
Which women's college basketball programs could soon rival the bluebloods of the sport?
UConn, Tennessee and Stanford have reigned supreme over women's college basketball for decades as the bluebloods of women's college basketball. But the game and the dominant forces within it are starting to evolve.
Despite sitting top of the Big East, UConn has not won a national championship since 2016, Tennessee is middle of the pack in the SEC and still finding its feet under coach Kim Caldwell, while Stanford is treading water near the bottom of the ACC at 11-12.
Advertisement
On the latest episode of 'The Athletic Women's Basketball Show,' Zena Keita, Chantel Jennings and Ben Pickman looked at the schools that could potentially catch — and even usurp – these storied programs in the years to come.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on 'The Athletic Women's Basketball Show' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Zena: As we think about these three teams; Stanford, Tennessee and UConn, these bluebloods that have dominated women's college basketball for so long. It is true that you can't pencil them in, in the same way you can't guarantee that they're going to get the best class. You can't guarantee that they're going to win the high-profile, big-time matchups that are on the national stages. There are too many other schools that are in that conversation now – South Carolina obviously being one of them. I want to ask both of you: What are your thoughts on how long you have to have sustained excellence to be a part of this blueblood, true blood, kind of conversation. Is it a decade? Is it multiple decades? What do you guys think?
Chantel: I think it depends when you're talking about it because right now you look across the country and you're like, who are these programs? South Carolina is sort of in that class to me right now. They've been to six Final Fours since 2015. They've won three national titles in that time, so they're batting .500 in getting to the Final Four and winning a national title. Not bad. Could they lose in the Elite Eight? Have they shown this isn't the undefeated team of last season? But everything they've shown makes me feel like they have a path to the Final Four again this year and they have a potential path to the national championship. I think there's a lot of teams in that conversation though, more than ever maybe. But I think a few more years of this with South Carolina, they have three national championships to Tennessee's eight and to UConn's 11. But Stanford has three, as many national titles since 2015 as Stanford has in its history. So I think, in this moment, it sort of feels like the tail of South Carolina's history is not as long as Stanford, Tennessee or UConn's. However I think 20 years from now, when we look back at this era and think of blue bloods in terms of what were the programs that were setting the bar, that were defining what it means to be elite in women's basketball? South Carolina is sort of in that group right now for me.
Advertisement
Zena: What about you, Ben?
Ben: Yeah, I agree with that. They are definitely in that group. One of the schools that is really interesting to me in this conversation is Notre Dame. Niele Ivey is still just kind of getting settled in compared to some of the other coaches we've talked about, the Pat Summitts to the Geno Auriemmas. This is only her fifth year as the head coach of Notre Dame. But Notre Dame is really interesting because like under Muffet McGraw, especially over her final decade with the program, they would just make the national final year after year … and obviously winning in 2017-2018. What is so interesting about what's going on now is it seems like if Niele Ivey is going to be the coach not only of the present but of the future. So you're kind of building a lineage with not only one coach. You have Muffet who takes over in the late 1980s and stays all the way until just a couple of years ago. But you might now also have another coach who is the figurehead of a program.
And when we think about these bluebloods, these staple programs in both the men's and the women's side, so often it's because of a coach that has been there for two or three decades. By no means am I saying that Niele Ivey needs to just pencil herself into living in South Bend for the next two or three decades, right? But I think they are a really interesting potential example of a program that could be next. Let them make a Final Four first under Niele Ivey before we pencil them in for the next dynasty of college basketball. But it's rare, especially on the women's side, for us to have these transitions from one coach to the next, or one legacy coach to the next. As we talked about with Tennessee, and as we kind of talked about with Stanford, Notre Dame isn't going through that lull right now. If they can sustain this and make Final Fours and do this for years to come, they are a really different kind of example of how a blueblood emerges because it's not just one coach, it's with two.
You can listen to full episodes of The Athletic Women's Basketball Show for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
(Top Photo: C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Southeast Spotlight: Five committed prospects on flip watch
Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman takes a look at five Southeast commitments that could be at risk to flip their pledges before the end of the year. MORE: Three new FutureCasts in for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators CLASS OF 2026 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State CLASS OF 2027 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State TRANSFER PORTAL: Full coverage | Player ranking | Team ranking | Transfer search | Transfer Tracker RIVALS CAMP SERIES: Rivals Five-Star heading back to Indy | Rivals Five-Star roster | Schedule/info Carter has logged official visits to Georgia and Florida State to open the summer. The touted Rivals250 receiver from the Peach State is a Seminoles legacy and has been back to Tallahassee on a few instances since giving Auburn his commitment. Advertisement North Carolina and Auburn are on deck for Carter. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH AUBURN FANS AT Gibson was one of the first commitments for Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide – committing on Christmas Eve after his junior season and returning to Tuscaloosa on several visits since his declaration. The speedy blue-chip corner is an Ole Miss legacy and returned to Oxford over the weekend for an official. Auburn and Tennessee both are swinging away at Gibson in this one, too. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH ALABAMA FANS AT Harris gave Auburn a commitment last summer during a colossal Big Cat Weekend. Nearly a year later, the Tigers are working to hold onto the in-state Rivals250 edge defender, who has made a string of visits to Tennessee and more recently Florida. Advertisement Alabama is also working hard to keep Harris inside the Yellowhammer State. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH AUBURN FANS AT Keys has logged official visits to Miami and Texas A&M over the past two weekends – with trips back to Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU all on the horizon. The No. 1 WR in the Rivals250 out of Hattiesburg (Miss.) High gave Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers an early commitment this spring. He will make his final official visit to Baton Rouge on June 20 before finalizing his college plans. Miami remains in pursuit of Keys, along with Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH LSU FANS AT Tennessee landed a commitment from Sneed nearly a year ago, and the Vols have been working to hold onto the Rivals250 pass-catcher since. Sneed has made visits around the country this offseason with Ole Miss and Florida making it a tight race with Tennessee at the top of this recruitment. Advertisement Ole Miss made a big move during its official visit on May 30 weekend and Florida gets Sneed back to The Swamp on June 13. The Vols have the last crack at Sneed before he finalizes his plans. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH TENNESSEE FANS AT


USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Tennessee baseball year-by-year home run totals under Tony Vitello
Tennessee baseball year-by-year home run totals under Tony Vitello Tennessee (46-19, 16-14 SEC) ended its 2025 baseball season with a fifth consecutive appearance in a NCAA Tournament super regional. The Vols also appeared in its sixth consecutive regional under eighth-year head coach Tony Vitello. Tennessee finished the 2025 season with 131 home runs to its opponent's 69 home runs. The Vols also hit 45 home runs in regular-season SEC competition, three more than their opponents (42). Andrew Fischer led Tennessee in home runs with 25. Gavin Kilen (15), Dalton Bargo (14), Dean Curley (14), Reese Chapman (13), Cannon Peebles (11), Levi Clark (10) and Hunter Ensley (10) hit 10-plus home runs in 2025. Stone Lawless (5), Chris Newstrom (5), Blake Grimmer (4), Manny Marin (3), Jay Abernathy (1) and Hunter High (1) also recorded home runs in 2025 for the Vols. Tennessee hit 184 home runs during its 2024 national championship season. Below are Tennessee's home run totals each season under Vitello. PHOTOS: Tony Vitello through the years Tennessee baseball year-by-year home run totals under Tony Vitello Year Home runs 2025 131 (45 SEC) 2024 184 (72 SEC) 2023 126 (50 SEC) 2022 158 (74 SEC) 2021 98 (45 SEC) 2020 31 (SEC games canceled) 2019 53 (19 SEC) 2018 42 (20 SEC) *Home runs in SEC regular-season games are in parenthesis (SEC games in 2020 were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic More: Inside Andrew Fischer's historic on-base streak at Tennessee in 2025 Tennessee baseball individual home run leaders each season under Tony Vitello Year Player 2025 Andrew Fischer (25) 2024 Christian Moore (34) 2023 Griffin Merritt (18) 2022 Trey Lipscomb (22) 2021 Jordan Beck, Luc Lipcius (15) 2020 Alerick Soularie (5) 2019 Andre Lipcius (17) 2018 Andre Lipcius, Benito Santiago (7) Tennessee baseball individual home run leaders in SEC games each season under Tony Vitello Year Player 2025 Andrew Fischer (11) 2024 Christian Moore (20) 2023 Zane Denton, Griffin Merritt (9) 2022 Luc Lipcius (13) 2021 Evan Russell (10) 2020 SEC games canceled 2019 Andre Lipcius (6) 2018 Brodie Leftridge, Andre Lipcius (4) Follow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Can women's basketball teams catch up to UConn or South Carolina in a changing era?
For decades, women's basketball was dominated almost exclusively by UConn and Tennessee, and then, for many years, only UConn's dynasty thrived. In recent years, other contenders have emerged periodically, but none have challenged the crown quite as well as South Carolina. Advertisement Until this past season, the Gamecocks and Dawn Staley had arguably taken the mantle from the Huskies and Geno Auriemma. Then, UConn returned to the top of the ladder and cut down the nets for the 12th time in program history, keeping this rivalry and battle for the top of the sport in flux. Slice it anyway, though, and it's obvious: No. 1 might be up for grabs, but it's these two heavyweights that everyone is chasing. NIL, the transfer portal and the recent House v. NCAA settlement, which established revenue sharing in college sports, have upended the landscape. However, due to their rich traditions and coaching acumen, UConn and South Carolina have remained mostly unscathed by the upheaval — and even benefited from it. The Gamecocks and Huskies signed two of the most highly pursued portal players, as Ta'Niya Latson, the nation's leading scorer, left Florida State for South Carolina, and Serah Williams, arguably the best big in the portal, left Wisconsin to choose UConn. This leaves every other coach in the nation strategizing and wondering what it will take to truly and consistently usurp perennial powerhouses UConn and South Carolina on the recruiting trail, the hardwood, or in March. Like much of the rest of big-money NCAA sports, women's basketball coaches are no longer prioritizing only building four-year players but winning with transfers who can be lured with lucrative NIL promises. Advertisement As complicated as the modern era of college athletics has become — a record 1,450 Division I players entered the transfer portal after last season — coaches understand they must work within the confines of this new system, which involves the portal acting as a faster on-ramp for roster building. NIL and revenue share are becoming additional incentives for players to consider other programs if they want to succeed. Fourteen power conference coaches interviewed by said they've completely altered how they build rosters, recruit and develop talent. 'Coaches are questioning, obviously: Is it even worth it to be in this business? What are we doing? What are we doing if we can't build a program and you're starting from scratch every year to build a team without any rules around it?' one power conference coach said. 'What are we doing? And why are we doing it?' 'I have to change. I have to pivot and plan for 50 percent attrition,' another power conference coach added. 'Time will tell if you can build a program (in this era). If I can't build a program, I'm not going to be doing it very long.' Advertisement Playing time, star roles and scholarships are no longer enough for coaches to retain players. Notable star players like Latson, Olivia Miles (Notre Dame to TCU) and Cotie McMahon (Ohio State to Ole Miss) switched programs. They were among roughly 300 power conference players who transferred this offseason — an average of about four players per power conference team. More than 20 percent of the transfer pool had already changed schools at least once. Among the 40 returning starters off Sweet 16 rosters, 10 transferred. Many coaches said this season's top portal players signed deals of upward of $700,000, and some unheralded underclassmen, due to their longer eligibility, were seeking deals of $ 300,000 or more. By comparison, the WNBA supermax this season is less than $250,000, with only four players receiving it. Meanwhile, less than a quarter of the league makes $200,000 or more. Yet, at the college level with limited post players in the portal, many coaches said programs needed to offer a premium of that kind to sign even a marginal big. Advertisement 'If you were a post player in the portal a month ago and you averaged three points a game at the Power 4, most of them were asking for $200,000 plus,' one power conference coach said. 'And you're like, 'You averaged 2.5 points per game.' ' Even highly successful programs are learning they might need to reset expectations after every season, given the uncertainty of attrition and what those defections mean for their own needs from the portal. Look no further than UCLA. The Bruins appeared in their first Final Four of the modern era and, in a previous era of the sport, would have been considered a prime contender in the 2025-26 season due to the experience returning players gained. Yet, after the Bruins' successful run, the entire freshman class, as well as Londynn Jones, a 31-game starter, and Janiah Barker, the Big Ten's Sixth Player of the Year, decided to transfer. It means UCLA coach Cori Close will be starting essentially from scratch after this core's graduation, rather than steadily building a program, with backups becoming role players and then starters, that is capable of taking down UConn or South Carolina in the Final Four. Advertisement Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 during the season, and despite a late collapse, seemed poised for a strong upcoming season. But after the Irish lost Miles to TCU, freshman key contributor Kate Koval to LSU and two other players, they dropped out of 's post-transfer top 25. USC seemingly has prime minutes up for grabs after losing star JuJu Watkins to an ACL tear. Still, Kayleigh Heckle and Avery Howell, two freshmen who figured to be centerpieces next season, entered the transfer portal. 'You had to think about sitting out a year, you had to think about the perception,' one power conference coach said about previous transfer implications. 'Now it's just normalized. If you lost two or three kids in a year, it used to be like, 'Oh my gosh, what's wrong at that school?' And that's just not the notion anymore.' Some coaches likened the roster turnover to coaching at the junior college level. 'If I can keep the kid for two years,' one said, 'I feel like I've won the lottery.' Advertisement Although most coaches are frustrated with the lack of oversight and guardrails in place from the NCAA over the past few seasons, they understand that it's also a shifting reality for them. In this era of limited regulation and hazy guidance, coaches and universities that are quick to adapt have had the upper hand, whether that means getting their collectives more involved (generally seen as acceptable among all coaches) or tampering with athletes (seen as illegal, but not currently regulated as such). Now, with the settlement finalized over the weekend, actual regulation is taking effect. As of last Saturday, college athletes were required to report NIL deals worth more than $600 to the newly established College Sports Commission for approval. On July 1, universities can begin making revenue share payments to athletes. The impact of these regulations on athletes' deals is currently unknown. Still, the NCAA has been clear that the NIL-specific regulation is intended to protect athletes from false deals, not to hinder their earning power. However, because the settlement had been pushed back — a decision was expected two months ago — universities and collectives were able to front-load deals, which created an arms race across conferences, which drove up the total 'cost' of rosters. Advertisement asked 12 coaches what they expect it would cost, between revenue share and NIL, to build a roster that could contend for their respective conference title. Multiple Big Ten and SEC coaches estimated the cost between $2.5 million and $3.5 million. Multiple ACC and Big 12 coaches said that building a championship roster costs between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. Most of those numbers exceed even the WNBA's team salary cap of just under $1.51 million. However, this number is a moving target. With impending legislation, coaches are uncertain about how it may change in the coming seasons, particularly with the establishment of revenue sharing and the creation of the College Sports Commission. Coaches said that while the leverage has shifted almost entirely to players, there are no safeguards in place for the programs or the collectives that act on their behalf. This movement leaves many coaches working on a year-to-year basis, unsure of what their rosters will look like or how much money they will have to fill potential holes. 'In true professional sports, I know I have this player under contract for four years and I can prepare for that player to go into free agency, or I know I have $200,000 coming off the books ahead of next year. Here, it's free agency every single year, and the tampering is out of control,' one coach said. 'So, please tell me how I do this. Tell me how to manage a roster when we don't know the rules.' Advertisement Regulation around NIL, collectives and revenue share could provide some stability, but even so, coaches expect both tampering and transfer numbers to remain high every season. From the 2020 high school recruiting class, 17 of the top 25 (and seven of the top 10) players transferred before the end of their college careers, including Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Hailey Van Lith. In the 2021 class, 13 of the top 25 players transferred, and 18 of the top 25 players in the 2022 class, now rising seniors, transferred. This attrition has had a ripple effect on how college coaches prioritize high school recruiting. Many staff chose not to send multiple (or any) coaches on the road this offseason for the first high school recruiting evaluation period, valuing hosting immediate impact players over seeing talent who wouldn't be on campus for a few years. That signals a significant shift in the overall recruiting philosophy. Five years ago, the lifeblood of almost every program was high school recruiting. Now, the portal offers another option. Multiple coaches said that their focus on high school recruits has decreased from 95-100 percent of their recruiting efforts to somewhere between 50-70 percent. Nearly 80 power conference freshmen transferred this offseason, so coaches also realize that bringing in a freshman doesn't necessarily mean stability. Advertisement As coaches prepare for summer workouts before the 2025-26 season and make plans to attend high school recruiting events, they recognize that their priorities might look different a year from now. Regulations from the House settlement could remove some of the challenges of the past few seasons. Still, coaches will have to navigate a landscape that once seemed unimaginable in college sports. However, one challenge remains the same: UConn and South Carolina are the hunted. 'The job is just different now,' one coach said. 'You just have to make up your mind if you want to deal with the other stuff.' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. South Carolina Gamecocks, Connecticut Huskies, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball 2025 The Athletic Media Company