[OCcardinal]

Michele Voepel's ESPN power rankings for the week are out, with Stanford still #2, and UCAL / Utah / Arizona all in there.  U Conn is now #3.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...olina-rise

I'm surprised how strong UConn has looked this season given how much talent they lost.  They've had a challenging schedule and have handled 4 good-to-very-good opponents (Texas, NC State, Duke and Iowa) relatively easily (though Iowa lead at the half).  They've done this despite losing more than 60% of their scoring and 54% of their rebounding from last year's NCAA tournament team.  Those losses also included four top 5 recruits (two #1s, one #2, and one #5.)  They added a #4 and #5 to the roster, but their #5 is injured for the season and the #4 has only been averaging 10 minutes (and 3 points) a game so far.  As expected, Azzi Fudd and Aaliyah Edwards have stepped up but former MAAC player of the year Lou Lopez Sénéchal, has been a real difference maker too.  She's 5th in minutes, but 2nd in points per game (16.6).  Their next big game is against Notre Dame on Sunday. We'll see if they can keep the streak going.

[OCcardinal]

Michele Voepel's ESPN power rankings for the week are out, with Stanford still #2, and UCAL / Utah / Arizona all in there.  U Conn is now #3.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...olina-rise

I'm surprised how strong UConn has looked this season given how much talent they lost.  They've had a challenging schedule and have handled 4 good-to-very-good opponents (Texas, NC State, Duke and Iowa) relatively easily (though Iowa lead at the half).  They've done this despite losing more than 60% of their scoring and 54% of their rebounding from last year's NCAA tournament team.  Those losses also included four top 5 recruits (two #1s, one #2, and one #5.)  They added a #4 and #5 to the roster, but their #5 is injured for the season and the #4 has only been averaging 10 minutes (and 3 points) a game so far.  As expected, Azzi Fudd and Aaliyah Edwards have stepped up but former MAAC player of the year Lou Lopez Sénéchal, has been a real difference maker too.  She's 5th in minutes, but 2nd in points per game (16.6).  Their next big game is against Notre Dame on Sunday. We'll see if they can keep the streak going.