 10-14
Legacy Arena at the BJCC (Birmingham, Alabama)
UTSA spoiled Rice’s shot at a perfect regular season conference record with an upset on the final night of games. So if head coach Lindsay Edmonds was looking for something to motivate her group heading into single-elimination tournament play, she got it. Rice, on paper, appears to be the favorite but brackets can be busted by singular stars getting hot at the right time. East Carolina’s Kennedy Fauntleroy can be that kind of player. A former Big East Freshman of the Year at Georgetown, watch her if ECU makes a run and challenges Rice.
America East
March 5, 9, 13
Campus sites
We appear to be headed for another clash between Vermont and Maine. It’s a chance to watch UM star Adrianna Smith, one of the best players in program history and two-time A-East Player of the Year. She’s averaging nearly 22 points and 11 rebounds per game this year and has the Black Bears right back on UVM’s heels. But the Catamounts have their own X-factor in star center Nikola Priede who averages about 17 and 7 per game herself. Vermont head coach Alisa Kresge’s name has also come up in some job searches (particularly Boston College) so how her team does here could boost her carousel stock.
Big Sky
March 7-11
Idaho Central Arena (Boise, Idaho)
Montana, long the dominant force in this league under the legendary Robin Selvig, has taken a bit of a nosedive in recent years. Their cross-state rival, Montana State, is now the class of the Big Sky and fending off the annual challenger that tends to come out of nowhere. A couple years ago, it was Mark Campbell’s Sacramento State. This year it’s Arthur Moreira’s Idaho Vandals. Moreira is an interesting guy. The first Brazilian to ever coach an NCAA Divison I basketball team, one of the youngest head coaches in the game, and has broken a record at UI this year that was set by Tara Vanderveer. Not too bad, eh? The Bobcats are the favorites on the floor, but there’s something about Moreira that is really intriguing to me. He might be someone to watch ascend quickly up the coaching ranks.
Big West
March 11-14
Lee's Family Forum (Henderson, Nevada)
Last year’s Big West Tournament was a ton of fun, with UC San Diego’s Sumayah Sugapong going nuclear over the course of a weekend to power the Tritons to the NCAA Tournament. She’s now at Arizona but UCSD still has plenty of juice to win the title again. But this is a true four team league, in the sense that any of UCSD, UC Irvine, UC Davis or Hawaii have a legit shot to win the conference tournament. Of that group, I like the Anteaters to be holding the trophy at the end. The tandem of Hunter Hernandez (19 ppg, 5 rpg) and Jada Wynn (15 ppg, 7 rpg) might just be too much to overcome.
CAA
March 11-15
CareFirst Arena (Washington, D.C.)
The CAA has been a bit of a chaos conference lately. If you win the regular season of this league, it’s more or less the kiss-of-death come March. Here’s a super wonky stat for you to chew on: the regular season champion of the CAA hasn’t won doubled and won the conference tournament since the 2017-18 season. What does that mean for the College of Charleston, who themselves were upset as a 2 seed last year? If nothing else, it means they won’t be taking anyone lightly. CofC’s Taryn Barbot has been a showstopper this year, easily winning CAA Player of the Year. But can she get enough from her team to avoid the strange fates of regular season champions of old?
Conference USA
March 10-14
Propst Arena (Huntsville, Alabama)
I’m here for one team and one team only: Louisiana Tech.
The Lady Techsters are conference champions once again but are only halfway towards being back (in a manner of speaking). In a league like Conference USA, you’ve got to win the bracket to get a shot at the NCAA Tournament. So that means Brooke Stoehr’s team can’t afford a single slip while in Huntsville. Personally, I think this is one of the best stories of the year in women’s basketball. The Lady Techsters are one of the true foundational programs of the sport and, even if they may never be world beaters again, their inclusion in March Madness is better for everyone.
Ivy League
March 13-14
Newman Arena at Bartels Hall (Ithaca, New York)
Princeton and Columbia are destined to do this dance yet again, it seems. All year, the Tigers have had a Lion problem. At one point, it was a legitimately fair argument to make that if Princeton won out in the Ivy, that they earned the right to be a top 16 seed and eligible to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Then they lost to Columbia twice. Riley Weiss has been on a mission this year and she’ll get no better chance to write herself into the Lions lore than to knock out Princeton a third time and punch a ticket to March Madness while doing it.
MAC
March 11, 13-14
Rocket Arena (Cleveland)
Ball State and Miami (Ohio) are co-leaders at the top of the conference and will likely be the ones in the final. That is, unless, UMass has something to say about it. Miami has a cool story, as both the men’s and women’s teams are enjoying near historic highs, while Ball State has a one-two punch in Tessa Towers (apt name for a star center) and Bree Salenbien that combine for over 30 points and 15 rebounds per game. Even UMass, who isn’t all that far behind either of these teams, has someone that makes them a must-watch. 5’6 Queens, NY guard Yahmani McKayle is a true hooper and could be a blast in a tournament setting.
MEAC
March 11-14
Norfolk Scope Arena (Norfolk, Virginia)
After a couple years of Norfolk State running the show in the MEAC, Ty Grace finally gets her shot to assert her Howard program as the top of the food chain. The Spartans, along with Maryland-Eastern Shore, are still in the mix to compete for a tournament champion but this really feels like the year of the Bison. Zennia Thomas (15 ppg, 8 rpg) has been largely contained by both those teams this year and it didn’t really matter. In four total games against UMES and NSU, Howard went 3-1. Now we get to see if they can keep it up.
Missouri Valley (MVC)
March 12-15
Xtream Arena (Coralville, Iowa)
My favorite chaos conference. The MVC is a true Ball-Knower’s league and houses some of the best and routinely entertaining mid-major programs in women’s college basketball. Murray State is, in my opinion, the best chance for a non-power conference team to make the Sweet Sixteen. But in order to do that, they have to get past a few upstarts and then the usual standard bearer of the league, Belmont. Both of these teams played each other tough in the regular season and they may give us some fireworks if they’re to meet in the final.
Mountain West
March 7-10
Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas)
This one wraps up tonight in Las Vegas and there’s an amazing potential bid steal on the table. Air Force is 16-17 this year and entered the Mountain West Tournament with a huge challenge in front of them. After winning their first round matchup, they then upset top seeded San Diego State and are facing off against a resurgent Colorado State, looking to get back to their first NCAA Tournament in a few years. Cadet Milahnie Perry has averaged 26 points per game in Vegas and could do something very cool with another big night in the final.
NEC
March 9, 12, 15
Campus sites
Yes, the NEC is likely to be a one-team show. Fairleigh-Dickinson is 18-0 and should cruise through this tournament and be the league’s NCAA Tournament representative once again. But if you want something interesting that is a bit less results oriented, maybe keep an eye on LIU and their head coach, Neil Harrow. A former Curt Miller acolyte in Connecticut and then L.A., he jumped into the college ranks with James Madison and is now Long Island’s head coach. It’s worth noting that his Sharks are second in the league and has the NEC Player of the Year, Kadidia Toure. Like Arthur Moreira, he’s just a guy to watch and monitor.
Patriot League
March 7, 9 12, 15
Campus sites
To the best of my knowledge, we’ve never gotten an Army-Navy basketball game with championship stakes on the line. If the Patriot League tournament is chalk, then that’s what we’re going to get. It would be pretty cool to see Zanai Barnett-Gay, an upperclassmen and secret to Navy’s recent success, finally get an opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament. But, at the same time, Army is also looking to claim their first championship and tourney berth since 2016. There’s some other teams, particularly Lehigh, that are in the mix here but if you know me, you know I love seeing rare things occur in sports. Army - Navy for a title is one of them. Let’s see if we can get that.
Southland
March 9-12
The Legacy Center (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
Is Ayla Guzzardo going to do something truly unique? It’s not often that you see one coach win back-to-back conference tournament titles with two different programs. I’ve got some work to do this week in figuring out if it’s actually ever happened in women’s basketball. But McNeese has a chance to do that if they are able to maintain their baseline. Since a strange upset at the hands of Northwestern State at the start of the new year, the Cowgirls have basically vaporized everyone in their path including the second, third and fourth best teams in the Southland. It would be a shock to see them lose, which is why I’m rooting for Guzzardo to make a bit of history here.
SWAC
March 9-14
Gateway Center Arena (Atlanta)
Can Dawn Thornton put an exclamation point on what’s been a definitive season in Huntsville? Alabama A&M has largely rolled the SWAC, keeping Alcorn State at bay for the entirety of conference play. What’s interesting is that this team’s core is almost completely comprised of athletes that came to AAMU from Arkansas-Pine Bluff with Thornton in 2024. A sweep of the league would be not just a neat storyline for the players that bought into their coach early on, but that Thornton’s process is transferrable (which is usually a plus for bigger schools that come calling).
WAC
March 11-14
Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)
Is this the year that we finally get Cal Baptist in the NCAA Tournament? The Lancers have had the goods for a couple years now but haven’t gotten in for one reason or another. In 2022, CBU was 26-0 and had swept the WAC championships. The only issue was they were three years into a mandated four year transitionary period from Division II to Division I and were thus ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. Then, the Lancers ran up on Molly Miller’s Grand Canyon teams. With no one in their way outside of Abilene Christian, the runway looks wide open for head coach Jarrod Olson at last.
West Coast Conference (WCC)
March 5-10
Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)
Tonight’s final is a familiar matchup: Oregon State vs. Gonzaga. It’s quietly becoming a fun little rivalry given the Beavers knocked the Bulldogs out of the WCC semifinals last year en route to another NCAA Tournament berth. We also get a seasonal rubber match between these teams, who split their meetings in the regular season. But the big thing to watch here is the Zags outstanding freshman forward Lauren Whittaker, who is a name you need to familiarize yourself with now. It’s her first real moment to show that she can be that kind of player when the lights are bright.