I’m back, baby.
Quite literally … I’m back (after having a) baby. I’ve returned to a women’s college basketball landscape that has, sadly, had far too many injuries but is still delivering on its promise to surprise us at every turn. Truly, imagine my shock that when I left my job I knew Illinois as a team that won a single Big Ten game last season and I returned to a ranked Illini squad that has already won four conference games and gone toe-to-toe with the Big Ten’s top-ranked teams in Ohio State and Indiana. Talk about college basketball whiplash.
There’s certainly a lot to discuss (and now, Illinois is officially a part of that conversation — welcome, Illini fans). It’s our first mailbag of the year — let’s go.
Who do you think is the second-best team in the Pac-12? — Benjamin L.
I’m starting off with a difficult question here …
With Stanford at No. 1, UCLA and Arizona are in the second-best conversation, and both have different strengths. The Bruins have been great on the glass and their all-around defense has been strong. It’s nice to see veteran Gina Conti, who transferred to UCLA before the 2021-22 season but missed last year with an injury, finally on the floor and pairing nicely with freshman Kiki Rice. Arizona impressed me this past weekend…
