Locked On Women’s Basketball: Recapping women’s basketball in 2024

Kenney touches on how teams like UConn, USC and Notre Dame are faring this season. She also talks about the state of women’s college basketball more broadly:

“This season, it seems like the divide between that upper echelon of college women’s basketball and everyone else is a lot smaller. There’s just so much parity. …

“There’s teams like Richmond that I could see being a Cinderella story [in the NCAA Tournament] come March. And obviously that’s looking really far ahead, but I’m really intrigued with UCLA and just seeing what they’re able to do. I mean, that South Carolina win was so huge for them. It was so huge for the program, probably the biggest win in program history for them. And I think that they have a lot of good pieces, and they’re a team that’s gonna more likely than not make noise come March.”

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Kenney and Spear also discuss the impact Caitlin Clark has had in 2024, first in college at Iowa and then with the Indiana Fever. Kenney explains how Clark’s popularity can have ripple effects for the sport:

“There’s so many untold or undertold stories within the WNBA of current and former players, and there’s just so much relatability or uniqueness of the paths that people have taken. … Obviously, Caitlin is a storyline that will continue to be followed for years to come. But there’s plenty of other players.

“And I think that’s the other thing, too, is that Caitlin might have introduced somebody to the WNBA or to to women’s basketball in general with her game, but now it’s about spreading the love. And I don’t put that solely on Caitlin Clark’s shoulders because I think that some of the discussions that were being had this season were a little out of tune because Caitlin isn’t necessarily demanding for all this attention and stuff like that. But … my hope is that it’ll continue to grow.”

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