Most Recent
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — UConn, the most dominant program in the history of women's college basketball, is showing some signs of vulnerability.
The 10th-ranked Huskies are just 7-3 this season and have had some of their more impressive winning streaks come to an end.
The NCAA women's basketball tournament is expanding to 68 teams beginning with the current season, giving it an equal number of participants as the men's tournament as part of a concerted effort at gender parity.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Just like old times. Dunk City was rocking. Fans were packed into every seat.
And Andy Enfield walked out happy — although this time, he did so from the visiting side of the court.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Francesca Belibi scored 12 points, Lexie Hull added 11 points and defending NCAA champion Stanford beat Morgan State 91-36 on Thursday in its season opener.
Cameron Brink had 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the third-ranked Cardinal.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Defending NCAA champion Stanford has depth, versatility and still plenty of things Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer wants her team to do better as the games get tougher.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Chris Beard is doing everything he can to pump new energy into Texas basketball.
He rebuilt the lineup with all-star transfer talent. He promised a campus party if the students packed their section in the stands for the season opener.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Will Richardson scored 20 points and No. 13 Oregon opened the season with an 83-66 victory over Texas Southern on Tuesday.
De'Vion Harmon added 15 points and Jacob Young had 14 for the Ducks, who led by as many as 23 points in the second half.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks sure looked ready for their marquee season-opening matchup of Final Four contenders. They got off to a quick start, played with composure to protect the lead and never let fifth-ranked North Carolina State look comfortable.
Talk about buildup for a season.
College basketball had March Madness wiped out and no national champion because of the pandemic in 2020. Last season was mostly played without fans and the NCAA Tournament was in an Indianapolis bubble
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was so disgusted by the last round of conference realignment — when Missouri and Texas A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC — that he vowed never to play the Tigers again.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Shaka Smart’s ability to get the most from an overhauled roster in his debut season at Marquette could depend on how well his players understand an entirely different game.
The NCAA on Wednesday denied an appeal by Oklahoma State in an infractions case, meaning the Cowboys will be banned from the postseason next spring — a decision that prompted a tearful coach Mike Boynton to declare there is no point in cooperating with the the organization.
Longtime Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair announced Thursday that this season will be his last with the Aggies, with the 76-year-old set to retire at season’s end.
Blair has been at Texas A&M since 2003, leading the Aggies to a national championship in 2011.
Villanova’s Collin Gillespie is ready to make the most of his second chance at a senior season.
Gillespie was the co-Big East player of the year last season but tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during a victory over Creighton that enabled Villanova to clinch the Big East regular-season championship.
No. 4 Maryland is expected to be the Big Ten's best women's basketball team this season, returning all five starters from the nation's highest-scoring team that won the conference championship.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Pac-12 won't catch anyone by surprise anymore. Not with the way conference teams shined on the national stage yet again.
Coaches and players throughout the Pac-12 knew well before last spring's NCAA Tournament that they had one of the most talented conferences in the country.
Dawn Staley already knows she is facing outsized expectations with what South Carolina's women's basketball program has accomplished.
They come from players, fans and even the university president.
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — UConn fans are getting a little antsy. After all, the Huskies haven't won a women's national championship since 2016.
Connecticut comes into this season ranked No. 2, having added the nation's top recruit, guard Azzi Fudd, to a team that returns last year's collegiate national player of the year Paige Bueckers, along with every other starter that went to the program's 13th straight Final Four.
Drew Timme could have left for the NBA after leading Gonzaga into last season's national title game. He likely would have been drafted and gone on to have a solid career.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — After back-to-back losing seasons, Kansas State coach Bruce Weber knew he needed to make some changes this year, so he brought in a couple of former Marines to put the Wildcats through their paces before fall practice began.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia's Bob Huggins enters his 40th season as a head coach with 900 career wins and a new two-year contract extension.
This season figures to be a challenge after five of the Mountaineers' top eight scorers departed and it takes time for seven newcomers to adjust to Huggins' system.
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Dan Hurley needed three seasons as UConn's coach to get the Huskies back into the NCAA Tournament after a five-year absence.
In his fourth year, his team expects to take a bigger step — contending for a Big East title and possibly the program's fifth national championship — even if those expectations might raise some eyebrows outside of Storrs.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The answer for most of the Colorado Buffaloes’ needs for the past four seasons has consistently been the same — McKinley Wright IV.
Need a big bucket or defensive stop? Count on Wright.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Tommy Lloyd spent 20 seasons working under Mark Few, helping turn Gonzaga into one of the nation's best programs.
Lloyd's task in his first season as a head coach will be to return Arizona to a place among the nation's elite.
It took some prompting but Washington State coach Kyle Smith finally acknowledged that being picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 was a disappointment.
After all, the Cougars figure to be improved from the team that surprised doubters by finishing 14-13 last year, the program's first winning season in nine years.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Baylor's sideline will look different this season, but the Lady Bears expect similar results after they were picked as the preseason No. 1 team in the Big 12.
Coach Kim Mulkey stepped down after last season to take the job at LSU.
Oregon hopes it can incorporate its newcomers quickly in a tough conference that exceeded expectations.
The No. 13 Ducks, who have won back-to-back Pac-12 regular season titles, were hampered last season by injuries, forcing the team to play smaller than planned.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has scratched every box in filling the roster for his seventh season.
He has experience with John Fulkerson back as a graduate along with senior Victor Bailey Jr. Josiah Jordan-James, a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school, now is a junior with a knack for filling up a stat sheet.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Utes aren’t just entering this season with a new head coach and several new players.
They are also embracing a new basketball philosophy that traces back to the program’s roots as the Runnin' Utes.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evan Mobley fueled Southern California’s first Elite Eight appearance in 20 years. He’s off to the NBA, leaving brother Isaiah Mobley with his own chance to propel the Trojans on another March run.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Maryland coach Mark Turgeon has a roster that in many ways reflects the new normal in college basketball.
His leader in minutes last season left early for the NBA. Another starter departed as a transfer.
Kevin Keatts has had North Carolina State routinely pushing for 20-win seasons in his first four years, though he has just one NCAA Tournament berth – partly through bad luck – to show for it.
The plan is to make those trips a more consistent outcome, starting with this year’s team that has Keatts excited about its versatility.
BOSTON (AP) — Coming to a program that’s had one winning season in its last 10, Boston College coach Earl Grant knows it’s likely going to be a tough first year on the job.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The new season can't start soon enough for the No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes, who were left frustrated after an unexpected early exit from last spring's NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes were on a roll and came in as the South Region's No.
Purdue coach Matt Painter understands how the lessons from a surprisingly short NCAA Tournament appearance can impact a team.
He watched Virginia use the motivation to fuel its 2019 national championship run, and five years ago Painter's own team rebounded from a first-round exit to win the Big Ten regular-season title.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Chris Collins had Northwestern humming along just a few years ago, coaching the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Just when it looked like it was all falling into place, things came crumbling down.
For all the excitment at Illinois this year, from earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament to the Illini's second-round loss to Loyola-Chicago, the biggest decision for the immediate future came in the heat of midsummer when Kofi Cockburn announced he was coming back for his junior season.
The Pac-12 had been an afterthought in the NCAA Tournament in recent years, the number of teams getting in dwindling, the deep runs into the bracket rare.
The conference took a big turn last season with three teams reaching the Elite Eight and UCLA playing in the Final Four, changing national perceptions while boosting confidence around the league.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner is still savoring his program's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship even as he excitedly looks ahead to no longer playing games in empty arenas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The reigning NCAA champion Stanford women's basketball team was picked to win the Pac-12 regular-season title in a preseason poll of conference coaches.
Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer's team captured the NCAA title last spring for the first time since 1992 and third in program history, topping fellow Pac-12 opponent Arizona in the championship game by a single point, 54-53.
Clemson men's basketball coach Brad Brownell has recieved a two-year contract extension that will tie him to the Tigers through the 2025-26 season.
Brownell is the program's all-time victories leader with a 201-149 record over 11 seasons.
The NCAA is exploring holding a joint Final Four with the men and women's basketball tournaments holding their semifinals and title games in the same city on the same weekend, though it would not happen until at least 2027 with sites already locked in through 2026.
The NCAA women's basketball tournament will start using “March Madness” in marketing and branding beginning this season.
Using the phrase, which has been associated with the men's tournament for years, was one of the recommendations stemming from an external review of gender equity issues of the tournaments.
ATLANTA (AP) — The NCAA placed Georgia Tech's women's basketball program on probation for three years Tuesday, citing violations committed under former coach MaChelle Joseph that included players being forced to practice longer than the rules allow and on scheduled off days.
Eight years ago, in a report the NCAA asked Big East commissioner Val Ackerman to write, she recommended the men's and women's Final Fours be played at the same venue on the same weekend.
She also suggested the women's basketball tournament have its own television contract, not one combined with other sports as is currently the case, and that the NCAA streamline its governance structure, among other things.



