Women’s basketball has grown in popularity over the past few years thanks in no small part to the sensational play of Caitlin Clark.

UConn, Iowa, Louisville and Tennessee will take part in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic on Dec. 7.

Geno Auriemma becomes third Division I coach to win 1,200 games.

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma is nearing 1,200 career wins.

UConn star Paige Bueckers suggests she may return for another season if it means getting to play again with now-injured teammates, including Azzi Fudd and Aubrey Griffin.

Members of the women’s basketball community say the new NCAA eight-year deal with ESPN that will pour an estimated $65 million annually into the sport reflects the growth of the game.

South Carolina started the new year where it finished off 2023 — atop The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

No. 17 UConn is headed to Canada for a game against Toronto Metropolitan University, which is not an NCAA team but a member of the Canadian organization U Sports.

UConn fell to its worst ranking in 30 years when the Huskies dropped to 17th in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll, The last time the Huskies were ranked this low was the second poll of the 1993-94 season when they were 18th.

UConn guard Azzi Fudd will miss the remainder of the season with a noncontact knee injury she sustained last week during practice.

South Carolina moves up to No. 1 after a chaotic opening week that saw nine of the first 14 teams lose, including previous top choice LSU and second-ranked UConn.

Saniya Rivers had a career-best 33 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists to help North Carolina State stun second-ranked Connecticut 92-81 on Sunday, earning the program’s first win against the Huskies in more than a quarter-century.

Aaliyah Edwards scored 23 points and Paige Bueckers made her long-awaited return from injury as No. 2 UConn opened its season Wednesday with a 102-58 rout of Dayton.

LSU won its first basketball title in school history, overcoming Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 in the national championship game.

The Associated Press will announce the men’s and women's college basketball player and coach of the year awards this week.

UConn’s record streak of reaching 14 straight Final Fours ended when third-seeded Ohio State beat the No. 2 seed Huskies 73-61 in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

More March Madness chaos in the women’s NCAA Tournament could be looming on the horizon if the past few months of upsets are any indication of what’s around the corner.

Caroline Ducharme scored all 10 of her points in the fourth quarter, including the winning free throws with just under 5 seconds left and No. 6 Connecticut came from behind to beat Creighton 62-60.

UConn lost back-to-back games for the first time in three decades after the fourth-ranked Huskies were beaten 59-52 by Marquette on Wednesday night.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has strongly defended her team in response to comments by UConn coach Geno Auriemma after the top-ranked Gamecocks' 81-77 victory over the Huskies on Sunday.

Aliyah Boston scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half, including 14 in the fourth quarter, to help No. 1 South Carolina beat fifth-ranked UConn 81-77.

Aaliyah Edwards scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for No. 4 UConn, which opened up a close game in the second half to beat Georgetown 65-50.

After a difficult stretch that saw UConn have to postpone a game because the fourth-ranked Huskies didn't have enough healthy players, they are starting to get healthy.

The Big East Conference says Sunday's game between No. 5 UConn and DePaul at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, has been postponed because the Huskies don’t have enough healthy players available to suit up.

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma will sit out the Huskies’ game at Xavier Thursday, the fourth game he has missed this season due to illness.

This season certainly hasn’t unfolded the way Geno Auriemma envisioned.

South Carolina maintained its hold on top of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

Aaliyah Edwards scored 26 points, Lou Lopez Senechal added 23, and No. 9 UConn, which was missing head coach Geno Auriemma, beat Florida State 85-77 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase.

South Carolina and Stanford are still 1-2 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll after their game over the weekend.

Azzi Fudd scored 32 points and No. 5 UConn beat 10th-ranked North Carolina State 91-69 on Sunday in a game that started with a scary moment when longtime Huskies associate head coach Chris Dailey fainted after the national anthem.

UConn announced it has agreed to pay former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie another $3.9 million to settle discrimination claims surrounding his 2018 firing.

The Basketball Hall of Fame has added 16 new members.

The Basketball Hall of Fame will officially enshrine 13 new members on Saturday night.

UConn says women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers tore the ACL in her left knee during a pickup game and will miss the entire 2022-23 season.

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma hugged at midcourt after South Carolina ended UConn’s undefeated run in NCAA championship games.

The Connecticut Huskies had to lean on Paige Bueckers as hard as they could against South Carolina in the NCAA championship game.

Dawn Staley and South Carolina buttoned up on defense and won their second national championship, stifling UConn for a 64-49 victory that ended the Huskies’ undefeated streak in title games.

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies have gone 11-0 in NCAA title games and will look to continue that success when they face South Carolina for the women's basketball title Sunday night.

The South Carolina Gamecocks have had the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll the entire season.

Kim Mulkey is The Associated Press women's basketball Coach of the Year in her first season at LSU.

There was a time, not that many years ago, when predicting who would win the women’s NCAA Tournament was not that difficult.

It’s been 24 years since North Carolina State has reached a Final Four and during that time UConn has been to 18 of them, including the last 13 straight.

Paige Bueckers and Christyn Williams each scored 15 points to lead a balanced UConn offense in a 75-58 win over Indiana to advance the Huskies into their 16th consecutive regional final.

Freshman Azzi Fudd scored 16 points and hit two key free throws late as No. 2 seed UConn outfought No. 7 seed UCF 52-47 in a defensive slugfest Monday night to advance to an NCAA record 28th straight Sweet 16.

South Carolina has expectedly earned the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament.

Evina Westbrook scored 13 points, Aaliyah Edwards added 12 points and No. 6 UConn put forth another dominant defensive effort to beat Villanova 70-40 in the Big East championship game.

Paige Bueckers scored 16 points in her third game back from knee surgery and No. 7 UConn routed Georgetown 84-38 in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

Paige Bueckers scored eight points in 12 minutes in her return from a knee injury that kept her out for more than two months.

Freshman Azzi Fudd scored a career-high 25 points in her first start to help No. 10 UConn beat seventh-ranked Tennessee 75-56.

Men’s and women’s basketball coaches across the country are coping with the challenge of physical conditioning that comes with COVID-19 pauses.

UConn’s record 16-year run in the top 10 is over.

UConn says star Paige Bueckers has undergone successful surgery to repair the left leg fracture she suffered a week ago as well as a meniscus tear in that knee.

Third-ranked UConn struggled again without star Paige Bueckers but managed to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since 1993, holding off UCLA 71-61.

Georgia Tech shut down No. 3 UConn in its first game since an injury to reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers, defeating the Huskies 57-44 in a defensive slugfest.

Paige Bueckers scored 22 points but went down with an injury at the end of No. 2 UConn’s 73-54 win over No. 24 Notre Dame.

This week's Battle 4 Atlantis men's college basketball tournament in the Bahamas headlines the list of offshore events returning to the sport amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The release of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll will be delayed a day because of a Monday afternoon matchup between the top two teams.

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is expanding to 68 teams beginning with the current season, giving it an equal number of participants as the men’s tournament as part of a concerted effort at gender parity.

UConn comes into this season ranked No. 2, having added the nation’s top recruit, guard Azzi Fudd, to a team that returns last year’s collegiate national player of the year, Paige Bueckers, and every other starter from a squad that went to it’s 13th straight Final Four.

The Associated Press preseason women's All-America team is out and Paige Bueckers of UConn is a unanimous choice.

Sue Bird’s impressive 17-year Olympic journey will come to an end this weekend.

A report examining how the NCAA conducts its championship events is recommending that the association considers holding the men's and women's Final Fours in the same location.

There is definitely a UConn flavor to the women's basketball being played in the Tokyo Games.

Jennifer Gillom says everything is a process.

U.S. assistant Dan Hughes is not the face of the Olympic women's basketball team and he couldn't be happier in his role.

The groundbreaking ruling that went into effect on enabling college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness for the first time has sent college and university athletic directors and compliance officers scrambling.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

Vanderbilt has hired Shea Ralph away from UConn to help revive the Commodores’ struggling women’s basketball program.

Haley Jones scored 17 points and Stanford beat Arizona 54-53, giving the Cardinal and coach Tara VanDerveer their first national championship in 29 years.

UConn's star guard became the first freshman ever to win The Associated Press women's basketball player of the year award Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)SAN ANTONIO – Paige Bueckers is in a class all by herself. UConn's star guard became the first freshman ever to win The Associated Press women's basketball player of the year award Wednesday. “It’s amazing, surreal for people to think of me that highly and to be in that position as a freshman,” Bueckers said. But I don’t think you can.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)SAN ANTONIO – Maryland coach Brenda Frese was honored as The Associated Press women's basketball coach of the year Wednesday for the second time in her career. Frese received eight votes from the 30-member national media panel that votes on the weekly AP Top 25. Obviously its going to be one I never forget,” said Frese, who also was AP coach of the year 19 years ago when she was at Minnesota. When Maryland won the Big Ten Tournament, Frese's father and mother, Donna, were in the stands in Indianapolis. “It's a memory I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – NCAA President Mark Emmert promised the Women's Basketball Coaches Association he will work with coaches to fix the “stark difference” between the Division I men's and women's tournaments. He asked Emmert what he could do to make sure those people give women's basketball the same advantages and opportunities. “Maybe that’s what has to happen in women’s basketball?” Auriemma said. "Maybe women’s basketball has got to separate itself from the other women’s sports? Yet for the women's Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, only “NCAA Women's Basketball” was in the middle of the court.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)Arizona has been having fun and playing good basketball, all the way to its first women's NCAA Final Four. The 11-time national champions are making their 13th consecutive Final Four appearance and 21st overall for coach Geno Auriemma. The Cardinal's first Final Four since 2017 is their 14th overall, trailing only to UConn and Tennessee's 18. The Wildcats hadn't even been in the women's NCAA Tournament since 2005, though they would have made it last year with a 24-7 record before the tourney was canceled because of the pandemic. Stanford is in its 34th consecutive women's NCAA Tournament, with Tara VanDerveer in her record 35th overall as a coach.

Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance. The Lady Bears (28-3) had won the previous two, including a 74-58 win at Connecticut in January of 2020. The Lady Bears closed the action-packed first quarter with a 20-10 run and trailed 26-24 after one.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) works the ball past Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the first half of a college basketball game in the Sweet Sixteen round of the women's NCAA tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Saturday, March 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – The game was billed as a marquee matchup of uber-talented freshmen Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark. Williams scored 27 points and Bueckers added 18 to lead No. 1 UConn to a 92-72 win over fifth-seeded Iowa on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. “I thought we played a great team basketball game," Williams said.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)SAN ANTONIO – Once Paige Bueckers and UConn got rolling, Syracuse couldn't stop them and now the Huskies are heading back to a familiar place — the Sweet 16. 1 seed UConn beat eighth-seeded Syracuse 83-47 on Tuesday night and advance to the regional semifinals of the women's NCAA Tournament for the 27th straight season. The Husky dog was carrying the suitcase,” UConn coach Chris Dailey said. AdThe UConn players sang “Happy Birthday” to Auriemma earlier Tuesday in a video posted on Twitter. “Tough kid, she didn’t quit,” an emotional Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman said.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – UConn did just fine without coach Geno Auriemma. Bueckers scored 24 points — the most by a UConn player in her first NCAA Tournament game — and the top-seeded Huskies routed High Point 102-59 in the first round Sunday. “We just want to continue to win for him so he can get out here with us,” Bueckers said. Muhl injured her left ankle in the Big East Tournament opener, but returned for the Huskies' game the next night. “I think that was a little bit of improv from some of the players," High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press women's basketball All-American team Wednesday. She's only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and UConn's Maya Moore. “Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. She became the school's first women's basketball All-American last season. She was joined by Naz Hillmon, who is the first women's player at Michigan to earn All-America honors.

North Carolina State head coach Wes Moore cuts down the net after his team defeated Louisville in the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference NCAA women's college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, March 7, 2021. 1 seed for the women’s NCAA Tournament. 1 seed for the first time, joining Stanford, South Carolina and Connecticut on the top lines for the San Antonio-themed regions for the women's tourney. 1 seed is a is a great honor, obviously,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. Tennessee continued its streak of making the NCAA Tournament all 39 years.

“I didn't all the sudden go on spring break, I didn't go to Florida," he told reporters in a conference call on Monday. I didn't do anything.”The top-seeded Huskies are scheduled to leave for the tournament in San Antonio on Tuesday. According to federal and state health guidelines, Auriemma must remain in isolation for 10 days and may rejoin the team on March 24. The team's head physician said contact tracing protocols indicated Auriemma did not have close contact with any other team member since Friday. Auriemma said he will be talking to his assistant coaches while they are in Texas, but won’t be trying to coach from Connecticut.

It's the 16th time that the Huskies have completed the regular season as the top team in the poll. 1 seed in the women's NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Monday night. AdCONSISTENT WOLVERINESMichigan finished the season ranked 16th, marking only the second time in program history that the Wolverines were in the final poll. CONFERENCE SUPREMECYThe Southeastern Conference had six teams in the final poll with No. UNBEATEN LANCERSCal Baptist earned its first vote ever in the women's AP Top 25 after winning the WAC Tournament.

(David Butler/Pool Photo via AP)UConn, South Carolina, Stanford and Louisville are in line for the top seeds of the women's NCAA Tournament. The women's basketball selection committee revealed the top 16 teams to this point Monday night. 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll earlier in the day, would be the overall top seed. “I would say that for every line we had a healthy amount of debate,” NCAA women's basketball selection committee chair Nina King said. The two schools were joined by Arkansas, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Missouri State, South Dakota State and Washington State.

1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, for the first time this season after beating top-ranked South Carolina last week. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. For the ninth consecutive season, the Huskies have reached the pinnacle of the women's AP Top 25, receiving 26 first-place votes from a 30-member national media panel Monday. 1 South Carolina in overtime a week ago in a 1-vs-2 matchup. Stanford and South Carolina have the next longest active streaks, at two years.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley confers with forward Aliyah Boston on the sideline during the second half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. South Carolina, which originally fell from the top spot after losing to North Carolina State, beat the Huskies last season for the first time in eight tries. Here are other tidbits from the poll:MILESTONEMonday marked the 800th women's college basketball poll in the AP's history. Ad___More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Connecticut's Aaliyah Edwards, left, drives to the basket past DePaul's Kiara Dallmann (42) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)CHICAGO – Christyn Williams scored a career-high 29 points, Paige Bueckers added 22 points and personal-best 10 assists, and No. “It’s just lousy playing basketball this time in their lives,” Auriemma said. Sonya Morris scored 19 for DePaul, which had won four in a row since a loss at UConn. March 7 and 17, 1993, when they lost to Providence in the Big East tournament and Louisville in the NCAA.

The Huskies routed Butler 103-35 on Tuesday, giving Auriemma his 1,099th win. “I wish she were still coaching and I wish I had to work a lot harder to catch her,” Auriemma said. Christyn Williams and Aubrey Griffin, who made her first start, each scored 17 points for unbeaten UConn (8-0, 7-0 Big East). Okako Adika scored 18 points for Butler (1-9, 1-8), despite spending most of the game in foul trouble, and Genesis Parker added 15 points. UConn: The Huskies heads to Knoxville for the first time in 15 years to face No.

And so, in what has since become a viral video, Jackson, a 2006 UConn graduate who lives in Boston, posted a tweet of himself downing a large spoonful of Black Bison hot sauce, then taking another swig from the bottle, while chanting, "U-C-O-N-N, UConn, UConn, UConn." Another fan tweeted that he believed all UConn fans should follow suit, in penance for doubting their Huskies. Numerous fans began posting videos of themselves taking shots of hot sauce. One hot sauce brand got wind of the challenge and is offering discounts to participants who buy their sauce. “I mean, I'd have to celebrate with some hot sauce," he said.

And so, in what has since become a viral video, Jackson, a 2006 UConn graduate who lives in Boston, posted a tweet of himself downing a large spoonful of Black Bison hot sauce, then taking another swig from the bottle, while chanting, "U-C-O-N-N, UConn, UConn, UConn." Another fan tweeted that he believed all UConn fans should follow suit, in penance for doubting their Huskies. Numerous fans began posting videos of themselves taking shots of hot sauce. One hot sauce brand got wind of the challenge and is offering discounts to participants who buy their sauce. “I mean, I'd have to celebrate with some hot sauce," he said.

UConn has two more chances to play nonconference ranked teams, with Tennessee and South Carolina on the schedule. Conversely on the men's side, a majority of the current Top 25 have played at least one ranked nonconference opponent. The lack of marquee nonconference matchups could cause the NCAA women’s basketball selection committee some agita when trying to figure out who deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament and where teams should be seeded. We’ll have lively discussions.”Longtime ESPN and CBS analyst Deb Antonelli was sad that so many women's basketball games have been canceled or postponed. “COVID is COVID and we don’t want to penalize a team for the uncontrollable.”___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

3 UConn overcame a sluggish start to rout Providence 87-50 on Saturday to give Auriemma his 1,098th win. They trailed 7-1 midway through the first quarter, prompting Auriemma to sub out his starters, with the exception of Bueckers. “I was proud of how our team handled themselves when Mary had to sit down early with foul trouble,” Providence coach Jim Crowley said. Providence: The Friars had been holding other teams to just 60.5 points per game. UConn: The Huskies were expected to face Xavier on Wednesday, but the Musketeers were forced to suspend basketball activities because of COVID-19.

(Stu Forster/Pool via AP)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The seventh-ranked Arizona women’s basketball game at Washington scheduled for Friday has been postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Huskies program. ___The Patriot League men’s basketball games between American and Lehigh scheduled for Saturday and Sunday have been postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test within the American men’s basketball program’s Tier 1 personnel. 3 UConn women's basketball team has had another game postponed because of coronavirus-related issues. The switch gives St. Pete promoters hope that more spectators will be permitted to attend the popular street festival as pandemic restrictions loosen. That move opened room on the schedule for St. Pete to request a later race date.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is shown during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game against South Florida Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. No. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. Baylor said it began restricting team activities after Mulkey tested positive on Monday, the same day she had been planning to rejoin the team. Mulkey missed Baylor's win Saturday at TCU because of contact tracing after being exposed on Christmas Day to a family member who tested positive.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer, center, watches the action against Pacific during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stockton, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. With a win over Pacific, VanDerveer will become the winningest women's coach in history breaking Pat Summitt's record of 1,098. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)STOCKTON, Calif. – Tara VanDerveer became the winningest women's college basketball coach Tuesday night, passing the late Pat Summitt with her 1,099th victory as No. “I really hope Pat Summitt is looking down and saying, ‘Good job Tara, keep it going,’” VanDerveer said. FROM ONE COACH TO ANOTHERDavid Shaw, Stanford’s 10th-year football coach, considers VanDerveer among the best ever in any sport, at any level — man or woman.

The NCAA announced Monday that San Antonio is the likely host site for the 64-team tournament next March. The NCAA expects the tournament to be played in late March and early April as usual, though there is a chance it could be shorter. “We don’t have an answer for that today.”This won’t be the first time a women’s tournament will be played at one site. From 1972-1977, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women played a 16-team postseason tournament at one site. The NCAA Tournament was first played in 1982.

Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes appreciated what former UConn teammate Maya Moore was doing when the All-Star forward stepped away from basketball two years ago to focus on criminal justice reform. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has been impressed by what many of his former players are accomplishing off the court. They were following who they are.Montgomery and Hayes smiled at the thought that a dozen years ago the UConn players had any aspirations of being social activists. Both Hayes and Montgomery loved seeing Auriemma and his wife and family at a protest in his community last month. I knew my mind wasnt there, my heart wasnt there, Montgomery said.

They, like thousands of other U.S. college students from foreign countries, are still overseas because of international travel bans instituted as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Auriemma said Wednesday. These issues are going to be really, really difficult to overcome, Auriemma said. "UConn has about 40 international athletes still overseas, the school said. Corasaniti said they are being told that right now college athletes and students in general are considered nonessential and must wait for travel restrictions to be lifted. Auriemma questions why international students aren't being given the same consideration.

Her dad, Kobe Bryant, called her Mambacita. She was going to carry on the Bryant name in basketball. They played against Bryant’s team, and over the years Loyd and Bryant forged an extremely special, extremely close bond. “He said how proud he was of me and how he wants me to continue to be a role model for kids growing up, for Gigi," Young said. ___More AP coverage of the life and death of Kobe Bryant: https://apnews.com/KobeBryant___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports