2025 Women’s College Basketball Odds to win National Title
2025 Women’s College Basketball Odds to win National Title
Women’s college basketball blew up in the 2023-24 season, mainly due to the presence of Caitlin Clark. Now that Clark is in the WNBA as well as her rival Angel Reece, the sport should continue to get strong ratings mainly due to several exciting players returning this season. Last year. the Iowa-UConn game in the Final Four drew 14.2 million viewers, which was outdrawn by the South Carolina-Iowa game which drew 18.82 M viewers.
The premier star returning appears to be Juju Watkins from USC, who averaged 27.1 points per game last season as a freshman. USC moves to the Big 10, which means at least one chance to play Iowa. Even though Clark is gone, Iowa brought in a huge transfer in Lucy Olsen, who averaged 23.3 points per game for Villanova last season.
You can never forget about UConn and they have one of the nation’s top players and personalities in Paige Bueckers, who averaged 21.9 points after finally staying healthy. Notre Dame, normally a contender, brings up another super sophomore in Hannah Hidalgo, who averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists last season.
South Carolina is the expected title repeat winner at +160 (FanDuel). If you are looking for better value, take USC at +450. The question is whether Watkins has enough around her for the Trojans to make a run. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb added the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. They also brought in three transfers in Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen, who left Oregon State. Iriafen is a 6-3 junior, who averaged 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds for the Cardinal last season. Von Oelhoffen is a 6-11 point guard, who averaged 10.7 points and 5.0 assists for OSU last season. Center Rayah Marshall, at 6-4, who averaged 10.2 points and 10.5 rebounds for USC last season, will give this team a dominant look up front.
If you8 are looking for more of a longshot, UCLA (+1300) fits the bill. The Bruins brought in one of the premier point guards in the Pac-12, Charlisse Leger-Walker from Washington State. She averaged 13.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists last season. They also added 6-3 sophomore Timea Gardiner, from Oregon State, who lost seven players to the portal. Gardiner averaged 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and shot 39.5% from beyond the arc. Lauren Betts, formerly of Stanford, returns to UCLA after putting up 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds on 64.3% shooting. The 6-7 junior also averaged 2.0 blocks per game for the Bruins last season and has a chance to be one of the premier post players in the nation.