Adversity: Can You Win a National Championship with it?

Part One of a Multi-Part Story; this first part looks into some of the teams in D1 women’s college basketball that have been without their leading scorers due to injuries.

As Selection Sunday slowly rolls along, many fans are wondering who will win this year’s NCAA National Championship. The South Carolina Gamecocks have been on a roll this season with a 28-1 record as the unanimous No.1 ranked team in the nation. The Stanford Cardinal are currently ranked 2nd in the nation as the reigning National Champs. They beat South Carolina in the Final Four last spring. The UConn Huskies are almost the underdogs heading into March as their rankings have shifted throughout their calamitous season. UConn started as the No.2 team back in early November and has recently settled at the No.7 spot after facing the strangest season full of adversity.

There is a hand full of teams who have been ranked throughout the whole season or recently been added to the Associated Top 25 that can pull off some upsets. There have been countless ranked versus ranked and/or ranked versus non-ranked upsets that have changed those top teams. A handful of teams dropped out of the rankings and some new contenders are making themselves household names before the NCAA Tournament.

Quite a number of teams on the women’s side of basketball have faced injuries. Surprisingly, those injuries or Covid positive have been from the team’s leading scorers. While the number of injuries throughout the whole Division 1 could be extensive, this article looks into some of the teams who have faced adversity as AP-ranked teams.

Auburn

The Tigers were excited to have sophomore Romi Levy, a forward from Herzliya, Israel, back again this season. In the Tiger’s preseason, Levy suffered a knee injury that tore her anterior cruciate ligament. She will miss the whole season.

Arizona

The No.15 Arizona Wildcats were the runner-ups in the National Championship last spring. Coach Adia Barnes’ team went undefeated for their first eleven games this season before USC got a 76-67 win over the Wildcats. Things changed when leading scorer, senior Cate Reese, dislocated her shoulder in their loss to Washington State on Feb. 20th. Arizona then lost their next game to UCLA before coming out with their win without Reese on Saturday. Reese’s timeline is still unknown after suffering her injury.

Florida

The No.23 Florida Gators have had an impressive season with a 20-9 record. They have caused multiple upsets to Texas A&M, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee, and Georgia, all of those games without their leading scorer, Lavender Briggs. Briggs is a junior guard who was just 39 points shy of reaching 1000 career points until a stress reaction in her lower leg. Coach Kelley Rae Finley, just announced as the full-time head coach, stated that Briggs will miss the remainder of the season on Jan. 7th.

Florida Gulf Coast

The No.22 Eagles have been without Kierstan Bell, the nation’s 5th leading scorer back in January. Bell had surgery in mid-January for a partially torn meniscus. A week before the injury occurred, Bell had declared for the WNBA draft. The Eagles have done expertly well without Bell. They have a 26-2 record, with Kerstie Phills stepping into a leadership role.

LSU

Coach Kim Mulkey returned back to Louisiana after 21 years with the Baylor Bears. Mulkey has turned around the No.6 LSU’s record this season going from 9-13, under former coach Nikki Fargas, to now 25-4. With the success of any team this season, there are setbacks. LSU hosted Alabama in their final home game of the season when senior Alexis Morris was injured.

Only two minutes into the game on Thursday, Morris collided with teammate Jailin Cherry. Morris suffered an MCL sprain and her timeline to return is unknown. Without their leading scorer, Mulkey’s Tigers were able to fend off Alabama and then Tennessee on Sunday to clinch the No.2 seed in the SEC Tournament.

Maryland

Starting as one of the top teams in the nation this fall, No.11 Maryland has faced a number of injuries to players this season. On Jan. 5th, the Terrapins’ lost their best defender who will be out for the rest of the season. 

Faith Masonius suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in her left knee against Indiana. Diamond Miller also missed games with a knee injury, Katie Benzan was ill and missed three games. Ashley Owusu was knocked in the James Madison game and exited the game early but suffered a knee injury on Feb. 3rd. She is listed as day-to-day.

Michigan

After a huge loss to No.12 Iowa, the No.10 Wolverines have tried to stay consistent now that Leah Brown has returned from injury. Brown had a lower leg injury and missed the last six games before the game against Iowa yesterday.

Ohio State

The No.13 Buckeyes lost junior Madison Greene before the season. She had a knee injury that required surgery and Greene will be out for the whole season. Greene was their leading scorer last season.

Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks have had quite the riveting season thus far. Three early wins kept the Ducks at the No.9 spot with Associated Press rankings. A week later, they dropped to No.15 after two losses in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas to No.1 South Carolina and then ranked No.23 South Florida. Then some injuries came.

Sophomore Te-Hina Paopao missed a number of games due to a knee injury. Her injury kept her from the first ten games. Paopao rejoined the team on Jan. 2nd when they took on Carroll, played for 12 minutes, and scored 12. Her injuries were followed by redshirt junior Nyara Sabally and junior Endyia Rogers. Rogers had a broken bone in her right hand which left her out for the first ten games as well. She started the Carroll game for 23 minutes and scored 12. Nyara Sabally missed the first two games with a persistent knee injury that stemmed from the exhibition game against Idaho State. She was back for the game against Oklahoma where she scored 30 points, had 11 rebounds, and had 4 assists.

Another key Duck that missed time was red-shirt junior, Sedona Prince. Prince started in eleven games while Sabally remained out with her injury. A positive Covid test sidelined Prince for three games. She returned in time to help the Ducks cause two upsets; one against No.7 Arizona and then No.9 UConn. Prince, Sabally, Rogers, and Paopao are part of the top 5 leading scorers for Coach Kelly Graves this season.

Tennessee

The No. 18 Lady Vols have had their fair share of wins and losses this season. Hoping to take down No. 10 UConn on Feb. 6th, the Lady Vols were outscored by the Huskies each quarter. Just over a week later, Tennessee faced Alabama in an SEC matchup. Junior, and leading scorer, Jordan Horston suffered a fractured dislocation in her left elbow. Coach Kellie Harper said that Horston is out indefinitely but could make a late return.

This was not the only injury for Harper’s team. On Jan. 13th, senior Keyen Green injured her knee. Green has not returned to play, the timeline is unknown.

UCLA

The Bruins have faced a bit of adversity this season, and their coach, Cori Close, believes it to true. Sophomore Emily Bessoir tore her ACL in early October and will not be in uniform for the Bruins this season. Graduate student, Gina Conti, had foot surgery in November which has kept her from play this season.

Red-shirt freshman, Angela Dugalić, suffered a knee contusion in an early-season scrimmage. Dugalić was able to return to play on Feb 11th. The Bruins have also faced countless Covid postponements and cancellations after their loss to UConn in December.

UConn

If someone were to tell you that the No.7 UConn Huskies’ would have eleven different starting lineups this season, you would probably think they are crazy. This is true! The Huskies have had seven different players miss time this season due to injuries or Covid. They were already missing junior Aubrey Griffin with a back injury. She had surgery on Jan. 12th and will be out for the entire season.

All right, well there are ten more players on Coach Geno Auriemma’s bench. Freshman, and No.1 recruit, Azzi Fudd was on the bench to deal with an ongoing foot injury starting on Dec. 5th when the Huskies played Notre Dame. Then last year’s National Player of the Year, sophomore Paige Bueckers, suffered a non-contact injury. It was later reported Bueckers had an anterior tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear.

Down to nine players for the game against Georgia Tech, the Huskies added sophomore Nika Mühl to the injured list with her ongoing ankle issue. Mühl returned to action against Creighton on Jan. 9th as the starting point guard in Bueckers’ absence. The Huskies began a 19-4 record without Bueckers, losing to Georgia Tech, Louisville, Oregon, and Villanova. Ouch indeed. Senior Christyn Williams tested positive for Covid before the Oregon loss and was sidelined for two more games. Fudd and Williams returned to play DePaul on Jan 26th.

Williams and freshman Caroline Ducharme were the leading scorers in Bueckers’ absence. As Williams returned, Ducharme was out for four games with a head injury after getting hit in two back-to-back games. During those games, graduate student Dorka Juhász missed two games with a stress reaction in her foot. Before the loss to Villanova, UConn’s first conference loss in years, senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa pulled herself out of the starting lineup. She felt ill and did not feel as if she could compete that night. She sat for three ultimately with a groin strain.

After their loss to Villanova, the Huskies went on a seven-game winning streak to become the Big East Regular Season Champion. On Friday, Paige Bueckers returned after 19 missed games with full clearance. 

These are not the only teams in D1 NCAA women’s basketball that have faced injuries or Covid delays. Many teams have dealt with adversity in the past two years because of the Covid pandemic. Game cancelations, postponements, injuries, and forfeits. Too many teams have faced injuries this season, it is unbelievable. With the conference tournaments beginning Thursday, it is possible that upsets will occur now that some teams have become healthy again.

In the next part of the series, I will take a look into the teams who have excelled in this season. Injuries and Covid cancelations will still be mentioned as they have determined how teams have played. A major part of the series will also talk about the difficulties teams faced last season and if they transitioned into this year.

This article would not have been completed without the help of Brian Loffredo, Jenny Robitaille Hatala, Trisha Berg, Tom Perrault, and Sissy Warnet. Thank you for providing sources! Also to Stephen Dixon for the edits!