With no nets cut down for the 2019-20 season, it seems anachronous that another season should tip off. Nevertheless, here we are in the second week of November, and by the end of the month we will have college basketball.

Between the WNBA draft, the transfer portal and a sparkling class of freshman, there will be plenty of change for this upcoming season. (At the same time, UConn and South Carolina are again predicted to be among the game’s best, so has anything really changed at all?)

For one, a heavy fan presence inside arenas on game day seems pretty unlikely. While some programs have announced that they’ll allow between 15-25% capacity for home games, the vast majority of spectators will be tuning in from the comfort of their living room.

Regardless of how you catch them in action, below are the six players who I believe will define college hoops this year. From a unique freshman sensation to veteran players looking to boost their draft stock, these are the players to stop and watch when you’re flipping through the channels during this season like no other.

In no particular order…

 

PAIGE BUECKERS: UCONN, FRESHMAN

In the spring, we posed the question, “Will Paige Bueckers save UConn?” The answer then, and now, seems to be yes. The top recruit arrives at Hartford with the weight of the most decorated program on her shoulders, but everyone from her coach to her more than half a million social media followers expects her to perform in year one.

The words “generational talent” have been thrown around a lot with regards to Bueckers, and she is going to a program that has developed more than a few. The freshman point guard will have more eyes on her than anyone when she debuts on the collegiate stage. It is not a stretch to say that UConn’s ceiling in this pandemic season will depend on how quickly Bueckers is able to fare in the transition. Expectations are so high, it’s unlikely she’ll exceed them. But watching to see if Buckers can live up to the hype is enough of a reason to keep an eye on the Huskies.

 

HALEY JONES: STANFORD, SOPHOMORE

The top-ranked player in her class, Jones looked the part throughout her injury-shortened freshman season. Starting the final 12 games of the season, Jones averaged 12.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game over that span. Her shooting translated to the collegiate level at a 52.8% rate, and while the schedule difficulty was not exactly equal, Stanford was 16-2 with Jones in the lineup and 11-4 without her. With Jones healthy, Stanford was able to peak at No. 1 in the AP Poll without DiJonai Carrington or Maya Dodson, a critical sign for Cardinal fans, as neither player is available for this season. (Go deeper: read our summer interview with Haley Jones here.)

 

ALIYAH BOSTON: SOUTH CAROLINA, SOPHOMORE

WOMENS HOOPER WEDNESDAY- 6’5 South Carolina Freshman F Aliyah Boston is DOMINANT. The St Thomas, Virgin Islands native averaged 12.5 PPG 9.4 RPG 2.6 BPG this past season while also being named National Freshman of the Year. FUTURE WNBA FIRST ROUND PICK ???????? @aa_boston pic.twitter.com/9pIw7bFgwB

— Frankie Vision (@Frankie_Vision) September 30, 2020

The Freshman of the Year is poised to make an even bigger splash in year two with South Carolina. On a young team last year, Boston averaged 12.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game for a team that went 32-1 and ended the year as the No. 1 team in the AP poll. After shooting an efficient 60.8% from the field, Boston’s game could expand as she grows into the midrange from her spot at center.

Arguably, Boston may need to assume an even bigger role, despite already being First-Team All-SEC last year and the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. Her freshman season dazzled, but with the loss of Ty Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, South Carolina will need to find more production. No one would argue that Boston is not prepared, but watching her go to work is sure to be a treat.

 

DIJONAI CARRINGTON: BAYLOR, GRAD TRANSFER

WOMENS HOOPER WEDNESDAY- 5’11 Incoming Baylor Grad Transfer G DiJonai Carrington is TOUGH. The San Diego, CA native averaged 14.0 PPG 7.5 RPG 1.6 APG 1.1 SPG in the 2018-19 season while also being named All-PAC 12. FUTURE WNBA PLAYER ???????? @DijonaiVictoria pic.twitter.com/1rrJ8pISEZ

— Frankie Vision (@Frankie_Vision) September 9, 2020

Oregon and UConn vied for Carrington, but in the end the Stanford graduate chose to take her fifth year at Baylor. An elite scorer with a significant rebounding presence, Carrington will fit right in on a team that has previously incorporated high-profile transfers Chloe Jackson and Te’a Cooper.

Surrounded by talent and a coach that knows how to push all the right buttons, Carrington is a candidate to reach new heights. While the effects of her physical injuries remain to be seen, everything from Carrington’s past would suggest that she should flourish in any environment. She scored 14.0 points and hauled in 7.5 rebounds per game in her breakout junior season, with Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer expecting even more in a senior season that lasted just five games. Instead, Kim Mulkey will get to see what a full-strength Carrington can contribute in her lineup.

 

AARI MCDONALD: ARIZONA, SENIOR

For the second straight year, McDonald led the Pac-12 in steals, nabbing 2.3 per game last season and winning the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award for her efforts. Impressive in its own right, McDonald also averaged 20.6 points per game to lead the conference for the second straight year, becoming the first in the Pac-12 to go back-to-back in steals and scoring. Her outsized importance to her Arizona team is evidenced by her 36.8% usage rate on offense, the fourth-highest in the entire sport.

In one game last season, McDonald dropped 44 points on a ranked Texas team. She is also in the midst of a 66-game streak of scoring in double figures, the longest active streak in the country. Last year, her hardware case had to make room for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, recognizing the top shooting guard in the country. After playing with Kelsey Plum her freshman season with Washington, McDonald has established herself as a similarly effective scorer for Arizona. If there is one area to grow, it is 3-point shooting, where she is not shy to try but has made just 28% of her attempts in her two seasons with Arizona. Seen as a top professional prospect last year, McDonald will be making her case for WNBA teams all year while playing on an Arizona team hoping to make some noise in March.

 

ELISSA CUNANE: NC STATE, JUNIOR

I miss the games but I also miss the March Madness stories about the student-athletes that play the game. Ken Neal of @RaycomSports is an AMAZING feature producer/director. Enjoy this inspirational story about @PackWomensBball Elissa Cunane & her family. pic.twitter.com/lttptUvf5Z

— LaChina Robinson (@LaChinaRobinson) March 16, 2020

Nearly averaging a double-double from the center position, Cunane was essential to NC State’s 28-4 season. A 54.7% shooter last season, Cunane fit right in on a team filled with 3-point shooters, making 17-of-38 from beyond the arc after taking just 12 in her freshman season. With 3-point shooters continuing to space the floor and the confidence to attack any defender one-on-one, Cunane will continue to get the point totals. Like others on this list, there is room to improve, which is exactly what makes her junior season so exciting. Last year, NC State won its first conference tournament in 29 years and reached No. 4 in the AP poll. How successful they are in the 2020-2021 season will be largely up to Cunane to decide.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by LPGA Tour (@lpga_tour)

The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.

USWNT regulars Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson furthered their cases for Olympic inclusion with their respective club victories on Saturday and Sunday.

After a roller coaster of a week that saw former Thorns head coach Mike Norris reassigned and a flurry of last-minute roster reshufflings as Friday's trade window closure loomed, the NWSL sprung to life over the weekend with standout performances from ninth-place Portland and third-place Chicago, among others.

After her blocked attempt at goal set up a volleying sixth-minute opener from veteran Christine Sinclair — now the only player in history to record a goal in all 11 NWSL seasons — Smith swiftly netted her own in the 27th minute off a breakaway run that eluded Houston's backline. The goal represented Smith's third of the season as well as her 35th for the Thorns, ultimately leading to the home side's first win of the season in a 4-1 routing of the Dash.

But that wasn't Smith's only stat of the evening. The star forward also lapped former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr to become the youngest player to reach 50 NWSL goal contributions across all games, chalking up 40 goals and 10 assists at the age of 23 years and 254 days.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

"Obviously it feels good to get a win," said Smith in a post-match press conference. "But this is the standard the Thorns have always had. So a win is great, but a win is the expectation — we're hungrier than ever after the way we started."

170 miles up the road, Lumen Field similarly showcased some promising Olympic prospect footwork on Sunday. In Chicago's 2-1 victory over the lagging 13th-place Seattle Reign, striker Mallory Swanson racked up an impressive counterattack assist on fellow forward Ally Schlegel's fourth-minute goal. Swanson went on to find the back of the net herself before halftime, lacing an explosive ball into the top corner in the 31st minute, her second of the season after returning from a lengthy sidelining injury.

Speaking of injuries, fellow USWNT favorites Alex Morgan and Tierna Davidson were not as fortunate as their national squad teammates this weekend. Each exited their club matches early, Morgan with an ankle knock in San Diego's loss to Orlando and Davidson with an apparent hamstring incident early on in Washington's win over Gotham.

LSU came out on top at the 2024 NCAA women's gymnastics championship in Fort Worth on Saturday, besting Cal, Utah, and Florida to capture their first-ever title.

The Tigers' win was far from a landslide. LSU took the first rotation handily thanks to 2024 All-Around winner Haleigh Bryant's team-leading 9.9375 backed by four additional 9.9+ scores from her teammates. But Utah then responded with three strong beam performances of their own, causing the Red Rocks to slide confidently into second place by the end of the second rotation.

By the halfway point, all four teams fell within .288 points of one another before Utah overtook the pack with a dominant floor showing after three rotations. LSU then went on to ace the beam event with Konnor McClain's meet-leading 9.9625 score, coming away with the highest collective score ever awarded to the event in NCAA championship history. The achievement propelled the Tigers to victory, ensuring them the title after the final rotation.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

"This team is full of individuals that have incredible character and integrity and love for each other and all the things you hear from coaches when they sit at a podium like this in a moment of victory, but I promise you it's a real thing," said LSU coach Jay Clark in a post-meet press conference. "I'm just so happy for them."

Contributing to Saturday's atmosphere of excitement was the absence of last year's champion and this year's heavily favored Oklahoma Sooners. Hot off earning the highest team score in NCAA history just last month, the top-ranked Norman squad suffered a shocking loss in the semifinals, where five major mistakes contributed to a third-place finish and a season-low team score of 196.6625.

With Oklahoma out, it was truly anyone's game.

"Every team was out there fighting for their lives — all four teams, it could have gone any of four ways out there," Clark told reporters. "As much as I feel for what happened to Oklahoma in the semifinals, I think it made for a championship that became so packed with emotion because every team out there believed they could do it. It was just tremendous."

LSU is now the eighth program in the sport's history to earn an NCAA women's gymnastic championship.
They share the honor with Georgia, Utah, UCLA, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, and Michigan.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street: