Two months down, two to go — and the road to the 2025 women’s Final Four in Tampa is fast approaching.
The 2024-25 women’s college basketball season has had plenty of unexpected twists. Unlike last year when South Carolina was the favorite on its way to an undefeated season, there is no clear national title front-runner. Notre Dame‘s Hannah Hidalgo has emerged as the favorite for Player of the Year after we predicted it being a two-player race between USC‘s JuJu Watkins and UConn‘s Paige Bueckers in the preseason.
And that’s all subject to change as league competition progresses. Some intriguing games await in January — Thursday alone has four Top 25 matchups — and the second half of the season could bring even more wrinkles.
ESPN’s women’s college basketball experts break down this season’s biggest surprises and disappointments, what we got wrong in November, and they update their predictions on conference champions, end-of-season awards, Final Four teams and more.
Which team, player or trend has been the biggest surprise so far?
Michael Voepel: Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were picked 10th in the ACC preseason poll, but they enter Thursday’s game vs. Virginia Tech at 15-0 overall and 3-0 in the league. Freshman Dani Carnegie is averaging 16.0 points and shooting 42.1%…
