With teams now halfway through conference play, the 2023 college basketball landscape is starting to take shape. That means we have a better idea of which teams could make a run in March, which players have the best cases for the Player of the Year award and who the frontrunners are to take home Coach of the Year honors.

Here are Just Women’s Sports’ top five candidates for Coach of the Year at this point in the season.

Shauna Green, Illinois

If the Coach of the Year race ended today, Green would be the clear frontrunner. And unless something goes terribly wrong for her team in the next couple of months, I don’t see that changing. In her first season at the helm, Green has taken Illinois from just seven wins in 2021-22 to a 14-3 record so far in 2022-23, including an upset win over No. 12 Iowa on New Year’s Day. Illinois has also worked its way into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2000, settling in at No. 24 in week 10.

Loving that ranked feeling 🔶🔷@IlliniWBB lands at 24 in the latest @AP Poll!#Illini | #HTTO | #OneWay pic.twitter.com/WfMdZSKtFC

— Illinois Athletics (@IlliniAthletics) January 10, 2023

Green has done an excellent job of working in transfers like Makira Cook from Dayton and Genesis Bryant from NC State with players who were already on the team when she took over, such as Adalia McKenzie and Jada Peebles. Meanwhile, junior forward Kendall Bostic is thriving in her second season after transferring from Michigan State, averaging 10.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Green clearly knows how to get the best out of her team, and she’s a coach they want to play for. If Illinois’ turnaround wasn’t evidence enough, Cook and Brynn Shoup-Hill both transferred from Dayton when Green got the Illinois job in order to join her new team.

Kevin McGuff, Ohio State

This college basketball season has been defined by injuries, and Ohio State hasn’t escaped the unfortunate trend. Against South Florida, Madison Greene endured a season-ending knee injury for the second year in a row, and the Buckeyes have been playing without senior guard Jacy Sheldon since the fifth game of the season. She’s currently in a walking boot with a week-to-week return status. Despite what they are missing, McGuff has his team at No. 3 in the country with an undefeated record. South Carolina and LSU are the only other undefeated teams at this point in the season.

The Buckeyes have also won in a variety of ways, from a 84-67 blowout win over No. 16 Oregon to a 17-point come-from-behind win over Illinois on Sunday. I don’t anticipate Ohio State maintaining its undefeated record through a difficult Big Ten slate, but they have a good chance to win the conference and be a force in March. Until then, McGuff deserves serious props for what he’s done so far.

Kara Lawson, Duke

Duke started last season strong with an upset over Iowa that turned heads, but the season ended in uneventful fashion, with a 17-13 record and a 10th-place finish in the ACC. The Blue Devils had a lot of talent last season after Lawson signed eight transfers and two freshmen in 2021, but they couldn’t put it together consistently over the course of the year. This season, Duke is doing what the team anticipated when Lawson took the helm. The Blue Devils are 15-1 with a No. 16 ranking, and their lone loss came at the hands of No. 3 UConn before Azzi Fudd went down with an injury.

Lawson has made the best of the transfer market, finding players that fit her system and complement each other. Duke’s top three scorers — led by Celeste Taylor, who joined the team from Texas in 2021 — are all transfers.

Lynne Roberts, Utah

Utah finished last season with a 21-12 record and a late season-surge that included a second-place finish in the Pac-12 tournament and a first-round March Madness win over Arkansas. This season, the Utes have picked up where they left off, and Roberts has them reaching new heights. Utah is 14-1, with an impressive 124-78 win over then-No. 16 Oklahoma in November. The team also reached No. 8 in the AP Poll for the first time in program history.

Roberts secured Alissa Pili, one of the most impactful transfers in the country, prior to the season, and the former USC player is delivering with 19.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In her eighth year at the helm, Roberts has also guided one of the best offenses in the country. The Utes’ 87.3 points per game rank fourth in the nation and their 19.5 assists per game rank sixth.

Teri Moren, Indiana

After losing Ali Patberg, Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and Aleksa Gulbe to graduation, it was hard to imagine Indiana not having a drop-off from last season. Then, when Grace Berger was injured against Auburn in late November, things looked even less promising for the Hoosiers. Despite those obstacles, Moren has led Indiana to a top-10 ranking and a 15-1 record.

She added two key players in the offseason, including Israeli phenom Yarden Garzon and Oregon transfer Sydney Parrish, who is from Indiana. Against all odds, the Hoosiers have managed to maintain their excellence from last season, and somehow might be even better this year.

Honorable mentions

Dawn Staley, South Carolina

Staley’s team is too similar to last season for her to be seriously considered for the award, but she still deserves a mention. Maintaining excellence is a challenge, and having the country’s top team two years in a row isn’t just dumb luck. Staley is making it happen with the reigning national champions.

Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey, UConn

No team has struggled with injuries and adversity quite like the Huskies have this season. Yet, they’ve managed to stay at the level we are accustomed to seeing, with a No. 4 ranking and a 13-2 record. Auriemma and Dailey have split coaching duties, so unless there is a way for them to win the award together, the Coach of the Year award will likely go to another candidate.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

UConn’s big NCAA championship win over South Carolina on Sunday weighed in as ESPN’s third most-watched title match in women’s March Madness history, with an average viewership of 8.6 million fans and a peak of 9.9 million.

Also making a viewership mark last weekend were Friday's Final Four tilts. Both the 4.2 million fans who tuned into UConn's win over UCLA and the 3.7 million who saw South Carolina take down Texas helped those games claim spots in the sport's Top 10 most watched across ESPN platforms.

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The 2025 grand finale fell short of the Caitlin Clark-fueled 2023 and 2024 championship games. However, Sunday’s matchup towered over the 2022 edition with an impressive 75% viewership increase.

The 2025 championship more than doubled the 2021's 4.1 million viewers. This demonstrates a sharp continued uptick in the sport's widespread popularity.

With the 2024/25 NCAA women's basketball tournament scoring massive viewership numbers from tip-off through trophy-lifting, it's not entirely surprising that this season's edition registered as the second most-watched women's March Madness on record, boasting an impressive 8.5 billion minutes of content consumed.

Auriemma, Staley push for new March Madness media deal

Both 2025 NCAA championship-contending head coaches subsequently voiced support for securing a new media rights deal. They seek one that separates women's basketball from its current package alongside 39 other collegiate championships.

"For years and years and years we’ve been packaged with all the other Olympic sports, so to speak, in one big chunk. Can we completely separate ourselves and say, 'What are we worth to you?,'" UConn manager Geno Auriemma said on Sunday.

Although a separate deal is a tough ask given that the current contract runs through 2032, South Carolina boss Dawn Staley echoed Auriemma's sentiment. She advocated for a standalone deal similar to the one that's brought lucrative success to the men's tournament.

"I don't know if [new WBCA president Jose Fernandez] can get that, [but opening] up negotiations for a new television deal would be nice," said Staley.

"We need our own television deal so we can understand what our worth is."

The NWSL Players Association released their most recent collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to the public on Tuesday, offering up all of the contractual details and league rules governing compensation, player trades, and other deciding factors through 2030.

Ratified in August 2024, the CBA includes several previously announced and already implemented bold strokes like establishing league-wide unrestricted free agency and a pathway towards revenue sharing, as well as the abolishment of the draft.

Tuesday's unedited document takes contract transparency a step further, outlining additional details such as protections for player data, including usage and privacy rights, and regulations and compensation surrounding name, image, and likeness usage.

In a boost to athletes' paydays, the NWSL's minimum salary will grow from $48,500 to $82,500 (plus bonuses) by 2030 under the new CBA, though an additional clause dictates that a revenue surge could see those terms renegotiated before the contract’s end.

The agreement also codifies financial benefits for family-building and increases support for players with children, plus connects housing stipends to the actual costs of living in each NWSL market.

Notably, the new CBA also bolstered the league's mental health leave, a resource that's already assisting NWSL stars like Angel City's Sydney Leroux and Racing Louisville's Bethany Balcer.

The puck dropped on the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Czechia early Wednesday morning, when the world’s most competitive hockey stars hit the ice for the annual international tournament.

Canada enters as the reigning champion after defeating the US 6-5 in overtime last year to earn their third IIHF title in four years.

Through the tournament's 23 previous editions, the USA and Canada remain the only winners, with the bitter rivals facing off in all but one gold-medal game — the 2019 finale in which Finland took silver behind the US, and Canada snagged bronze.

Both teams feature experienced squads this year, with 13-time tournament contender Marie-Philip Poulin captaining Canada while Team USA relies on the veteran leadership of Hilary Knight, now skating her 15th Worlds — a new IIHF record.

PWHL athletes take center stage at 2025 Worlds

Strengthening North America’s grip on the contest even more is the PWHL, with the second-year league sending 57 players — over 40% of its total athletes — to this year’s World Championship.

In the USA's 7-1 opening win against Finland on Wednesday morning, PWHL players produced every US goal, with the Minnesota Frost’s Kelly Pannek and Ottawa Charge’s Hayley Scamurra recording two each.

The PWHL kicked off the final international break of its 2024/25 season on April 3rd, with plans to resume after the Championship’s conclusion on April 26th.

How to watch the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 2025 IIHF World Championship begins Wednesday, April 9th, and runs through the tournament's 12 PM ET championship game on Sunday, April 20th.

All US games will air live on the NHL Network.

Two of the biggest names in NCAA basketball revealed their transfer portal decisions on Tuesday, as student-athletes continue to weigh their options ahead of the April 23rd deadline.

Prospective top 2025 WNBA Draft pick Olivia Miles will instead play out her final year of collegiate eligibility at TCU, making the leap to the team that knocked her Notre Dame squad out of this season’s national tournament.

"I just want to be a pro without being a pro," Miles told TNT. "Every day on campus I want to be the way a pro would be, so I'm prepared when I do actually go to the league."

Similarly, Division I's 2024/25 leading scorer Ta'Niyah Latson announced her departure from Florida State to join 2025 NCAA runners-up South Carolina on Tuesday.

Latson already has connections in the Gamecock locker room, having played high school ball with South Carolina guard Raven Johnson — a draft-eligible junior who recently hinted she’ll be sticking around for one more NCAA season.

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Strong teams prevail as NCAA transfer portal continues

As strong teams like South Carolina and TCU grew stronger this week, talent drain affected other top squads, including 2025 Final Four contender UCLA.

The Bruins saw three highly touted freshmen enter the transfer portal this week, with Elina Aarnisalo, Kendall Dudley, and Avary Cain seeking fresh starts to their sophomore years.

The talented young trio are likely seeking increased playing time, as the Bruins will return most of their 2024/25 starters next season, all while adding top recruit Sienna Betts — the younger sister of Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts — to the mix.

All in all, college basketball’s new era can be dizzying but, while the portal's carousel is far from done spinning, the 2025/26 field is starting to take shape as players make their transfer announcements.