The Connecticut Huskies have the best women's basketball team in the nation, and they've been that way for years and years. We know that the Huskies are going to be the overwhelming favorites to win the National Championship for a fifth consecutive season, but today, we're going to look at some of the other teams who might have a shot at cutting down the nets in Dallas.
Don't miss the action during the entire Women's NCAA Tournament. It all starts on Friday, March 17, 2017 and runs through the National Championship Game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Tuesday, April 4, 2017. All of the festivities can be seen on the ESPN family of networks.
Women's College Basketball NCAA Tournament Odds at BookMaker.eu
Connecticut Huskies -475
Field – Any Other Team +300
The biggest advantage we think a team could have against the Huskies is having a slew of veterans. Not that the Lady Huskies have ever been put aside because of their youth before. Breanna Stewart was the hero of this team for four consecutive years and ultimately led the team to four consecutive titles. But with Stewart gone, the hero of this club is now Katie Lou Samuelson. She and Napheesa Collier combine to score 41.2 points per game, but they're both just sophomores and are going to have to lead this team at this level for the very first time.
That's why the first team that comes to mind is Baylor. The Lady Bears have four seniors in their rotation, including Alexis Jones and Alexis Prince, two ladies who make up perhaps the best backcourt in the nation. These two averaged 13.9 and 12.1 points per game respectively, but what separated the Lady Bears from the rest of their foes was their three-point shooting. These two women both shot over 42 percent from distance.
The Lady Bears were the No. 2 team in America when they faced the Huskies in Storrs on November 17. It was the home opener for UConn, so it was a little surprising when this was still definitively a game all the way through. Baylor was down by just five points heading into the fourth quarter before ultimately giving way.
Baylor would meet Connecticut in the Final Four in Dallas, and you can bet there would be a nice contingent of Bears fans who would take the trip from Waco for what would be the biggest game of the entire women's season.
The good news for the Huskies is that they can't run into both Baylor and Washington this year. U-Dub's Huskies are the No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City Region with Baylor, and those two could be on a crash course for one another in the Elite Eight.
But these Huskies are special. Sure, they were blown to bits by Syracuse in the Final Four last year, but that's when the nation learned just how good Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor really were. These ladies are the leading scorer and leading rebounder in the nation respectively, and should they run into UConn, this could be one heck of a dog fight.
The clear and definitive answer as to who has the best shot of beating the Lady Huskies though, is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have a fantastic experienced point guard in Lindsay Allen and a couple of great juniors in Brianna Turner and Kathryn Westbeld. They have a big team that is outrebounding teams by seven boards per game this season, and that advantage in size might give them a slight edge on the Lady Huskies.
Still, Connecticut went to South Bend earlier this season and blew out the Lady Irish 72-61 in front of one of the biggest crowds to see a women's basketball game this year outside of Storrs, and that's not a good sign for them in a potential National Championship Game scenario.
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