It has been quite the week for the defending champions.

First, South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins suffered a season-ending ACL tear against Mississippi State. The Gamecocks were already adapting to life without Kamilla Cardoso, who was last season’s most athletic and versatile frontcourt player, so Watkins’ injury suggests a calamitous hit to their title chances.

But these are the Gamecocks, who possess the deepest roster in the country — to the point none of the ensemble cast of a one-loss team even merited a sliver of consideration in my Player of the Year debate with Chantel Jennings last week. Watkins’ absence barely registered in a 41-point win against Texas A&M (keep in mind the Aggies were coming off a win over Ole Miss). South Carolina got double-digit scoring outputs from Sania Feagin, Chloe Kitts and Joyce Edwards and also found time to unearth Sakima Walker in garbage time.

Still, the toughest test was yet to come against new SEC opponent Texas. The Longhorns entered Sunday’s matchup with the best offensive rating in the country and the fifth-ranked defense, per CBB Analytics, as well as only one road loss (in overtime to Notre Dame). Yet, the Gamecocks obliterated Texas, limiting the Longhorns to 28 percent shooting as Feagin dominated the interior with nine rebounds and six blocks.

South Carolina’s November loss to UCLA feels like a distant memory, or perhaps a gut check that forced the Gamecocks to level up. They’ve won their 11 games since by an average of 32 points, three of which came against top-10 teams. Their underclassmen are growing up in real time, with freshmen Joyce Edwards and Maddy McDaniel (who came off the injury report after a December concussion) leading South Carolina in scoring and assists.

Even with the Bruins sitting atop the rankings and holding a head-to-head victory over South Carolina, it’s hard to be anything but impressed by — and terrified of, if you root for another team — the Gamecocks. This latest stretch is another example of the resilience and dominance of a team that has owned this decade of college basketball.

Three teams rising

Aneesah Morrow at the five

A hallmark of LSU coach Kim Mulkey teams is that they are anchored by their frontcourts. The Tigers own the paint on both ends of the floor — think back to the 2019 national championship when Baylor won without making a single 3-pointer — and are more physical than their opponents. Even the LSU team that shot the lights out in the 2023 title game against Iowa always played two bigs and dominated the glass.

And yet, there were Mulkey’s Tigers on Thursday, playing most of the game against Tennessee with only one big. That big was Morrow, who is undersized to be a four at 6 feet 1 and was still tasked with playing center. It’s an interesting evolution for Mulkey and LSU. She doesn’t seem to like their center options: Sa’Myah Smith hasn’t been the same athletic force since returning from an ACL tear, and Jersey Wolfenbarger doesn’t have the physicality Mulkey usually expects from that position. But it’s asking a lot of Morrow.

Sometimes Morrow’s size advantage means she has no answers in the post, like when the Lady Vols threw a lob to the 6-4 Zee Spearman over Morrow. But no one on the Tigers roster works harder than Morrow, as evidenced by her 21 rebounds against Tennessee. She’s averaging 14.4 boards per game and is on track to lead Division I in that stat for the second time in her college career. And if she can’t beat opponents vertically, she’ll take the pass away ahead of time, averaging 2.5 steals for the fourth straight season. Playing closer to the basket also has helped Morrow to a career-best shooting percentage of 54.

Lineups with Morrow as the center have a net rating of plus-17.4 this season, and the five-player unit of Morrow, Mikaylah Williams, Flau’jae Johnson, Kailyn Gilbert and Shayeann Day-Wilson is plus-31.9, per CBB Analytics. We’ll see how this holds up against bulkier frontcourts — Oklahoma and South Carolina immediately come to mind — but it’s fascinating to see how Mulkey has adapted to her personnel. The record (18-0) is exactly what we’ve come to expect from LSU, even if the process looks very different.

Who moves the needle for Ohio State?

Cotie McMahon is the name that first comes to mind for the undefeated Ohio State, but McMahon actually has its worst on-off differential, which was also the case during her breakout freshman year. The Buckeyes’ net rating decreases by 14.1 points per 100 possessions when McMahon is on the court.

During Ohio State’s game-breaking 27-0 run against Oregon on Sunday, McMahon was off the court for almost all of it. The Buckeyes had already reeled off 20 points in a row in the second quarter when the star junior came on to replace Taylor Thierry. McMahon committed an offensive foul in transition on her first possession, and Thierry re-entered 10 seconds later.

It’s Thierry, a senior, who stands out for Ohio State. She’s the minutes leader who creates havoc in the press, scores efficiently in transition and creates the feedback loops allowing the Buckeyes to pour points on in a hurry. She’s the player who can snake through defenses on a baseline drive and also break an opponent’s ankles on a stepback 3-pointer. A do-it-all wing who can guard the best player on the opposing team and also keep the trains moving on offense.

Like LSU, Ohio State has had a relatively light schedule. An early February trip to Los Angeles to take on USC and UCLA will reveal much more about the Buckeyes.

Have the Golden Bears solved their turnover issues?

Cal took care of business in its first home set of the ACC schedule, beating NC State and Florida State comfortably to move into third in the conference standings behind Notre Dame and Louisville. The main takeaway from those wins was that the Golden Bears had 24 total turnovers in the two games, posting two of their four lowest turnover percentages of the season. They slowed their pace slightly and had better ball control.

At the risk of conflating those two stats, consider that Cal has been this team on the road all season. It has played slower away from its home crowd (about two fewer possessions per game on the road) and has cut its turnovers from 18.4 per game at Haas Pavilion to 15 away from Berkeley.

The test of this improvement will come quickly, as Cal’s next matchup is against Duke, which forces 21 turnovers per game. The Blue Devils press on more than 30 percent of their possessions, and though the Golden Bears have been excellent against pressure this season — they rank in the 93rd percentile in points per possession — the stress of constantly facing full-court defense is a different challenge.

Two teams falling

Oklahoma needs to fix turnovers

Part of this placement for Oklahoma is because Raegan Beers had to leave Sunday’s win over Texas A&M with a shoulder injury, and without her, the Sooners are a little too jump-shot-happy for my taste.

But Oklahoma also lost to Mississippi State with a healthy Beers (the center is averaging only eight field goal attempts per game in SEC play) and has been a bit helter-skelter regardless. The Sooners’ turnovers have been out of control during the SEC schedule. They’re averaging 24.5 giveaways in conference games. Look at these two unforced errors in the final minutes of the defeat to the Bulldogs. Lexy Keys and Payton Verhulst can’t execute a baseline inbounds, and then Verhulst throws the ball past Skylar Vann before Oklahoma can even take a tying shot.

The Sooners deserve some grace in their first SEC season. It’s a more defensive-minded conference that forces more turnovers than the Big 12, and the overall jump in athleticism has posed some challenges. Nevertheless, the Sooners have to be more disciplined, because allowing 25 points off turnovers isn’t sustainable, especially with South Carolina on the docket this week.

Michigan State’s foul troubles

We talked earlier in the season about the Spartans getting more aggressive on defense and increasing their full-court press frequency. That tactic wasn’t an early-season fluke, and forcing more turnovers has helped Michigan State field its best defense in over a decade.

The problem with the Spartans’ aggression is that they haven’t reined in the fouling that comes with applying more pressure. Michigan State ranks 314th out of 362 Division I teams, per Her Hoop Stats, in sending opponents to the line. In three losses to Alabama, Maryland and Nebraska, the Spartans conceded at least 23 free-throw attempts in every game, including a whopping 35 to the Cornhuskers. Michigan State commits a foul on 12 percent of shot attempts, to rank in the 25th percentile nationally.

Two of the Spartans’ most productive players, Grace VanSlooten and Theryn Hallock, are their most frequent foulers, which creates additional problems for coach Robyn Fralick. VanSlooten fouled out against Nebraska despite coming off the bench — one of three Michigan State players to disqualify in that game.

The Big Ten isn’t a particularly foul-happy conference; it ranks 14th in free-throw attempt rate among the 31 Division I conferences. However, the Spartans still have to play Illinois, Indiana, USC and Iowa, all of whom rank in at least the 75th percentile of free-throw rate. Keep an eye on how many times the whistle blows in those matchups.

Games to watch

Washington at Michigan

7 p.m. Wednesday, BIG+

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame

6 p.m. Thursday, ACCN

California at Duke

8 p.m. Thursday, ACCN

Utah at TCU

7:30 p.m. Friday, ESPN+

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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