In a conference devoid of football, basketball stars. The women’s basketball Big East Conference has long been full of just that — shining and rising stars: the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies women’s basketball team, Geno Auriemma, Paige Bueckers, NCAA tournament qualifiers and Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) qualifiers. This year, the Hoyas hope to rise to those ranks.
And the Big East’s current stardom is extensive. UConn brought home the national title last season. Auriemma, head coach of the UConn women’s basketball team, became the winningest coach in college basketball history — across both men’s and women’s basketball — in November of last year and now has 1,250 wins to his name. Auriemma has also led UConn to all 12 of the Big East conference’s national titles.
UConn star guard Paige Bueckers was selected as the first pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, the sixth number one pick in Huskies program history. Last season, two teams represented the Big East Conference in the NCAA tournament, and three teams represented the Big East in the WBIT. The conference has a lot to be proud of — namely, UConn.
The Big East Conference held its annual media day for men’s and women’s basketball Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Madison Square Garden. Coaches, athletes, administrators and reporters crowded around tables, discussing the season to come. The day began with the men’s programs, a speech by Big East commissioner Val Ackerman and a nod to Villanova graduate Pope Leo XIV, who mentioned Georgetown and the Jesuits winning during his papal duties Oct. 21.
In her speech, Ackerman addressed the ever-changing nature of college basketball, touching on the increasing attention women’s basketball has been and deserves to be receiving. Ackerman said that Villanova Athletics’ senior administrator Lynn Tighe, who serves on the NCAA Division I women’s basketball committee, has been a part of this process.
“Lynn was a participant in the NCAA’s decision to create a new women’s basketball performance fund, which will reward bids and wins in the NCAA tournament, a nod to the women’s basketball growth over the past several years,” Ackerman said in her address.
Ackerman, a proponent of NCAA structural changes, said that she believes the NCAA men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments should be held on the same date in the same location.
“I’ve been somewhat of a lone wolf on this topic, but as one of just a handful of commissioners and administrators who shuttle back and forth between both Final Fours, I hope the NCAA will at least experiment with a combined Final Four that will have the men and the women playing on the same weekend in the same city,” Ackerman said. “It would reduce costs, ensure that all college sports administrators support both events and present heightened revenue possibilities to the association.”
This year, the women’s Big East conference is returning to a double round-robin competition format, where each team will play a twenty-game conference schedule and play each opponent twice, once at home and once away.
Georgetown and its head coach, Darnell Haney, are ready for change. This year, the team’s roster consists of seven returning players — two of whom are coming back from season-long injuries — seven new transfers and one first-year player. Haney said the new players bring needed maturity in the league’s changing landscape.
“We’re playing in a league and playing in a landscape that is older, right?” Haney told the Hoya. “And in order to compete in the league you need a little bit more maturity, right? And we made sure we went to go get some maturity.”
Haney said he thinks his current group of players has the potential to make a big impact.
“I’m just excited about our group,” Haney said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to put something on the floor that Georgetown women’s basketball and the Georgetown community and the Big East will be proud of.”
Haney also supplied an answer to the inevitable question of how the Hoyas are going to replace graduated point guard Kelsey Ransom. And he simply said they cannot.
“It’s going to be a little different without Ransom of course,” Haney said. “You can’t replace a revolutionary player like that.”
Along with the questions of how the Hoyas hoped to replace Ransom came questions to Hoya players about playing against UConn.
Sophomore point guard Khadee Hession — who was one of three players present at Big East Media Day, along with senior guard Victoria Rivera and graduate forward Brianna Scott — said she approaches every game the same when the team was asked about UConn for the third time.
“Like we said, you don’t play a national championship team everyday, but I think I go into every game the same, honestly, regardless of who the opponent is,” Hession told a reporter.
Haney said he has high hopes for the season ahead and is confident in his team.
“I’ve got my kids in,” Haney said. “I’ve got my group of young women in who are going to help us grow and they’re going to help this program reach elite status in the Big East. It takes people that love it, that love to want to see other people get better and that love the opportunity to be a Georgetown Hoya.”
