The start of the 2022-23 women’s college basketball season is less than two weeks away. And yes, once again, the South Carolina Gamecocks are the favorite.
And for good reason too. They return national consensus Player of the Year Aliyah Boston – who is likely to be the No. 1 overall pick in the forthcoming WNBA Draft – and the great Dawn Staley is still on the sidelines in Columbia. The Gamecocks received all 30 first place votes in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll released last week (including one from this writer), and they are also the favorite among sportsbooks to repeat as national champions. Draft Kings has South Carolina’s odds of repeating set at +150 while Caesars has the Gamecocks at +160.
But South Carolina is not invincible. Last year, the Gamecocks lost in the regular season to Missouri – which didn’t make the NCAA Tournament – and fell to Kentucky in the SEC title game. North Carolina gave them a good fight in the Sweet 16 too.
It has also proven to be extremely difficult to repeat as champions in this sport in recent history. The last team not named UConn to do it was Pat Summitt’s Tennessee Vols in 2007 and 2008. In fact, to find a team not coached by Summitt or Geno Auriemma that repeated as champions, you’d have to go back to 1983 and 1984, when Linda Sharp’s star-studded USC squads won back-to-back.
So, history tells us that it might not be a bad bet to take a flier on a team other than South Carolina to win the national championship in Dallas in 2023. And while it’s easy to convince yourself to put money on recent contenders – like Stanford (+500), Louisville (+2000) or UConn (+1200) – or a superstar-powered squad like Caitlin Clark’s Iowa (+700), we’re here to convince you to look past the traditional favorites to get the most bang for your buck.
Here’s four teams with enticing odds that just might be able to pull off winning the whole dang thing.
Texas +1000
Texas is third in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll, but fifth best in odds to win the national championship.
There’s a lot of reasons to like the Longhorns. In Vic Schaefer’s second season at the helm last year, Texas won the Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight where they lost to Stanford by nine points. They were powered by talented guard Rori Harmon, who won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award, the Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player award, and was an honorable mention All-American.
This year, Harmon is back, and she’s joined by a trio of talented transfers in Sonya Morris (DePaul), Taylor Jones (Oregon State) and two-time WCC Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales (BYU). The Longhorns are also brought in what ESPN deems to be a top 15 recruiting class with three players in the top 100 rankings. On paper, the Longhorns certainly have the talent to end Baylor’s streak of 12 consecutive Big 12 regular season titles, and to make the Final Four.
Nancy Lieberman Award Watchlist 🤘@roriiiharmonnn pic.twitter.com/nfrCY0VRz2
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) October 17, 2022
North Carolina +3500
As mentioned above, the Tar Heels – despite being undersized in the matchup – gave South Carolina all it could handle last March in the Sweet 16 in Greensboro. North Carolina played the Gamecocks closer than anyone else in the NCAA Tournament.
This year – head coach Courtney Banghart’s fourth in-charge – the Tar Heels bring back four starters and five of the top six scorers from last year’s squad. The group is led by junior guard Deja Kelly, an All-ACC selection last season who was named to the preseason watchlist for the Lieberman Award and preseason AP honorable mention All-American. She dropped 23 points on the Gamecocks last season.
And healthy this season is Teonni Key, who ESPN tabbed as the ninth-best player in the 2021 class. The 6-foot-5 forward took a redshirt last season after tearing her ACL. She should give the Tar Heels a post presence on both ends of the court, bolstering a UNC defense that was fourth in the nation in points-allowed per 100 possessions last year with a mark of 76.3, according to HerHoopStats.
Dawn Staley: “I thought Deja Kelly did a great job of putting us back on our heels.” #ncaaW
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) March 26, 2022
Virginia Tech +4000
Under Kenny Brooks, the Hokies have been slowly building towards what could be a transformative season for their program. After a 15-year postseason drought, the Hokies have now made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. And while they lost Aisha Sheppard to the WNBA, the Hokies got a whole lot better this offseason.
Thanks to the transfer portal, Virginia Tech added a dynamic guard and legit WNBA prospect in Ashley Owusu. At Maryland, she was a two-time Big Ten Tournament MVP, a two-time AP All-American, and the winner of the Drysdale Award in 2021 – given each season to the nation’s top two-guard. Virginia Tech then went out and added forward Taylor Soule, who was a three-time All-ACC selection at Boston College.
Combine those two players with savvy point guard Georgia Amoore and reigning ACC Player of the Year (and preseason AP All-American) Elizabeth Kitley at center, and Virginia Tech has arguably as talented a roster as any team in the country. The only question is, can Brooks make all the pieces fit? A matchup at preseason No. 5 Tennessee on Dec. 4 should be an early indicator of this team’s potential.
so glad we’re on the same team😄 https://t.co/pebfecnd6D
— Ashley Owusu (@Ashleyyowusu15) October 25, 2022
Maryland +6000
As previously mentioned, the Terps lost Owusu to Virginia Tech via the portal. Then Angel Reese bolted for LSU and Mimi Collins left for N.C. State. Initially, the outlook for this season seemed grim for the Terps. But, as she always does, head coach Brenda Frese – a national championship winner in 2006 – went out, reloaded and rebuilt this Maryland team into a unit that resembles a contender.
Diamond Miller is at the nucleus of the roster as one of the few returners. She’s a long guard with WNBA potential who battled injuries for most of last season, but stepped up in big moments, averaging 19.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in Maryland’s three NCAA tournament contests. She’s joined by another fellow returner, sophomore guard Shyanne Sellers, who did a little bit of everything for the Terps last year on her way to being named Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year.
Frese then went out and grabbed guard Lavendar Briggs, an All-SEC selection at Florida, AAC assist leader Elisa Pinzan from USF, Vanderbilt starter Brinae Alexander, and Ivy League Player of the Year Abby Meyers from Princeton. Maryland was fifth in the nation in scoring last year and has a roster this season that could run a lot of opponents off the floor.
The #WNBA just announced that the draft lottery for the 2023 #WNBADraft will occur on November 11, 30 minutes before during the Maryland + South Carolina game at 6pm on ESPN2.
Is it a coincidence that this game features two lottery prospects in Aliyah Boston and Diamond Miller?
— Jackie Powell (she/her) (@ClassicJpow) October 17, 2022
