Women's basketball watchlist: 1/1 edition

It’s a new year and there’s some great basketball ahead of us. Here’s my daily watchlist.

BE SEATED AT ALL COSTS

These are the games you’re going to want to skip work for – the ones that will tell us a whole lot about the best of the best.

1pm: West Virginia at Kansas (ESPN+)

This has the potential to be a really strong Big 12 game. West Virginia started the season off strong, but is looking to build up their resume in Big 12 play. Kansas, without star freshman Jaliya Davis, has struggled, but managed to nearly beat Iowa State last week.

2pm: Nebraska at Iowa (BTN)

Nebraska suffered their first loss of the year to USC and will be looking for a big bounce-back win. Iowa has lost its’ two biggest tests and could really use a solid resume win.

2pm: Stanford at NC State (ACCN)

The ACC is fairly wide open this year, so a lot of these league matchups have some strong implications. NC State entered the season as a favorite to win the conference, but is in major need of a win to prove they belong there, after an underwhelming non-conference slate. Stanford just entered On3’s Top 25 and has some momentum heading into this one.

6pm: Michigan at Washington (BTN)

Michigan, just a few days ago, went to 2OT with Oregon on the road. Now, they’ll travel again to Washington. The Huskies are a team with upset potential and this could get interesting.

6pm: Miami at Virginia Tech (ACC Extra)

This is a really interesting one to me. Both Miami and Virginia Tech are currently bubble teams in my mind, so this head-to-head could wind up being important later. Neither team has a bad loss, but same goes for a good win.

7pm: Clemson at Virginia (ACC Extra)

Virginia has some momentum after getting Sa’Myah Smith back from injury and earning a few solid wins. Clemson is still a question mark to me, as their losses are all fairly expected, but they don’t have (what I like to call) a ‘reach’ win: someone either at a team’s level or just above.

8pm: Kentucky at LSU (SECN+)

LSU plays their first Quad 1 game of the season on New Year’s Day and it’s a fun one. Kentucky has length, versatility and experience. What they don’t have, however, is much depth. We’ll see how this one plays out in LSU’s first real test of the year.

THIS COULD BE COMPETITIVE/FUN

These matchups are more than just your run-of-the-mill easy blowouts. While some of them have the potential to be, these games are an opportunity to see good teams test themselves early.

12pm: Michigan State at Indiana (BTN)

12pm: Creighton at Villanova (ESPN+)

2pm: Iona at Quinnipiac (ESPN+)

2pm: Vermont at Albany (ESPN+)

2pm: Georgia Southern at Old Dominion (ESPN+)

3pm: Georgia at Ole Miss (SECN+)

3:30pm: Marshall at Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)

7pm: Arkansas State at Southern Miss (ESPN+)

8pm: Montana State at Northern Colorado (ESPN+)

A DECENT LOOK AND/OR AT OPTIMAL TIMES

These games will either be a solid look at a team or they just fall at optimal times. If you’re in need of basketball to watch all day (like me), these are games to add to your list. 

11am: Central Arkansas at Stetson (ESPN+)

12pm: Cal at North Carolina (ACCN)

1pm: Marquette at Xavier (ESPN+)

2pm: Alabama at South Carolina (SECN+)

2pm: Florida at Tennessee (SECN+)

2pm: Wisconsin at Rutgers (Big Ten+)

2pm: USI at SIUE (ESPN+)

4pm: Maryland at Illinois (BTN)

4pm: Tarleton State at Utah Valley (ESPN+)

6pm: Wake Forest at Pittsburgh (ACC Extra)

6pm: Florida State at Syracuse (ACC Extra)

6:30pm: West Georgia at Eastern Kentucky (ESPN+)

6:30pm: Austin Peay at Jacksonville (ESPN+)

7:30pm: Auburn at Mississippi State (SECN+)

8pm: Oklahoma at Texas A&M (SECN+)

9:30pm: Idaho State at Sacramento State (ESPN+)

WATCH YOUR TEAM WIN A BLOWOUT

The rest of the games here will likely provide no true competitive value – but you never know. These games are just a look at some P5’s playing teams they should beat with ease. 

1pm: Boston College at Duke (ACC Extra)

2pm: Vanderbilt at Arkansas (SECN+)

2pm: SMU at Louisville (ACC Extra)

2pm: DePaul at St. John’s (ESPN+)

4pm: Notre Dame at Georgia Tech (ACCN)

5pm: Northwestern at Oregon (Big Ten+)

7:30pm: Texas at Missouri (SECN+)