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Charlie CremeESPN.com
Curriculum vitae, curriculum vitae, curriculum vitae. They are at the center of every NCAA tournament selection discussion in February and March. However, a lot of any team’s résumé – the games that make the difference – is built into the non-conference portion of the schedule during the first two months of the season.
Seeding for the women’s NCAA tournament can often depend on what happens in November, which is why half of the games on the list of the best unorganized games of the football season. The 2022-23 women’s college basket will be played in the next few weeks. And – no surprise – we don’t have to wait long for the best non-conference game: Just 13 days after the season ended, the team finished 2nd Cardinal Stanford host number 1 South Carolina Gamecocks on November 20 in a battle between the past two national champions.
The best teams tend to schedule the best, so it’s no surprise to see so many top 10 teams competing in these games. These games will provide some of the best basketball games, but they also have the most impact on the fate of these shows coming on Selection Sunday on March 12.
And while they didn’t make the list, the December 4 Jimmy V Classic – Virginia Tech Hokies in Tennessee Lady Volunteers (1 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN App) and UConn Huskies in Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3pm ET, ABC/ESPN App) – also early season games not to be missed. And we’ll take a closer look at the leagues around Thanksgiving later this month.
Our ranking, in order, of the 10 best non-conference games:
South Carolina Gamecocks at Stanford Cardinal
November 20, 3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App
It’s hard to be #1 versus #2 after two weeks of the season. And Gamecocks vs. Cardinal has quickly become the most exciting two-sided competition in the country. Stanford won the 2021 national championship thanks to a hottie win over South Carolina in the national semifinals. The rematch took place last year right before Christmas, and after Aliyah BostonThe Gamecocks’ 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks marked the biggest comeback in show history, rallying from 18 down to win 65-61. In Boston and Stanford’s Haley Jones and Cameron BrinkThis game has three of the top six players in ranking of the top 25 players domestic.
November 14, 6:30 p.m. ET, FS1
Up to seven UConn games could be on this list – Huskies have one of those the toughest non-conference schedule in the country – but this one in the Gampel Pavilion ranks first because it’s the first and, with UConn’s new look, likely the most important. So a lot of questions arise for Huskies about their personnel losses and injuries. Longhorns Offers Initial Knees Test of How UConn Has Adapted to Losing Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Evina Westbrook to Graduation and Paige Bueckers to a torn ACL. The Longhorns have their own Final Four Aspirations and are also incorporating some new players. Both Geno Auriemma and Vic Schaefer will know how their teams line up with the rest of the country after this game.
December 7, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2 / ESPN App
Always a great rivalry within the state, the Cy-Hawk showdown has never been bigger. Each team boasts the second-highest pre-season rankings in show history (Iowa #4 in the AP preseason poll and #8 Iowa State) and one of the best off-season teams in the nation. . Last December, Cyclones got its first win in the series since 2015. Ashley Jonesof 26 points. This year, Jones joins Iowa Caitlin Clark as an American before the first season.
Tennessee Lady Vols at Stanford Cardinal
December 18, 3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN app
This game may be the best indicator of whether Lady Vols is ready to actually challenge South Carolina in the SEC. At this point in the season, Stanford will face the Gamecocks, so how Tennessee plays against Cardinal could be an accurate gauge 11 days before the SEC game begins. This will be Stanford’s penultimate non-conference game. It will likely leave a lasting impression on the selection committee as it involves picking four No. 1 seeds.
November 20, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+
No match on this list epitomizes the roster changes at the hands of the transfer portal like this one. Each team welcomes eight new players to the roster, many of them from other programs. What better way to see how well-matched each other is early in the season than playing a team facing the same challenges. Neither the Terps nor the Bears entered this game with an unusual stance that was not their preferred audience to win their conference. Perhaps the winner of this game will go away with the confidence to do so in the end.
November 30, 7:30 p.m. ET, ACCN
ACC-Big Ten Challenge is loaded with high quality matches. This might be the best. The Cardinals have a new look, with three starters, meeting the Buckeyes with four of the top five scorers returning. In the quest to seed the top three or four NCAAs, the winner of this game gets some breathing room to advance into tough convention races. The loser will be left with a small margin of error.
UConn Huskies at Tennessee Lady Vols
January 26, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App
The last time Tennessee beat UConn, Candace Parker was Lady Vol. Of course, 13 years have passed without a single match between the two official programs of the sport. Since the rivalry resumed in 2020, the Huskies have won all three games by an average of 13 points, including a 19-point win last season, which was a breakout game for UConn’s. Azzi Fudd (25 points). This might be the best Tennessee team since Parker, and nothing would have helped Lady Vols out better than beating the Huskies.
November 7, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN3
The first night of the season features a game that could have an impact on March. If Jackrabbit needed big consideration, they could actually use this win. The Bluejays, post-Elite Eight, will have more opportunity to build a profile in the Big East, but their seeding could take a big turn based on this result and subsequent games against Nebraska. and Arkansas.
South Carolina Gamecocks at UConn Huskies
February 5, noon ET, FOX
The Huskies’ grueling non-conference schedule ends here with a game at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. For better or worse, this could look like a completely different team than the one against Texas in mid-November, depending on how the young players develop and the health of the squad. Gamecocks will likely be exactly what they’ve been for the past few years: one of the best, if not the best games. the best, domestic team. South Carolina entered this match with four straight wins in the series, a win that the Huskies dominated in its early days.
December 1, 6 p.m. ET, BTN
This is the second of two ACC/Big Ten Challenge games on our list – NC State in Iowa and Maryland at Notre Dame are two other high-quality games of the night – and it’s a showcase of games that could have big ramifications for NCAA seeding. Both shows have seen a rebirth over the past few seasons with the same formula: bringing together a core group of players and establishing incredible chemistry. The Hoosiers started the season in 11th place, and North Carolina trailed right behind at 12th. The battle to host the first- and second-round NCAA tournament games begins here for both teams.
