In ladies’s faculty basketball, Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies at the moment are, unquestionably, the best and most iconic program within the sport. UConn has captured 12 nationwide titles unfold throughout 4 a long time of excellence, produced numerous superior gamers and went to 14 consecutive Remaining Fours between 2008 and 2022.
However what in regards to the different terrific and tremendous profitable applications within the sport, just like the Notre Dames and Tennessees and Stanfords? Who else belongs within the group of Blue Bloods in ladies’s faculty basketball?
What does and doesn’t outline a Blue Blood is totally arbitrary and up for debate. In males’s basketball, some suppose Indiana nonetheless belongs regardless that the Hoosiers haven’t received a nationwide title since 1987 and have missed six of the final eight NCAA Tournaments. In the meantime, some nonetheless overlook UConn’s males’s workforce regardless that it has received six titles since 1999. Blue Blood standing might be much more tough to decipher in faculty soccer, however you understand it once you see it: Alabama and Ohio State are completely a part of that group, however what in regards to the Combating Irish, who haven’t received a nationwide championship since earlier than the daybreak of the BCS? Ought to Clemson be in that group?
We’ll save these arguments for an additional day. That is all about ladies’s faculty basketball.
Right here’s my extremely unscientific standards for Blue Bloods in ladies’s hoops:
- At the very least one NCAA nationwide championship. Apologies to Duke, Iowa, N.C. State, Inexperienced Bay and Louisville.
- High 30 program in all-time win share (the most recent NCAA report ebook is up to date via the 2023-24 season). South Carolina simply made the reduce right here — these pre-Daybreak Staley years have been tough at instances. Not making the reduce are former nationwide champions Texas Tech, Purdue and Texas A&M.
- Success within the trendy period. We’ll outline this a couple of methods:
- If a workforce has missed 5 consecutive NCAA Tournaments (clearly excluding 2020) throughout the final 15 years, they aren’t a Blue Blood. Farewell multiple-time nationwide champs Previous Dominion, Louisiana Tech and USC.
- Within the final 15 years, if a workforce went 5 consecutive seasons with out ending a yr ranked within the AP High 25 Ballot, they aren’t a Blue Blood. Sorry, North Carolina, LSU and Texas.
- To retain Blue Blood standing, a workforce has to have been to a number of Remaining Fours throughout the previous 15 years or received at the least one in every of its nationwide titles throughout the previous 20 years. You’re protected for now, Tennessee and Maryland, however the clock is ticking.
With that standards in thoughts, we have now seven applications who at the moment have Blue Blood standing in ladies’s faculty basketball. For the applications overlooked, there’s a manner again to say that standing, identical to there are methods that a few of these groups can fall out. If the Trojans, Tar Heels, Tigers or Longhorns win a second nationwide title someday quickly, they’re again within the combine. The street again to relevancy is longer for the likes of Previous Dominion and Louisiana Tech, however we should always fondly look again at their dominance within the Eighties and Nineties, and keep in mind them as the primary Blue Bloods of the game.
Right here’s a better have a look at our ladies’s faculty basketball Blue Blood membership, listed alphabetically:
- Program win share: .675 (twentieth)
- Nationwide titles: 3 (2005, 2012, 2019)
- Remaining Fours: 4 (2005, 2010, 2012, 2019)
Kim Mulkey turned Baylor right into a powerhouse, lacking the NCAA Match simply as soon as in 21 seasons in Waco. Since she left for LSU, Nicki Collen has saved issues rolling, going 102-36 — a .739 successful share — in her 4 seasons main the Girl Bears. This system has produced three winners of the Wade Trophy prior to now 15 years, from Brittney Griner to Odyssey Sims to NaLyssa Smith. They proceed to be a contender in a new-look Massive 12.
- Program win share: .708 (tenth)
- Nationwide titles: 1 (2006)
- Remaining Fours: 5 (1982, 1989, 2006, 2014, 2015)
It’s been some time since Maryland has competed for a nationwide championship, and it’s the one program right here with only a single title, however few applications have been extra constant than Brenda Frese’s Terps since she took the reins in School Park in 2002. Since lacking the NCAA Match in 2010, Maryland hasn’t had a shedding report in convention play, has been to each March Insanity since, has completed the season ranked contained in the AP prime 10 seven instances, and has captured seven Massive Ten match crowns. The Terps proceed to be one of many sport’s constantly nice applications — a typical set by former coach Chris Weller when she was piling up ACC Match trophies a long time in the past.
- Program win share: .742 (fifth)
- Nationwide titles: 2 (2001, 2018)
- Remaining Fours: 9 (1997, 2001, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019)
Like Baylor underneath Mulkey, Notre Dame turned a nationwide energy in ladies’s basketball in the course of the 2000s and 2010s underneath the steerage of Muffet McGraw. Between 1996 and 2019, an NCAA Match wasn’t performed with out the Combating Irish, a program that has produced iconic gamers and nationwide award winners like Ruth Riley, Skylar Diggins and Arike Ogunbowale. Since ending runner-up to Baylor in 2019, the Irish haven’t superior previous the Candy 16. It’s as much as Niele Ivey to uphold McGraw’s commonplace now.
- Program win share: .656 (thirtieth)
- Nationwide titles: 3 (2017, 2022, 2024)
- Remaining Fours: 7 (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
One might simply make the case that no program has been as profitable as South Carolina within the final decade. Along with seven Remaining 4 journeys and three titles, the Gamecocks went 167-9 from 2020 via 2024, notching one of the best win share within the nation over that stretch. South Carolina was an afterthought in ladies’s basketball for a few years, after which Daybreak Staley arrived in 2008 and proceeded to remodel the Gamecocks into one of many sport’s Loss of life Stars with all-time superior gamers like A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso.
- Program win share: .776 (third)
- Nationwide titles: 3 (1990, 1992, 2021)
- Remaining Fours: 15 (1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2022)
No NCAA Match was performed with out Stanford in it from 1988 via 2024. That streak, which dated again to the Reagan Administration, ended this previous season — Kate Paye’s first yr on the job after taking up for the legendary Tara VanDerveer. As Stanford and the game enter a brand new period, the place the Cardinal are within the ACC and coping with the Home Settlement and switch portal, its long-term standing as a Blue Blood appears to be fragile. Can the Cardinal proceed to win at a excessive degree and compete for nationwide championships on this new period? We’ll see.
- Program win share: .793 (2nd)
- Nationwide titles: 8 (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008)
- Remaining Fours: 18 (1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008)
Whereas eight nationwide championships and 18 Remaining Fours are extremely spectacular, all of these heights have been reached by the Girl Vols when the late Pat Summitt was the top coach. Since her retirement, Tennessee has struggled to place itself in place to compete for nationwide championships. With the rise of South Carolina and LSU, the SEC is quite a bit more durable now too. Issues seemed promising this previous season underneath first-year head coach Kim Caldwell, because the Girl Vols embraced her fashion of play, beat rival UConn and superior to the Candy 16. Tennessee being a constant nationwide contender once more can be factor for the game.
- Program win share: .801 (1st)
- Nationwide titles: 12 (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2025)
- Remaining Fours: 24 (1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025)
Loads of people have been able to signal UConn’s demise certificates after it went — *gasp!* — eight years with out successful a nationwide title as parity within the sport elevated following Breanna Stewart’s dominant run with the Huskies. However Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Robust put the Huskies again on prime this previous spring in Tampa, powering UConn to its twelfth championship underneath Geno Auriemma. Not like a few of its previous contemporaries and rivals from the Nineties and 2000s, we all know that UConn is supplied to compete for extra championships on this new period of ladies’s faculty basketball. Although Auriemma is 71, the Huskies present no indicators of slowing down.