When college basketball teams bolt for the beaches in November, it means only one thing.
That some marquee nonconference showdowns are on the horizon.
A fearsome quintet of decorated, accomplished women’s basketball programs will descend upon the Cayman Islands Classic in just over a month, giving fans an early look at five teams that all have legitimate chances at making it to the NCAA Tournament — and some teams who could do more than merely just participate in March Madness.
Some of the biggest names in the sport today will be playing some of their toughest nonconference tussles of the year in the Cayman Islands, and FloHoops is the home of some of the best matchups that you’ll find anywhere on the college basketball calendar throughout the upcoming holiday season.
Don’t go into the Cayman Islands Classic without some proper preparation, however. Read this handy guide to get yourself up to speed first, then check back later to FloHoops for all the action from George Town.
Here’s a look ahead at five storylines — one for each participating team — you need to keep tabs on heading into the Cayman Islands Classic, streamed live and exclusively on FloHoops from Nov. 28-30:
Hailey Van Lith Has New Home At TCU
The current era of women’s college basketball has seen a crop of stars break through who have gone beyond being only well-known in their sport, but also well-known to more casual sports fans.
Hailey Van Lith is someone who fits that bill.
First coming on the map after leading Louisville to a Final Four appearance as a sophomore in 2022, Van Lith spent last season with then-defending national champion LSU and handled point guard duties for a Tigers squad that won 31 games and reached the Elite Eight.
Returning to the transfer portal in the offseason after her lone year in Baton Rouge, Van Lith chose the Horned Frogs to give TCU instant star power and veteran leadership mixed in with returning leaders Madison Conner and Sedona Prince, making the trio one of the most dangerous in the entire sport.
The only active player in the country with at least 1,900 points, 500 rebounds and 350 assists in their college career, Van Lith — who is coming off a bronze medal won at the Paris Olympics this past summer with the United States’ women’s national 3×3 basketball team — is a big-time player unfazed by the limelight.
For a TCU program seeking its first NCAA Tournament trip since 2010, that’s exactly what it needs.
Olivia Miles Is Back For Notre Dame
It’s been over a year-and-a-half since Olivia Miles last played in a competitive game, but even with that long absence, her return to an already-stacked Notre Dame squad gives the Fighting Irish their most talent-rich team in the Niele Ivey era.
An Associated Press Second Team All-American and the runner-up for the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year during her sophomore season in 2022-23, Miles stuffed the stat sheet with averages of 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game before suffering a knee injury in the Irish’s regular-season finale. That injury caused her to miss the entirety of her junior season last year, too, forcing her to watch from afar as Notre Dame won 28 games.
Baring a late setback, Miles is ready to go for the Irish in 2024-25 and play alongside reigning AP First Team All-American and superstar guard Hannah Hidalgo (22.6 points per game last season) for the first time, with old friends/fellow WNBA prospects like Maddy Westbeld and Sonia Citron back in the mix, too.
The highest-ranked team (No. 6) in the preseason AP Poll coming down to the Cayman Islands Classic, Notre Dame has serious Final Four potential if all goes according to plan, and if you want an early look at a national title contender on FloHoops, look no further.
Utah’s Kneepkens Shoots Lights-Out
Speaking of players who were unfairly robbed of the chance to play for great teams last year, Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens averaged 17.8 points per night through eight games this past season before suffering a season-ending injury, which denied NCAA Tournament viewers the chance to see her and All-American/now-Minnesota Lynx player Alissa Pili tear it up in March Madness.
With Pili off to the WNBA, it’s Kneepkens’ team now — and she’s ready to make up for lost time.
A career 42.3% shooter from 3-point range, the junior guard is a two-time First Team All-Pac 12 Conference selection and should be a favorite to earn her third first-team honor of her career during the Utes’ first season in the Big 12 Conference, having been named to the league’s preseason team as one of four starters from a Utah team that made the second round of the NCAA tourney a season ago.
The Minnesota native will be trying to help Utah keep a run of postseason success going that’s included three straight trips to March Madness — with at least one win each time — in a tough new league with six teams ranked in the top 16 of the AP poll. Getting some experience against tournament-quality competition in nonconference play via the Cayman Islands Classic will prepare her and the rest of the Utes well for what’s to come.
Ward Making Power 4 Leap With MSU
With last year’s star player, WNBA Draft pick Jessika Carter, now playing professionally, Mississippi State is looking to try and build itself back up to the heights it reached less than a decade ago when the Bulldogs made back-to-back national championship games in 2017 and 2018.
Transfer portal additions may be the key to getting MSU back to being an elite-level force in women’s college hoops, and that will ring especially true if grad transfer guard/forward Terren Ward hits the ground running right away in Starkville.
Ward was a two-time First Team All-Sun Belt Conference choice at Georgia Southern, where she averaged 16.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game across four seasons with the Eagles in which she was the focal point of the offense. Her usage percentage of 35.2% a season ago was the highest in the Sun Belt, and no player in the conference last year shot more 2-point attempts than Ward’s 398, either.
Former Georgia Southern coach Anita Howard was brought onto Sam Purcell’s staff at MSU this offseason and Ward followed her coach there, giving the Bulldogs a player who has scored at least 20 points 41 times in her career, 30 points six times, and 40 points once. A dark-horse pick to be the Southeastern Conference’s scoring champion at season’s end, Ward’s potential as a stat-sheet stuffer instantly raises the Bulldogs’ profile for 2024-25.
USF’s Puisis Looks To Finish Strong
The Bulls missed the NCAA tourney for the first time in three seasons in 2023-24, but their chances to make the field probably would’ve been a lot better if Sammie Puisis hadn’t had an injury-riddled campaign.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Ohio had an injury in the preseason that caused her to miss the first month-plus of the regular season, being able to return with a bang in mid-December as she dumped 21 points in 22 minutes on Gardner-Webb in her first action of the year. Three days later, an ACL injury suffered in practice ended her season for good.
It was a major bummer for both Puisis and USF, especially after a fantastic 2022-23 season — averaging 15.6 points per game with 109 3-pointers made — in which the player earned the American Athletic Conference’s Newcomer of the Year after transferring in from Florida State. The good news for the Bulls, however, is that the supporting cast around her is now as good as ever during her time in Tampa.
Watch NCAA Women’s Basketball On FloHoops
The NCAA Women’s Basketball is streaming live on FloHoops and the FloSports app. The BIG EAST Digital Network is also on FloHoops and the FloSports app.
FloHoops Archived Footage
Video footage from all events will be archived and stored in a video library for FloHoops subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.
