Five Mid-Major Teams To Watch
Gonzaga and Toledo headline the list of mid-major programs worth watching this season.
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There’s a lot of good basketball that’s going to be played over the next five months. While much of that will come from the big-name teams like LSU and Iowa, there’s also going to be a lot of great ball at the mid-major level. Everyone who watches women’s college basketball should pick a couple of mid-major teams to follow every year—it makes it so much more fun to have a favorite MAC team, for instance.
Below are five mid-major teams that women’s college basketball fans should keep an eye on this season. These aren’t necessarily the five best teams, but are five compelling basketball teams to watch.
We begin with a team that landed three players on this year’s Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year watchlist: Gonzaga. The Bulldogs also happen to be the mid-major program that received the most votes in the AP poll, though they just missed the cut.
Yvonne Ejim, Brynna Maxwell and Kaylynne Truong are all very good players. They were the three leading scorers for a 28-win Gonzaga squad last year, and all three are back this year. Ejim led the way with 16.8 points per game on 54.3% shooting, while Truong and Maxwell were both elite shooters from distance. Truong shot 42.2% on 6.8 attempts per game from beyond the arc, while Maxwell shot an astounding 48.1% on 5.5 3-point attempts per contest.
Just to put those numbers into perspective, just 31 players in Division I shot 40% or better from long sistance on five or more attempts per game while playing at least 25 games last year. Maxwell led all those players in 3-point percentage. Truong was 14th. Gonzaga was the only team with more than one player on that list, which makes sense when you consider Gonzaga led the nation in 3-point percentage at 40.5%.
This Gonzaga offense is going to be so much fun. The team was 20th in Her Hoop Stats offensive rating last year; I’d be surprised if they don’t better that this year thanks to the comfort level these players have together.
Two words: Quinesha Lockett.
Alright, I’ve got a few more words than that. Long-time readers of the Her Hoop Stats newsletter have probably read my raves about Lockett before, as I wrote about the Rockets after their upset win over Michigan last year.
Last season, Lockett averaged 17.9 points per game on 45.4% shooting. She struggled from three but was one of the best guards in basketball when it came to getting to the rim, averaging 5.5 attempts per game there per CBB Analytics. That ranks in the 98th percentile.
While Lockett’s the big story, the team also returns its other two double-digit points per game scorers, Sammi Mikonowicz and Sophia Wiard. That should help this team continue to play well offensively. The Rockets ranked ninth in points per play last season.
UNLV’s Desi-Rae Young has to be one of the most underrated bigs in college basketball. Last year, she made the All-Mountain West Team for the third season in a row, averaging 17.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game for the Rebels.
Last year’s UNLV team won 30 games but lost to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This year, Lindy La Rocque’s team looks a lot like last year’s squad, which is a good thing. Nine players from last year’s team are back this season, including Nneka Obiazor, who averaged 12.4 points per game and shot 40.9% from deep before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late December.
On a personal level, I’m excited to see if freshman McKinna Brackens can get minutes. Back in 2020, I had a chance to watch her play for a state title in what was the best basketball game I’ve ever seen in person. Taking on the five-time defending champion Argyle Eagles, Brackens and her Fairfield squad pulled out an overtime victory. Brackens was only a high school freshman then, but she made the play of the game, driving the length of the floor, passing the ball off, then getting it back and driving into the paint for the layup that sent the game to overtime.
Apologies for the extended reminiscence there about a player who probably won’t play a ton as a freshman, but I have high hopes for her college career in this UNLV system. The Rebels play such efficient basketball, ranking eighth in points per play last season.
I’ve got to show some love for the school here in Des Moines, right? After a 22-win campaign last year and their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, the Bulldogs are back and looking to push even deeper this year.
The Bulldogs ranked 10th in Division I in points per game last year. While they were just 217th in opponent points per game, that number is impacted by the fast pace the team played at, as the Bulldogs were 60th in Her Hoop Stats defensive rating.
One thing I’m really interested to see this year is how the Bulldogs make up for the loss of Maggie Bair. Grace Berg returning for a fifth season will help, as she averaged 12.8 points per game on 47.3% shooting last season, but the big name here is Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year watchlist player Katie Dinnebier.
Last season as a sophomore, Dinnebier averaged 11.7 points per game while shooting 48.8% from the floor. Her 5.8 assists per game ranked 17th in the country, and she also added 1.7 steals per game. Dinnebier’s role as the point guard for this Drake offense makes her the most important player on the team.
Also, here’s a Dinnebier fact I recently learned from the watch list release: “Dinnebier is one of just six players since 2009-10 to average at least 1.25 points per scoring attempt (PPSA) and an assist-to-turnover ratio of at least 2.00 (min. 10 points and five assists per game). The last three players to accomplish this feat were Paige Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, and Gabby Williams.”
Last season, UAPB finished 13-17 on the season and 10-8 in SWAC play. So, why are they on this year’s list? Because the Golden Lions landed one of the biggest transfers of the offseason, adding former UT-Arlington forward Starr Jacobs.
Jacobs is a huge get for a program like UAPB. She’s a two-time conference player of the year…in two different conferences! Jacobs won the award in 2021-22 when UTA was in the Sun Belt, then won it again last year when the team moved to the WAC. Jacobs averaged 18.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game last season for the Mavericks.
But the hope that UAPB can contend for the SWAC title doesn’t rest solely on Jacobs. The team also has Zaay Green back in the fold after she missed last season due to injury. Green was a highly-touted recruit out of Duncanville High School. She was on the SEC All-Freshman Team in her first year at Tennessee but tore her ACL early in her sophomore season. Green ended up transferring to Texas A&M, but couldn’t find a lot of minutes. However, she excelled in her first season at UAPB, averaging 16.0 points per game.
The combination of Jacobs and Green makes this a really exciting team. And while SWAC conference games can be notoriously difficult to find streams for, the team plays a tough non-conference schedule, so you should have some opportunities to see them early in the season.
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Suggest you include James Madison! They won the Sun Belt pretty convincingly in their first year by whomping the heck out of Texas State in the tourney, then went on to give Ohio State a vig scare in the NCAA. They return pretty much everyone except Kiki Jefferson, but Peyton McDaniel is *fingers crossed* healthy and there is lots of new blood.