This is a tough weekend for many sports fans, as it is the first weekend without pro or college football since last summer. And while there is still one football game left next Sunday — just a small little one, you probably haven’t heard of — this Sunday’s schedule might look a little bit empty. But don’t fear, there is no need to go outside or spend quality time with friends and family, because there’s enough phenomenal women’s college basketball on tap to keep you firmly planted on the couch. In fact, it is such a phenomenal lineup I’m dubbing it “Super Sunday.”
We’ve got three historic rivalry games on tap, including the legendary UConn vs. Tennessee game and two regional showdowns between Michigan and Michigan State and Oklahoma and Texas. We’ve also got battles for supremacy in the Big Ten and Big 12.
Takeaways: After USC loss, Iowa looks to Hannah Stuelke as its X factor heading into Big Ten showdown vs. UCLA
Isabel Gonzalez
It might not be March yet, but Sunday is the first day of February, and it looks like the madness is ready to begin a month early. Keep reading for the must-watch games and most pressing questions heading into these marquee matchups.
The must-watch games
Twenty of the top 25 teams are playing on Sunday and there are a staggering seven games between ranked teams. While you can check out the full women’s college hoops schedule on Sunday here, and there are plenty of great match-ups involving teams outside the top 25, these seven are must-watch games, so get multiple screens ready.
- No. 1 UConn vs. No. 15 Tennessee; 12 pm ET; FOX
- No. 24 Alabama vs. No 6 LSU; 12 pm; SEC Network
- No. 9 Michigan vs. No. 13 Michigan State; 12 pm; FS1
- No. 14 Baylor vs. No. 22 West Virginia; 1 pm; ESPN
- No. 12 TCU vs. No. 21 Texas Tech; 2 pm; FS1
- No. 10 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Texas; 3 pm; ABC
- No. 8 Iowa vs. No. 2 UCLA; 4 pm; FOX
The burning questions
1. Will Tennessee spoil UConn’s perfect season?
The No. 1 UConn Huskies are the lone undefeated team in women’s college basketball right now, and given they have the best player in the country in Sarah Strong and the Big East only has two other teams ranked in the top 50 in NET rankings — Villanova at 38 and Seton Hall at 48 — it is unlikely they get tested at all in conference play.
That means their biggest hurdle before the NCAA tournament will come from their final nonconference game against No. 15 Tennessee on Sunday. The Lady Vols are 14-4 on the season and an impressive 6-1 in SEC play. Kim Caldwell’s team is much faster and more physical than any team in the Big East, and their defense has been potent in the last month — they’ve held SEC opponents below 60 points in four of the last six games. Plus, Tennessee actually beat UConn last year, 80-76. But while that game was in Knoxville, this one is in Hartford, and the Huskies have reached a new level since then — their last loss was actually before their current 38-game winning streak.
This is, of course, a historic rivalry in women’s basketball, dating back to the days when the late Pat Summitt and Auriemma battled yearly for supremacy and took the sport to new heights. While UConn is the heavy favorite in this one, it’s worth tuning in to see how they handle a team of Tennessee’s ilk.
2. Can Texas keep pace with the contenders?
Out of all the great games this Sunday, our Isabel Gonzalez picked this one as her must-watch of the weekend, and it is not hard to see why. No. 10 Oklahoma has the front-runner for freshman of the year, Aaliyah Chavez, and No. 4 Texas has one of the best players in the nation, Madison Booker, and is a team with national championship hopes.
The Sooners have been ranked as high as No. 5 this season before hitting a rough stretch in mid-January, dropping three straight games to then-No. 18 Ole Miss, then-No. 6 Kentucky and then-No. 6 LSU. But Oklahoma turned around the skid in emphatic fashion, upsetting then-No. 2 South Carolina last Thursday, and has notched two more wins since. An upset over Texas would go a long way toward securing Oklahoma a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But, in my opinion, Texas faces the most pressure in this game. Every team in the SEC will take its lumps, but since the Longhorns lost back-to-back games to then-No. 6 LSU and then-No. 3 Texas, legitimate questions have emerged about whether this team has enough offensive firepower and ball security to make it back to the Final Four. A loss to Oklahoma would only exacerbate those concerns and put Vic Schaefer’s team in rocky waters at the beginning of a string of five straight games in 15 days against ranked opponents — after Sunday, Texas faces No. 6 LSU, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 15 Tennessee.
All season, last year’s Final Four teams of UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas have held onto the top four spots in the rankings and have been the favorites to make it to Phoenix. But a loss to Oklahoma would put Texas in danger of losing a No. 1 seed and falling back in the pack.
3. Is UCLA ready to take full control of the Big Ten?
So, this was supposed to be a battle of the undefeated teams in conference play, but No. 8 Iowa stumbled before it got to the finish line when it laid an egg against a feisty USC team on Thursday night. Still, these are the top two teams in the Big Ten and Sunday’s game at Pauley Pavilion should be electric. Will Hannah Stuelke be the X factor Iowa needs to get the upset and make the Big Ten a true competition? Or will Gabriela Jaquez’s shooting and leadership help No. 2 UCLA distance itself from the rest of the Big Ten? It should be fun to find out.
4. Are any of the top Big 12 teams elite?
I’ll be honest: I did not think the Big 12 would be so entertaining this season, but it has certainly made me look foolish for my low expectations. I thought No. 12 TCU would run away with it, and figured if anyone challenged the Horned Frogs, it would be Iowa State. However, as I covered in my article on the biggest disappointments of the season, the Cyclones stumbled out of the gate in Big 12 play and while TCU still sits atop the standings, it has looked far from unstoppable.
Right now, the top four teams in the standings are TCU (20-2 overall; 8-1 conference), No. 14 Baylor (19-3, 8-1), No. 21 Texas Tech (20-3, 7-3) and No. 22 West Virginia (17-5, 7-3). On Sunday, we will see these four teams face each other. Can Texas Tech get its season back on track and upset TCU? Will Baylor be able to keep pace with TCU — or even take over the top spot, depending on what TCU does — by staving off a gritty West Virginia squad? I’m hoping Sunday provides some clarity amidst the chaos and shows whether TCU and Baylor are ready to establish themselves firmly as the top dogs of the conference or if West Virginia and Texas Tech are going to fight to stay in the mix.
5. Who is the top team in Michigan?
Michigan vs. Michigan State is a historic rivalry, but the women’s basketball version has never held much significance outside of the state. But this year, the entire country should be tuned in. No. 9 Michigan is ranked in the top 10 for the 10th straight week, the longest streak in program history, and No. 13 Michigan State is at its highest ranking since 2010. It is the first time in the rivalry’s history that both teams have been ranked in the top 15, and the second time they’ve both been ranked in the top 25, with the first occurring just one year ago.
The two teams sit third and fourth in the ultra-competitive Big Ten, just behind UCLA and Iowa, so this game won’t just be for in-state pride; it will have a real impact on conference standings and on earning a top-16 seed come March. They’ll play twice in the next couple of weeks, with this one taking place in East Lansing.
While there are plenty of talented players in this one, I’ll be keeping an eye on the versatile star sophomore guards on each team – Kenendy Blair for the Spartans and Syla Swords and Olivia Olson for the Wolverines.
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