On the very first day of the 2023-24 season, we saw two top 10 teams get upset. That same week we would see two more top 10 upsets, along with two top 25 upsets. What is going on in women’s college basketball right now? I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I do know is that some of those aforementioned upsets were more unexpected than others, so I’m going to rank the top five most surprising upsets so far this season.
Honorable Mention Near Upset- No. 13 Florida State vs unranked Florida- With a final score of 79-75, the Florida State Seminoles barely pulled out a win against the unranked Florida Gators. Florida State sophomore guard Ta’Niya Latson led the Seminoles in scoring with 35 points to help them win, while center Ra Shaya Kyle and guard Leilani Correa both led the Gators in scoring with 16 points each in their fight toward a near upset of Florida State. This upset would almost certainly have led to Florida State dropping out of the top 20, and possibly the top 25 in the AP polls.
Honorable Mention Near Upset- No. 16 UNC vs unranked Davidson- On November 12 we saw an unranked Davidson team nearly upset No. 16 UNC with a final score of 74-70. The most impressive part of this is that Davidson nearly pulled off the upset at UNC’s home court. For UNC, guard Deja Kelly led the Tar Heels in scoring with 18 points, while guard Charlise Dunn led Davidson in scoring with 21 points. A Davidson win would have most likely resulted in UNC dropping out of the top 25.
Honorable Mention Near Upset- No. 4 Stanford vs unranked Duke- After taking Stanford to overtime, Duke would end up succumbing to the Cardinal with a final score of 82-79. At the beginning of this game it looked like Stanford would take an easy win, but the Blue Devils, led by the fantastic shooting of guard Ashlon Jackson who would finish with 22 points, would close the gap to take the game to overtime. In the end, Stanford’s bigs would prove to be too much as forwards Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen would drop 29 and 27 points respectively. A Stanford loss would have probably resulted in them dropping out of the top seven, and possibly the top 10.
5) No. 4 Utah upset by No. 21 Baylor- After only losing by three points to the eventual champions LSU in last year’s Sweet 16, the Utah Utes came into this season ranked No. 4 in the AP preseason polls. On the other hand, Baylor had a less than lackluster playoff performance last year, as they would fall in the second round to a UConn team without Paige Bueckers. Nevertheless, they would come into the season ranked No. 19 in the AP polls, only to drop two places to No. 21 in the second week. Their match up against Utah was supposed to be a tough game, but Utah was predicted to come out on top. However, this would not end up being the case, as Baylor would pull out an 84-77 win with their leading scorer of the game Sarah Andrews scoring 18 points. For the Utes, Alissa Pili would lead all scorers with 22 points, but it wouldn’t be enough to get them the victory. Following this game, the Utes fell six spots to No. 10 in the polls, while Baylor would climb seven spots to No. 14.
4) No. 7 Ohio State upset by No. 21 USC- Ohio State came into this season ranked No. 7 in the AP polls after a playoff performance in which they would make it to the Elite Eight. On the other hand, USC would come into the season ranked No. 21 in the polls, which was generous after they were knocked out in the first round of last year’s playoffs by 9-seed San Diego State. The addition of the No. 1 overall freshmen JuJu Watkins is definitely what got USC that No. 21 spot, and it is also what got them the win over Ohio State. Watkins would drop 32 points in her college debut to help the Trojans complete the 83-74 upset over the Buckeyes. For Ohio State, star player Jacy Sheldon would put up 28 points in the loss. Following this game, Ohio State would fall six spots to No. 13, while USC would climb a whopping 11 spots to reach No. 10 in the AP polls.
3) No. 2 UConn upset by unranked NC State- UConn came into this season ranked No. 2 in the AP polls, which was entirely too generous for a team that we haven’t seen fully healthy in over a year, and a team that got knocked out in the Sweet 16 in last year’s playoffs. On the flip side, NC State came into this season unranked after they got upset in the first round of last year’s playoffs by Princeton. But this year they would be the ones doing the upsetting as they would beat a fully healthy UConn team by a score of 92-81. Guard Saniya Rivers would put on a show with a 33 point, 10 rebound double-double, while Paige Bueckers would look like her old self and put up 27 points in a losing effort. Following the loss, UConn would fall six spots to No. 8, while NC State would go from unranked to No. 14 in the polls.
2) No. 2 Iowa upset by unranked Kansas State- After upsetting South Carolina and losing to eventual champions LSU in the NCAA finals, Iowa came into this season ranked No. 3 in the AP polls, which was one spot too low for them in my opinion. On the other hand, Kansas State would come into the season unranked after missing the playoffs entirely last year. Iowa also still has the reigning National Player of the year in Caitlin Clark on their roster, so saying that Kansas State was not supposed to win this game at all would be an understatement. But in the end the Wildcats did end up winning, due in large part to a huge fourth quarter in which they outscored the Hawkeyes 23-14. Kansas State’s star center Ayoka Lee put up a 22 point, 12 rebound double-double in the upset, while Caitlin Clark would have 24 points in the 65-58 loss. Iowa would only drop to No. 5 in the AP polls, while Kansas State would go from unranked to No. 16.
1) No. 1 LSU upset by No. 20 Colorado- After winning the NCAA championship last year, adding two more star players to their already stacked roster in transfers Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow, and bringing in the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the nation, LSU would come into this season ranked No. 1 in the AP polls, and rightfully so. On the other hand, Colorado would come in ranked No. 20 in the polls after reaching the Sweet 16 last year. So if I told someone that, in their very first game of the season after coming off a national championship, LSU would get upset by Colorado, they would have laughed in my face. But I would have ended up getting the last laugh because that is exactly what happened. When I say no one saw this coming, I mean absolutely no one on planet Earth predicted that Colorado would upset LSU. Behind a 27-point performance from veteran guard Frida Formann, the Buffaloes would upset the Tigers with a final score of 92-78. For LSU, No. 2 ranked freshmen Mikayla Williams would lead the team in scoring with 17 points. LSU would fall six spots to No. 7 in the AP polls, while Colorado would climb an astounding 15 spots to No. 5.
We’re only a little over two weeks into the season and we’ve already seen so many unexpected upsets. But that is what makes women’s college basketball, and just college sports in general, so fun to watch. Anything can happen between those lines, so fans better buckle up because this season is going to be one heck of a roller coaster ride.