We’re 11 days away from the start of practices and less than six weeks away from games. The offseason managed to fly by, aided no doubt in part by the fact the transfer portal provided ample entertainment and drama.

As good as last season was (and I’ve got 10 million folks who tuned in to the national title game who can back me up on that), I have a feeling this season will somehow managed to best it.

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So, let’s get to mailbag questions that readers sent in this week.

Besides LSU and South Carolina, who are the 4-6 teams that if all goes well (no injuries, player development, etc.) have a legitimate chance of winning it all this season? — Ce S.

I see we have an SEC fan in Ce S. (which spelled backward is SEC — I smell a conspiracy!). Though I could certainly see either of those teams hoisting the trophy in April in Cleveland, here are a few other non-SEC teams that will give the Tigers and Gamecocks a run for their money.

• UConn: The “no injuries” part of your question applies heavily to the Huskies, who’ve been snakebitten the last two seasons. But with Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd healthy and taking on the scoring load, this will be a team that’s tough to stop. Aaliyah Edwards’ growth is a massive storyline to watch, and she could be the difference-maker who moves this team from being extremely good to elite. Nika Mühl is the kind of player every coach wants on the roster and every player wants in the locker room. This could be the season where everything this team went through over the past two seasons pays off — because of the injuries to Bueckers and Fudd, among others, so many players had to step up. If they all manage to step up together, woooo, watch out.

💙💙

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) August 9, 2023

• UCLA: I’ll trust Dawn Staley on this one as I think back to when she genuinely complimented the Bruins last season after UCLA came into South Carolina during the regular season and handed the Gamecocks a tough game. The Bruins’ core is back — including Charisma Osborne, who eschewed the WNBA and opted into her COVID-19 year — and they picked up one of the biggest (physically and metaphorically) players in the transfer portal this season: 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts. It’s still a young group, but it’s experienced and particularly hungry after its Sweet 16 departure last season.

• Utah: The Utes bring back all five starters, including the reigning Pac-12 player of the year Alissa Pili. Lynne Roberts’ team played LSU tight in the Sweet 16 last year just as the Tigers’ momentum was taking hold, and in the final year of the Pac-12 As We Know It (RIP), the Utes will be tested continually throughout conference play. With Pili anchoring the inside (with the ability to step out, too) and Gianna Kneepkens raining 3s, I like the Utes’ chances of being a top-scoring team again (they ranked third nationally last season, averaging 83 points per game). With the Utes’ cohesion, not many opponents will be able to outscore them.

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• Virginia Tech: No one seems to be talking about the Hokies, but with Elizabeth Kitley and Cayla King returning, Kenny Brooks has another Final Four-caliber squad on his hands, and once you get there, it’s about momentum and moments. The Hokies have been to the last dance and know what it takes to get there. With a veteran group, nothing is going to shake them.

• Iowa: Were all the Hawkeyes fans freaking out? Fear not, the order here is random. Caitlin Clark returns, and with her, so do the Hawkeyes’ hopes of raising a national championship banner in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. There are major questions for me — namely, what Iowa sans Monika Czinano will look like — but there are ways to address holes on a team. And when you have a talent like Clark, those holes can seem quite a bit smaller.

How do you see the final season for the Pac-12 playing out? UCLA, Stanford who else … — Cristalle I.

Oh, Pac-12, we hardly knew ye.

It really is a shame to see the Pac-12 dissolve in this manner. It was a conference that was truly intentional about improving the play of its women’s basketball teams. And it did that by scheduling tougher and tougher nonconference opponents, and over the last 15 years, as multiple Pac-12 teams made Final Four runs, we saw the fruits of that labor. The play nationally continues to improve, so these teams will find that elsewhere, but as someone who called the West Coast home for nearly a decade, I will miss what that conference was.

Alas, on to this final year. As I wrote above, I think the Bruins and Utes are both in Final Four contention and wouldn’t be surprised if either team wins the Pac-12 title. Stanford is a bit of a question mark despite what would feel like a fitting end — Tara VanDerveer and the Cardinal winning a 28th regular-season title. While Cameron Brink and Hannah Jump are two great players around whom to build a team, there is just so much turnover in Palo Alto, and for any of this to be possible, Talana Lepolo needs to up her game consistently to help it run efficiently. USC intrigues me. With Rayah Marshall and Juju Watkins, the Trojans will catch some teams, but I expect them to really take the step into elite territory during the 2024-25 season (yes, when they enter the Big Ten). The reigning tournament champs, Washington State, are going to be tough again as the Cougs return their top four scorers from last season. Charlisse Leger-Walker’s senior year will be one not to miss.

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Do you see Iowa being able to make a late March Madness run again? Or is Czinano too big of a loss to recover from? — Hailey G.

Definitely possible. Will the Hawkeyes miss Czinano? Hell yes. There’s no way that Addison O’Grady or Hannah Stuelke are going to be a one-for-one for the player that Czinano was (and a lot of that was because of the three years’ worth of ESP-like play she had with Clark).

But it’s going to be OK for Iowa. The Hawkeyes don’t need to be last year’s team, and they don’t need O’Grady or Stuelke to be exactly like Czinano. Though it is still going to be the Caitlin Clark show, the rest of the responsibility doesn’t need to mostly fall on a single player (as it often did last year with Czinano). Elite players make those around them better, so anyone who plays with Clark is going to up her game, and Clark will find a way to put O’Grady and Stuelke in positions to succeed. (Will they do it in as few dribbles as Czinano did? Hard to say. That was one of the truly tough things about her.) And it’s not just Czinano. McKenna Warnock’s departure is also going to be lamented. She was the team’s third-leading scorer and a tough rebounder, and she just made good decisions more often than not.

For Iowa to make another run, everyone needs to improve just a bit. And, like last year, the Hawkeyes need to catch fire — whether that means Gabbie Marshall going on a 3-point shooting streak again or Stuelke becoming a double-double machine or Kate Martin taking on a larger scoring role while hitting big outside shots (or, honestly, all of the above). With a player like Clark running the show, that kind of feels like a given.

Top-5 non-con games you’re looking forward to and why. — Marissa S.

Less of a question and more of a command, but I’ll play ball.

It’s impossible to pick just five games, especially when Dec. 3 has a tripleheader of South Carolina at Duke, UConn at Texas and Ohio State at Tennessee. So putting those three incredible games aside, here are five others that I’m looking forward to for varying reasons.

1. Notre Dame-South Carolina in Paris, Nov. 6.

What a way to open the season. The City of Love (and Basketball). I’m excited to see what South Carolina looks like sans The Freshies. Kamilla Cardoso is about to take on a much larger role and I, for one, am here for it. On the Fighting Irish side, if Olivia Miles is unable to go, I think we’ll see Hannah Hidalgo get quite a bit of run, which will be fun with Staley’s defensive matchups.

We’re making history abroad! 🇫🇷

We’ll be taking on the Gamecocks in Paris, France to open the 2023-24 season. The matchup will be the first ever collegiate basketball game — men’s or women’s — played in the French capital.

🔗: #GoIrish☘️

— Notre Dame WBB (@ndwbb) April 12, 2023

2. Virginia Tech at LSU, Nov. 30.

The Tigers certainly don’t have the country’s toughest nonconference slate (perhaps there’s a baked good analogy here?), but we should learn a fair amount about both teams when Kitley, Georgia Amoore and company head down to Baton Rouge. It’s obviously a rematch of last year’s Final Four (the Tigers won by seven), but the personnel is just so different. Mostly, I’m fascinated to see how LSU’s shot distribution pans out against a tough opponent. That’s one of my biggest questions for LSU this season, especially with the additions of Aneesah Morrow and Hailey Van Lith, and I think this will be the first game that actually starts to answer that.

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3. Iowa vs. Kansas State, Nov. 16.

The Hawkeyes also have that Virginia Tech matchup, which will be a good one, but I’m excited for this one to see how Iowa coach Lisa Bluder schemes against Ayoka Lee. The 6-6 post missed last season after undergoing knee surgery, but this game has a chance to be a real matchup of fireworks: Clark from the outside and Lee on the inside.

4. UConn at Minnesota, Nov. 19.

Don’t get me wrong, the UConn-UCLA and UConn-UNC games will tell us a lot more about the Huskies. But we love sports for the storylines that exist off the court, too. And this game is the ultimate “What Could’ve Been” for Gopher fans. As Bueckers returns home, Minnesota fans will get a glimpse of their homegrown player at The Barn.

5. USC vs. Ohio State, Nov. 6.

Cotie McMahon was one of my favorite players to watch last season, and I think the Buckeyes had the steal of the transfer portal by adding Celeste Taylor to a backcourt that already returns Jacy Sheldon, Taylor Thierry and Rikki Harris.

What is your outlook for Minnesota now that Dawn Plitzuweit is at the helm? — Christopher K.

The good news for Gopher fans: Plitzuweit was the right hire, and the freshman core from last season — Mara Braun, Mallory Heyer and Amaya Battle — is taking that sophomore jump, which is usually a place where we see major improvement. This feels like a season in which Minnesota can move a few pegs up the conference standings and get into the middle of the Big Ten.

GO DEEPER

Minnesota basketball has hit a long cold spell. Can coach Dawn Plitzuweit bring the thaw?

The bad news for Gopher fans: The Big Ten is about to get a lot harder, and most of the teams coming in — at least in the near future — are going to slot in front of the Gophers. But with that comes an opportunity. The Big Ten now has an expanded recruiting footprint, and Plitzuweit’s staff can make some inroads. Keeping talent in state is going to remain paramount, especially since the Gophers haven’t batted 1.000 there, but if Minnesota can make some gains, keep more players home and earn some wins on the recruiting trail outside of its previous footprint, basketball in The Barn will improve. Does that improvement equate to conference championships? It’s going to take several steps to get there, but it’s not impossible.

(Photo of, from left, Kate Martin, Caitlin Clark and Gabbie Marshall: C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)