The 2023-24 women's college basketball season is tipping off and the race to the national title starts now. A lot of things can happen between now and April, but for now it seems only a handful of teams have very a good chance at winning it all.
LSU is the defending champion, and the Tigers are hunting for another trophy with coach Kim Mulkey. Going back-to-back will be easier said than done, however, as only three teams have won consecutive women's college basketball national championships: USC, Tennessee and UConn.
The Tigers are loaded with talent, but some other teams could give them a run for their money. Chief among them is UConn, a deep team but one that needs to stay healthy. Iowa certainly has a shot as well, but the players around Caitlin Clark will have to adapt to bigger roles. UCLA, meanwhile, is hoping to overcome any concerns about inexperience with senior guard Charisma Osborne leading the way.
Here are the cases for each of those four teams winning it all:
LSU Tigers
The Tigers earned the school's first ever national championship earlier this year and they have all the pieces they need to get another one. LSU is returning star forward Angel Reese, who led LSU in scoring and rebounding while registering a single-season NCAA record of 34 double-doubles.
The Tigers are also returning key players in Kateri Poole and 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year Flau'jae Johnson. But although the returning talent was already impressive, the Tigers are entering the season as the No. 1 team in the nation because of who they added. Mulkey got the No. 1 recruiting class of 2023, which includes Mikaylah Williams and Aalyah Del Rosario, the second and seventh-ranked players in the 2023 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
And of course one of the biggest headlines of the offseason was the Tigers' addition of former Louisville star Hailey Van Lith. Although she hasn't earned a championship ring yet, Van Lith helped lead Louisville to three consecutive Elite Eights, including the Final Four in 2022. Last season, Van Lith was the Cardinals' leading scorer and one of only two Power Five players to average 19 points, four rebounds and three assists per contest.
UConn Huskies
The Huskies were the 2022 national championship runner-up, but while the roster has been filled with talented players who are capable of winning it all, injuries have plagued Geno Auriemma's program. This has both hurt the team and also developed players faster by forcing them to step into bigger roles.
The return of Paige Bueckers will be a huge storylines this season after she missed the entire 2022-23 campaign because of a torn ACL. During her absence, Azzi Fudd stepped up to lead the Huskies. However, she suffered a knee injury herself and only appeared in 15 games. Aaliyah Edwards then emerged as the leading scorer.
Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme and Nika Muhl -- who set the single-season program record for assists last year -- are also big returners for UConn. At one point the Huskies only had seven healthy players, but that chaos helped them become resilient, and they still made it to the Sweet 16. If UConn can stay healthy, it will have one of the most talented rosters in the nation.
Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa is coming off its first championship game appearance in program history, and the Hawkeyes get to return three out of five starters to see if this is the year they can get one more win.
The Hawkeyes had the top offense in the nation in 2022-23, largely thanks to 2023 Naismith Player of the Year Caitlin Clark. She took over college basketball last season by putting up historic numbers, including the first ever 40-point triple-double in the NCAA Tournament. Clark also led the nation in assists, as she regularly helped generate open looks for Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock -- Iowa's most consistent scorers behind Clark. Czinano and Warnock are gone, but Clark is hardly left without help.
Hannah Stuelke was the 2022-23 Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year as a freshman, while Gabbie Marshall made the Big Ten All-Tournament Team. Along with Clark and Marshall, Kate Martin also started all 38 games during the 2022-23 season. Nothing is guaranteed in college basketball, but Lisa Bluder's team is in pretty good spot right now.
UCLA Bruins
A year after missing The Big Dance, the Bruins were the youngest team competing in the 2023 Women's NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16. They get to continue that momentum and are aiming even higher by returning four out of five starters -- including their leader, Charisma Osborne.
Osborne led the Bruins with 15.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in 2022-23. She will be one of the most experienced players on the team as a grad student, along with Camryn Brown, who will also return for a fifth season. Younger players such as Kiki Rice, Emily Bessoir, Londynn Jones and Gabriela Jaquez also benefited greatly from the 2023 tournament run and should use that experience to take their game to a new level.
But one of the key reasons the Bruins are a stronger contender than last year is they might have found the answer to their rim protection and post defense problems: Stanford transfer Lauren Betts. The 6-foot-7 center averaged 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in just 9.7 minutes per contest with the Cardinal. Betts also has potential to eventually become one of the nation's leading shot blockers, as that was one of her strengths when she played with Team USA this summer along with Osborne.
