We are about a month away from the start of the NCAA Tournament, which is both exciting and kind of unbelievable. The women’s college basketball season has progressed quickly, and it’s about to move even faster.

So, in the interest of fairness and keeping you informed, here are five teams in the AP Top 25 that I haven’t talked about enough.

Iowa State

I watched the No. 6 Cyclones play Kansas State the other day, and I had two major takeaways. The first was the play of Emily Ryan, who is second in the country with 7.2 assists per game, behind only Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. While Ashley Joens gets all of the attention from opposing defenses, Ryan quietly makes things happen. As the sophomore picks apart defenses, she creates looks for herself and her teammates. Ryan almost always makes the correct decision, and her play makes Iowa State tough to guard. With her at point, the Cyclones are an incredibly difficult matchup.

The second key takeaway from Iowa State’s 70-55 victory in that game was the way the Cyclones defended Ayoka Lee. After she dropped 38 points in their previous matchup, the Cyclones made small but crucial adjustments, forcing Lee one step farther away from the basket than she’s comfortable with. Thanks to that defensive game plan, Iowa State held her to 12 points and proved to me that this Cyclones squad has a high basketball IQ.

UConn

Seeing the Huskies on this list might be jarring, but I’ve mostly left them alone since Paige Bueckers went out with a knee injury. I haven’t been ignoring No. 10 UConn, but I have been taking a “wait and see” approach. It’s hard to judge a team that’s without its best player, and the Huskies have battled through other stretches without core players like Azzi Fudd and Olivia Nelson-Odada. It’s been an unprecedented season for UConn, to say the least. Last week, the Huskies dropped a game to unranked Villanova, marking their first conference loss in nine years.

All the chaos aside, I think UConn will find itself right where it usually does next month: deep into the NCAA Tournament. Generally, when a star player gets hurt, one of two things can happen: 1) The team completely falls off the rails, or 2) everyone else gets better. On the surface, it seems like option one is occurring, but if you dig a bit deeper, you’ll see a UConn squad that has young players — namely Fudd and fellow freshman Caroline Ducharme — finding themselves. With their confidence rising and Bueckers’ return looming, all the lows the Huskies have suffered this season won’t really matter if they make a late-season surge.

LSU

The No. 11 Tigers started the season with a respectable loss to No. 25 Florida Gulf Coast, and since then, have done exactly what you want to see from a team that opens with a loss: They’ve gotten better week after week. There’s not a bad loss in their 21-4 record, and they’ve managed to pull off some impressive wins along the way.

The game I want to focus on is LSU’s 66-60 loss to South Carolina on Jan. 6, because it offers an excellent snapshot of what makes this LSU team worthy of the No. 11 national ranking. The Tigers didn’t have to do anything crazy to stick with South Carolina. Instead, they just played their game. LSU’s top-three scores this season — Khayla Pointer, Alexis Morris and Faustino Aifuwa — were their top-three scorers against South Carolina. And South Carolina’s Big Three — Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson — all had excellent showings of their own: Boston recorded 19 points and 18 rebounds, Cook had 17 points and Henderson finished with 16 points. LSU, not known for its 3-point shooting, made just one attempt from long range and still stuck around in the game.

Do ya thang, KP3

📺 https://t.co/quxy22UQhV pic.twitter.com/xb16fRHu0P

— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) February 11, 2022

Based on that performance, the Tigers are clearly good enough to nearly knock off the nation’s top team without needing any kind of luck or fluke situation. That is a great sign for the Tigers going forward.

Florida

The No. 17 Gators are both a great example of a team peaking at the right time and a testament to the work of interim head coach Kelly Rae Finley. In fact, early-season Florida and late-season Florida are two very different teams. A squad that loses to Towson and George Mason has no business being in the top 25, but a team that’s defeated LSU, Tennessee and Georgia has no business being unranked. Florida is both of those teams, and the most important thing is that those losses came in November and the wins in January and February.

The Gators are a good reminder that those of us who aren’t playing (media and fans) shouldn’t get too high or too low on a team at the beginning of the season. Florida just needed a little more time to develop. With three double-digit scorers and two other players averaging at least seven points per game, Florida is running a balanced attack. Although star sophomore guard Lavender Briggs won’t return this season after injuring her shin, Florida’s three biggest wins came after Briggs’s injury, meaning the balance the Gators have perfected is playing off.

BYU

Last on my list of teams that deserve more attention is No. 20 BYU. I’m a firm believer in giving credit to teams that perform well, even if they don’t play in the greatest of conferences. I am a Gonzaga grad, after all, so it doesn’t take too much critical thinking to understand why I feel that way.

The two-loss Cougars don’t have the chance to play many ranked teams, and the WCC doesn’t boast the steepest competition, but that doesn’t mean BYU hasn’t been tested. The defense I’ve used for Florida Gulf Coast in other weeks also applies to BYU. Teams like these can essentially only go down in the poll and the eyes of basketball critics, because every game on their schedule is one they should win. In other words, victories don’t really give them a bump, but losses certainly push them downward. That is exactly what happened to the Cougars when they suffered a bad loss to Portland on Feb. 3. The got back on track two days later, however, with a road win over a Gonzaga squad that’s getting votes in the AP poll.

Led by Shaylee Gonzales’ 18.7 points a game, BYU is 21-2 and the clear favorite to win the WCC Tournament for an automatic March Madness bid.

.@shayleegonzales career-high 3️⃣3️⃣ points❗️❗️❗️#WCChoops | @byuwbb pic.twitter.com/ToWY4iojY6

— WCC Basketball (@WCChoops) February 12, 2022

Poll talk

I don’t have any Poll Talk this week, as my rankings are very similar to the AP top 25. That doesn’t usually happen, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more poll opinions to share this season. Until then, I’ll leave you with my rankings and sign off.

JWS’ Top 25 in Week 15

1. South Carolina (23-1)
2. Stanford (21-3)
3. Louisville (22-2)
4. NC State (23-3)
5. Indiana (18-4)
6. Michigan (20-4)
7. Iowa State (21-3)
8. Arizona (18-4)
9. Tennessee (21-4)
10. LSU (21-4)
11. UConn (17-5)
12. Baylor (19-5)
13. Oklahoma (20-4)
14. Georgia Tech (19-6)
15. Texas (17-6)
16. Florida (19-6)
17. Maryland (19-6)
18. BYU (21-2)
19. Ohio State (19-4)
20. Notre Dame (19-6)
21. Georgia (17-7)
22. Virginia Tech (19-6)
23. North Carolina (19-5)
24. Iowa (16-7)
25. Florida Gulf Coast (22-2)

Eden Laase is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. She previously ran her own high school sports website in Michigan after covering college hockey and interning at Sports Illustrated. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

The WNBA is back in action on Tuesday night, as the Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm headline a series of games that could make or break the current trajectories of several 2025 title contenders.

Seeking an especially strong Tuesday performance is the Fever, as Indiana tries to snap a two-game losing streak against the increasingly confident Storm.

"There are going to be stretches that are really good and there's going to be stretches that aren't as good," Fever guard Caitlin Clark said on Sunday, addressing her recent shooting slump.

While the Indiana and Seattle clash will lead the Tuesday charge, the night will also see young squads sizing up WNBA juggernauts as bottom-table teams look for a leg up:

• No. 8 Indiana Fever vs. No. 5 Seattle Storm, 10 PM ET (NBA TV): The Fever need a win against a Storm side that can't seem to lose, as both teams eye the postseason.

• No. 1 Minnesota Lynx vs. No. 9 Washington Mystics, 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The up-and-coming Mystics will attempt to hand the Lynx a second season loss, as Minnesota star Napheesa Collier remains day-to-day with lower back stiffness.

• No. 4 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 12 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The Dream are on a tear, surging up the standings as the struggling Wings attempt to take flight.

• No. 10 LA Sparks vs. No. 11 Chicago Sky, 8 PM ET (NBA TV): The Sparks have cooled after a hot start while the Sky has yet to rev up, with both teams aiming to end a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night.

Teams across the league are hoping to make the most of every minute while also managing injury concerns and absences as the WNBA All-Star break looms.

The WNBA Class of 2025 is already making its mark on the league, with first-year players stepping up and showing out while the Rookie of the Year race — and betting odds — heat up.

No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers has been just as good as advertised, with the Dallas Wings guard leading her class in both minutes played and points per game while also charting league-wide in assists per game, steals per game, and mid-range shots made.

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DraftKings currently has Bueckers as the clear WNBA Rookie of the Year race frontrunner at -1,000, though the dynamic DC duo of guard Sonia Citron (+1,500) and forward Kiki Iriafen (+1,000) are quickly gaining traction.

Iriafen won May's WNBA Rookie of the Month award after a series of career-opening double-doubles, while her Washington Mystics teammate Citron has continued to execute in the clutch — most recently posting a career-high double-double performance of 27 points and 11 rebounds in last Sunday's 91-88 overtime win over Dallas.

"Not only is [Iriafen] holding her own, she's excelling," Citron told JWS earlier this month. "And seeing that is just incredible."

"Soni just does all the little things," Iriafen added. "She doesn't shortcut anything, she's doing the fundamentals, she doesn't cheat the game at all."

Though the NWSL hit the pause button this week, players worldwide are still on the move, as both European and US soccer teams use the midseason break to sharpen their lineups with international signings.

The NWSL has already seen one major departure, with the San Diego Wave announcing Monday that forward María Sánchez will return to her former Liga MX club UANL Tigres after nearly five years in the NWSL, with the Wave set to receive an undisclosed transfer fee in return.

"When the opportunity came to return to Tigres, I had to do a lot of inner searching, and I ultimately decided that returning to Liga MX Femenil and Tigres specifically was the best course of action for my career," the 29-year-old dual citizen and Mexico international player said in the Wave's release.

NWSL clubs are also setting their sights on European free agents, with the Washington Spirit bringing in Juventus forward Sofia Cantore last week — the first Italian signing in league history.

Also hopping aboard the player transaction carousel is new WSL side London City, with the top-flight debutantes inking OL Lyonnes midfielder and Dutch international Daniëlle van de Donk on Friday.

Meanwhile, van de Donk's wife and club teammate Ellie Carpenter is also potentially WSL-bound, with the defender reportedly nearing a deal that would see the Australian join Chelsea FC in return for the Blues sending Canadian international Ashley Lawrence to OL Lyonnes.

For their part, OL Lyonnes picked up defender Ingrid Engen from Barcelona as a free agent last week, adding the Norwegian international after snagging French forward and PSG's all-time leading scorer Marie-Antoinette Katoto earlier this month.

With the most recent NWSL CBA abolishing traditional trade windows, expect even more international signings and roster reshufflings before the league resumes play on August 1st.

San Diego is paying tribute to one of their own, with the Wave announcing plans to retire the No. 13 jersey of NWSL and USWNT legend Alex Morgan on September 7th.

Still topping the team's all-time scoring leaderboard with 23 goals in just over two seasons with San Diego, the retired club captain will be the first-ever Wave player to receive the prestigious honor.

Morgan also led San Diego to the 2023 NWSL Shield as well as postseason appearances in the 2022 expansion club's first two seasons.

"Alex's legacy goes far beyond goals and accolades. She helped lay the foundation for this club and elevated the standard for what women's soccer is today," said Wave FC governor Lauren Leichtman in the team's Tuesday announcement.

"She made this city her home, inspired our fans and community, and helped define who we are," Leichtman continued. "Her impact will be felt for generations, and it's only fitting that her number becomes a permanent part of Wave FC history." 

Morgan joined the Southern California squad's ownership group just last month, saying "San Diego is where I've built my home, where I am raising my children, and found a purpose beyond my playing career."

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How to attend the San Diego jersey retirement of Alex Morgan

San Diego will officially retire Morgan's No. 13 jersey during their home match against the Houston Dash at 8 PM ET on September 7th.

Tickets to the game will go on sale to the general public online at 6 PM ET on Tuesday.