College basketball made its return by unleashing a blockbuster slate of games to tip off the 2024/25 NCAA season on Monday.

While fans will have to wait until Thursday for their first season look at No. 2 UConn's preseason All-American Paige Bueckers, 16 of the preseason Top 25 teams hit Monday's court, including No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 7 LSU, and No. 8 Iowa State.

Paris doubleheader tips off college basketball season in style

It all started with a ranked doubleheader in Paris, France. First, No. 3 USC squeaked by No. 20 Ole Miss 68-66 behind double-doubles from preseason All-Americans JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen.

Even though USC led by 11 points after the first half, they needed both sophomore phenom Watkins's 27 points and 10 rebounds plus Stanford transfer Iriafen's 22 points and 13 rebounds to stave off the Rebels' 40-point second-half surge.

As for Ole Miss, guard KK Deans made an early season statement by leading her team with 19 points. All-SEC shooter Madison Scott put up another 14. Out of the gate, the Rebels expertly disrupted the Trojan offense, forcing USC to commit 26 turnovers in their season opener.

Later, No. 5 UCLA followed USC in bringing a season-opening win back to California. Led by star center Lauren Betts's 18-point, 12-rebound double-double, the Bruins — who committed 22 turnovers — defeated No. 17 Louisville 66-59.

Despite the loss, Louisville freshman guard Tajianna Roberts made a major splash, racking up 21 points in her college basketball debut.

Notably, the first-ever Paris NCAA basketball game was contested to open the 2023/24 season. At that time, South Carolina defeated Notre Dame, kicking off an undefeated run all the way to the 2024 NCAA Championship — a path USC and UCLA will be eager to follow after Monday's victories.

Other Monday matchups showcase NCAA basketball talent

Overseas battles aside, much of the NCAA's opening day pairings were dominated by ranked schools. Top-25 teams triumphed over lesser opponents, none more so than No. 19 Florida State's 119-49 win over North Florida.

However, the day's most intriguing ranked-unranked matchup is still to come, when No. 1 South Carolina takes on Michigan in Las Vegas.

With the exception of Chicago Sky rookie Kamilla Cardoso, the Gamecocks return every starter and most of their bench from last season's championship roster. They'll look to extend their unbeaten run into this season, starting with the Wolverines.

How to watch the South Carolina vs. Michigan NCAA basketball game

South Carolina women's basketball will tip off against Michigan in Las Vegas at 7:30 PM ET on Monday, with live coverage on TNT.

One full month before then end of the 2025 regular season, the WNBA shattered its overall attendance record, with Front Office Sports reporting that the league topped the 2.43 million fan mark last Friday.

The WNBA has sailed past the previous season-high attendance of 2.36 million set in 2002. Even more, it surpassed the record in 41 fewer games than the entire 2002 season, claiming the new mark in a total of 215 games.

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Leading the attendance charge are the No. 7 Golden State Valkyries, the No. 6 Indiana Fever, and the No. 2 New York Liberty. Both the Valks and the Fever passed the 300,000 total this week, with the reigning champion Liberty guaranteed to hit that mark on Thursday night.

Though the clamor to see the Fever is not a surprise, 2025 expansion team Golden State is somewhat unexpectedly topping the WNBA demand this season, continuing to break records by selling out every one of the Valkyries' 17 home games so far — fully packing San Francisco's Chase Center to its 18,064-seat capacity.

While this year's additional franchise plus the expanded 44-game schedule would be enough added inventory to significantly boost the league's attendance totals, overall demand is also driving the new record, with the WNBA logging a record-setting 11,000 additional fans per game throughout the 2025 campaign so far.

With 59 games still left on the 2025 regular-season docket, expect a banner year for the still-expanding league, as the WNBA is currently on track to blast through the 3 million attendance mark.

Dallas star Paige Bueckers all but slammed the door on the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year race on Wednesday, tying basketball legend Cynthia Cooper's 1997 single-game rookie scoring record by dropping a career-high 44 points in the No. 11 Wings' narrow 81-80 loss to the No. 9 LA Sparks.

Despite the Sparks officially eliminating the Wings from playoff contention, Bueckers's efficiency was on full display, tallying the highest single-game performance by any player in the league this season while shooting over 80% from the field.

"People have [seen] the struggles — the injuries, the ups and downs," Bueckers said afterwards. "For people to continue to follow me and still believe in me, it really means a lot."

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The 2025 No. 1 overall draftee leads a rookie class thriving in the pros, with the No. 10 Washington Mystics' Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen and the No. 13 Connecticut Sun's Saniya Rivers hot on Bueckers's heels.

On the WNBA stat sheet, Bueckers currently sits fifth overall in points per game and ninth in assists per game, while Iriafen is fourth in rebounds per game and Citron — who recently set a new Mystics rookie scoring record with 537 career points — is fifth overall in clutch points.

Despite the Sun's struggles, Rivers has excelled defensively, becoming the fastest-ever WNBA player to record 30 career blocks by doing so in just 31 games.

Ultimately, while Sparks guard Kelsey Plum's game-winning buzzer-beater ended Bueckers's postseason dreams on Wednesday night, the rookie's heroics continue to shine with the WNBA's end-of-season awards fast approaching.

Coming off Tuesday's 85-75 momentum-grabbing win over the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, the No. 2 New York Liberty will shoot to maintain late-season consistency against the now-eliminated No. 12 Chicago Sky in Thursday's WNBA slate.

Tied with the No. 3 Atlanta Dream at 22-13 on the year, the Liberty could benefit from the lopsided Thursday matchup, potentially adding space above Atlanta in the WNBA standings considering the Dream face an uphill battle against a motivated Lynx side.

"We're focused on the next nine games," New York head coach Sandy Brondello said following Tuesday's victory. "It's all about focusing on us and getting as high a position as we can in the standings."

The reigning champs still have work to do, however, with recent weeks seeing the Liberty post the second-worst 10-game record for any team above the playoff line — complete with three losses to their 2024 WNBA Finals rival Minnesota.

As for Chicago, the Sky are now focused on the future, bolstered by star forward Angel Reese's return from injury as they continue to build under first-year coach Tyler Marsh's system.

"I want to hoop," Reese said earlier this week. "I'm just happy to be out here to play the game I love."

How to watch Chicago Sky vs. New York Liberty in Thursday's WNBA slate

The No. 2 Liberty will host the No. 12 Sky at 7 PM ET on Thursday, tipping off live on Prime.

As the regular season winds down, the WNBA announced this year's postseason schedule on Wednesday, with the 2025 Playoffs officially tipping off on September 14th.

The latest possible finish for the 2025 WNBA Finals is October 17th, with three rounds of play standing between the eight-team postseason field and this year's championship trophy.

Notably, the WNBA is instituting two main changes to its previous Playoffs format in the 2025 schedule.

The postseason's first round — a best-of-three series — will shift from the WNBA's home-home-away format, in which the higher seeds could sweep at home, to a one-one-one structure.

With this change, the league is guaranteeing that every playoff team will host at least one home game.

Additionally, while the best-of-five semifinals will remain the same with its two-two-one hosting structure, the 2025 WNBA Finals will be the first to expand to a best-of-seven series, feeding fans' growing appetite for additional postseason clashes and offering upwards of four title-deciding matchups.

This new Finals format will see the higher seed host Games 1, 2, 5, and 7, giving each team a possible two opportunities to clinch the 2025 championship in front of a home crowd.

All games in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs will air on ESPN platforms, with matchups across ESPN2, ESPN, and ABC.

Currently, the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx are the only team to clinch their 2025 postseason berth.

On the other hand, the No. 11 Dallas Wings, No. 12 Chicago Sky, and No. 13 Connecticut Sun were all recently eliminated from playoff contention.