Big Ten Weekly Women's Basketball Central - April 3

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Big Ten Weekly Release - April 3 | 2025 Big Ten Women's Basketball Postseason Central

• UCLA head coach Cori Close completed a sweep of major national coach of the year awards on Thursday when she was selected as the 2025 WBCA and Associated Press (AP) Coach of the Year. With the announcement, Close is just the third women’s basketball head coach in Big Ten Conference history to be recognized as the AP, WBCA, Naismith and USBWA Coach of the Year, joining Nebraska’s Connie Yori (2010) and Purdue’s Carolyn Peck (1999). The Bruins are on an historic run in Close’s 14th year at the helm, having set a program record for wins in a season (34) and are headed to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four.
• USC guard JuJu Watkins was tabbed as the 2025 AP Player of the Year on Thursday. She stands alone as the only Trojan to be named AP Player of the Year and is just the fourth player to win the award in her sophomore year. The last three player of the year winners have been from the Big Ten with Watkins and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in 2024 and 2023. Watkins has also earned national player of the year recognition from The Athletic, Sporting News and USBWA.
• UCLA’s Lauren Betts and USC teammates Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins earned spots on the 10-member 2025 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team. Iowa’s Lucy Olsen, Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers, Ohio State duo Jaloni Cambridge and Cotie McMahon and UCLA’s Kiki Rice received honorable mention laurels.
• For the first time in the history of the conference, the Big Ten swept the Naismith Awards. USC sophomore JuJu Watkins won the 2025 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy, UCLA junior Lauren Betts was named 2025 Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year presented by MOLECULE and UCLA head coach Cori Close was selected as the 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday. Watkins is the third consecutive Big Ten student-athlete to win the Naismith Trophy. Betts is the first Big Ten student-athlete to be selected as the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and the first women’s basketball player from UCLA to receive a Naismith Award. Close is the first female head coach from UCLA to win a Naismith Award. She is the sixth Big Ten coach to receive the honor and first since 2019. 
• The Big Ten has been home to four of the last seven winners of the Naismith Trophy in Watkins (2025) and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (2023-24) and Megan Gustafson (2019).
• UCLA’s junior Kiki Rice was the recipient of the NCAA ELITE 90 award for the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The award honors the exceptional achievements of student-athletes who have excelled at a national championship level in their sport while also achieving the highest academic standards among their peers.
• UCLA’s Lauren Betts was named 2025 WBCA NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year, the organization announced Wednesday. She is the second Big Ten women’s basketball player to win the accolade, joining Northwestern’s Veronica Burton (2022).
• First-year Iowa head coach Jan Jensen was chosen as the 2025 Spalding® Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced Wednesday.
• WBIT Champions! Minnesota defeated Belmont, 75-63, to win the 2025 WBIT Championship on Wednesday night inside Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tori McKinney dropped a career-high 26 points to pace the Golden Gophers. Mallory Heyer finished with a double-double (18 points, 16 rebounds) while Amaya Battle chipped in 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
• Tori McKinney was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Amaya Battle.
• It is the second WBIT Championship title in as many years for the Big Ten after Illinois clinched the inaugural crown in 2024.
• The Big Ten Conference is making its return to college basketball’s final weekend for the third time in as many years when UCLA faces UConn in the NCAA Women’s Final Four on Friday at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET live on ESPN from Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
• UCLA advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history with a 72-65 win over LSU in the Spokane 1 Regional final. It is the 12th time a Big Ten program has reached the Final Four and third consecutive year. The Big Ten previously sent schools to the Final Four in 1993 (Iowa/Ohio State), 1994 (Purdue), 1999 (Purdue - national champion), 2000 (Penn State), 2001 (Purdue), 2004 (Minnesota), 2005 (Michigan State), 2015 (Maryland), 2023 (Iowa) and 2024 (Iowa).
• Current Big Ten programs have advanced to the NCAA Women’s Final Four 23 times and have won four national championships (USC – 1983, 1984; Purdue – 1999; Maryland – 2006).
• For the second year in a row, a familiar foe awaits the Big Ten in the national semifinals. Last year, Iowa fought its way to its second straight national championship game by getting past UConn, 71-69.
• UCLA owns one win over UConn in the eight-game series, having come out victorious, 78-67, in the last meeting on Nov. 24, 2023. The teams have battled twice before in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 (regional semifinal) and 2019 (Sweet 16).
• For the fourth time in the last five years, the Big Ten has collected double-digit wins in the NCAA Tournament. The Big Ten has set a new conference record with 16 victories through the Elite Eight, eclipsing the previous standard of 13 total wins in 2023. The conference also had double-digit victories in a single tournament in four additional outings (11 in 2004; 10 in 2005, 2021, 2022).
• The Big Ten set a conference record by having a team reach the NCAA Elite Eight in six consecutive tournaments, with seven different schools accounting for a combined nine appearances (UCLA and USC – 2025; Iowa – 2024; Iowa, Maryland and Ohio State – 2023; Michigan – 2022; Indiana – 2021; Iowa – 2019).
• For the fifth consecutive year, the Big Ten Conference sent at least two teams to the NCAA Sweet 16, as Maryland, UCLA and USC took part this year. The Big Ten tied a conference record with four Sweet 16 participants in 2021 and 2022 and has sent at least three teams to the Sweet 16 on five other occasions prior to this year (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2023).
• The Big Ten set a new conference record with 10 teams reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• For just the second time in the history of the Big Ten Conference, two teams have surpassed 30 wins in the same season in UCLA (34) and USC (31). The feat was first achieved during the 2004-05 season by Michigan State (33) and Ohio State (30).
• As a team, UCLA is second in the country in rebounding margin (+12.3) and shoots 48.2 percent from the field to rank seventh. The Bruins are 11th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.35) and blocks per game (5.4).
• Offensive production remained the calling card of the Big Ten Conference. The league had seven teams that averaged more than 75 points per game, six of which were included among the nation’s top 25 scoring offenses – USC (10th – 80.7), Maryland (11th – 80.5), UCLA (17th – 78.7), Ohio State (19th – 78.3), Michigan State (20th – 78.1) and Michigan (22nd – 77.5).
• Big Ten teams passed the rock quite well this season as six programs ranked in the top 20 in the country in assists per game, led by UCLA (4th – 20.4), Iowa (10th – 18.1), Nebraska (11th – 18.0), Michigan State (13th – 17.7), Penn State (14th – 17.7) and Northwestern (15th – 17.6).
• The Big Ten currently leads all Division I conferences in assists (16.0 apg) and field goal percentage (.446) while standing second in points (73.2 ppg).
• Wisconsin hired Robin Pingeton to lead the Badgers’ women’s basketball program. Pingeton has compiled 585 wins during her 30-year head coaching career and her teams have played in the postseason 20 times. She previously spent the last 15 seasons as the head coach at Missouri.
• For the 24th consecutive season (not counting the 2019-20 campaign that ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Big Ten sent at least eight of its women's basketball programs to postseason play. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington competed in the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota represented the conference in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), while Rutgers took part in the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).
• A record-setting 12 Big Ten Conference schools received berths into the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, led by No. 1 overall seed UCLA and No. 4 overall seed USC. The 12 berths was the top mark among all Division I conferences, followed by the SEC (10), ACC (8) and Big 12 (7).
• This marks the third and fourth times, respectively, a Big Ten program has garnered a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament in the last three years. Iowa had been a top seed the past two years and reached consecutive national championship games.
• The Big Ten has now had at least four of its schools selected for NCAA Tournament action every year since 1986.
• For the first time in conference history, UCLA was the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament after the Bruins won their first-ever Big Ten Tournament title. UCLA is the overall No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.
• Second-seeded UCLA claimed its first Big Ten Conference Tournament crown with a 72-67 win over top-seeded USC inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It was the first time since 2019 that the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds met in the Big Ten Tournament final and the fourth-straight year the No. 2 seed has won the tournament championship. The Bruins captured their first conference tournament championship since 2006 (Pac-12) and eclipsed 30 wins in a season for the first time in program history (30-2).
• UCLA’s Lauren Betts was named the Jim and Kitty Delany Most Outstanding Player after averaging 19.0 points and 8.0 rebounds over three games in the Big Ten Tournament. Betts was joined on the All-Tournament Team by USC’s JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, Iowa’s Lucy Olsen and Michigan’s Syla Swords.
• The championship game of the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament between UCLA and USC drew 1.44 million viewers on CBS. It was the most-watched women’s college basketball tournament game this season and the second-best Big Ten women’s basketball title game ever behind last year’s Iowa-Nebraska matchup (3.02 million viewers).
• In its inaugural season as a member of the Big Ten Conference, USC claimed the 2024-25 Big Ten Championship outright with an 80-67 win over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif. The Trojans finished their conference slate with a 17-1 record.
• The Associated Press (AP) poll (March 17) featured four teams from the Big Ten. UCLA checked in at No. 1 for the 14th time this season and was joined by No. 4 USC, No. 15 Ohio State and No. 18 Maryland while Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa received votes.
• The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today poll (March 18) featured four Big Ten teams. UCLA held at No. 1, followed by No. 4 USC, No. 13 Ohio State and No. 17 Maryland. Michigan State and Iowa garnered votes.
• The Big Ten has consistently ranked among the top three conferences in women’s basketball attendance for the past three decades and that trend continued into the 2024-25 season with 14 Big Ten schools ranked among the top 40 in the nation in average attendance, including 10 in the top 25 (both figures led all Division I conferences). Iowa was second nationally in attendance (14,998 fans per game), followed by Indiana (4th – 10,828), Maryland (9th – 8,190), Ohio State (12th – 6,720), USC (14th – 6,097), UCLA (15th – 5,894), Nebraska (16th – 5,638), Oregon (18th – 5,374), Purdue (22nd – 5,164) and Illinois (25th – 4,967).
• UCLA spent 12 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25, a new Big Ten women’s basketball record for weeks atop the rankings.
• The Big Ten closed out its regular season non-conference slate with an .841 win percentage, outperforming the SEC (.808), Big 12 (.776) and ACC (.753).
• The Big Ten faced numerous ranked non-conference opponents during the regular season and handed out its fair share of upsets – Oregon def. No. 12 Baylor, 76-74; Illinois def. No. 19 Florida State, 83-74; No. 18 Maryland def. No. 11 Duke, 85-80; Indiana def. No. 24 Stanford, 79-66; No. 5 UCLA def. No. 1 South Carolina, 77-62; Indiana def. No. 18 Baylor, 73-65; No. 21 Iowa def. No. 18 Iowa State, 75-69; No. 7 USC def. No. 4 UConn, 72-70. 
• On Dec. 2, for the first time in the history of the Big Ten Conference, nine women’s basketball teams were ranked in the Associated Press (AP) poll. The last time any conference had nine teams ranked in the AP poll was in 1996. UCLA remained in the top spot and was joined by No. 6 USC, No. 7 Maryland, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Iowa, No. 21 Illinois, No. 23 Michigan, No. 24 Michigan State and No. 25 Nebraska.
• On Nov. 25, UCLA received 20 first-place votes to overtake South Carolina for the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press (AP) poll. The Bruins handed the Gamecocks their first loss of the season to earn the first No. 1 ranking in program history.
• DOWN GOES NO. 1! In front of a sellout crowd at Pauley Pavilion, No. 5 UCLA took down the defending national champions in No. 1 South Carolina, 77-62, on Nov. 24. The win marked the first victory for the Bruins over a number one ranked opponent in program history and snapped the Gamecocks’ 43-game winning streak. South Carolina hadn’t lost since falling to Iowa in the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournament and it was the first road defeat for the Gamecocks since December 2021.
• In recognition of her long service to the game of women’s basketball, Rose DiPaula, Director of Strategic Communications and Content Development at the University of Maryland, was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s 2025 Mary Jo Haverbeck Award winner. The award is presented annually to recognize those in women's college basketball who have rendered a special service to the USBWA and sportswriters who cover college basketball. DiPaula has served at Maryland, her alma mater, since January 2011. She currently oversees daily media operations for the nationally-recognized women's basketball, men's and women's golf teams and the department's academics and Maryland Made career development units. In her role with these Terrapin teams, DiPaula oversees all communications strategy, social media, messaging and publicity for these respective programs.
• Rutgers legend Cappie Pondexter was selected as one of seven inductees into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2025 class. Pondexter, who was inducted into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, led the Scarlet Knights to back-to-back BIG EAST Championships in 2005 and 2006. She was the first player to earn All-BIG EAST First Team laurels four times in the history of the league and ranks third in Rutgers history with 2,211 career points. Pondexter was the second overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury. She went on to win two WNBA titles with the Mercury, be named Finals MVP in 2007, earn seven All-Star appearances and win a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
• The new era of Big Ten women’s basketball got off to a hot start as programs won more than 87 percent of their games during the first week of the 2024-25 campaign. The stellar results included five wins over AP Top 25 opponents, including three upsets.
• The 2024-25 television schedule featured the most coverage on nationally distributed platforms in Big Ten women’s basketball history. Twelve Big Ten matchups, including eight regular season games, were televised on a broadcast platform via NBC or FOX, the most in conference history. All 162 conference games were nationally produced or distributed for the 11th consecutive season.