This is a look at the week ahead in women's college basketball. Each week Skim Milkey will be providing five players to keep an eye on, five teams to watch this week, five stats, five games you wouldn't think to keep tabs on, and five tweets.

5 Players I Have My Eye On


Jessica Carrothers

Carrothers might be one of the most unheralded scorers in college basketball this year. She is one of the best mid-range shooters in college basketball, as she is 20-for-35 from the mid-range this year. Watching her shooting motion, you wouldn't think of her as being a deadeye shooter from the mid-range, but she is. So far this year, Carrothers is averaging 22.3 points per game, and she simply does not turn the ball over, with just four turnovers in 36 minutes per game this year. UIC gets tested this week with games against Wisconsin and Loyola-Chicago, and Carrothers will have to continue her hot start if UIC wants to come out with two wins.

Laine McGurk

McGurk has reinvented herself this year and has become an excellent go-to player for Drexel so far early in the season. Last year, McGurk's player offensive efficiency rating was 88.8, and her effective field goal percentage was under 40%. This year, McGurk has flipped nearly every offensive number she's had in college and become much better. Her effective field goal percentage is 64.5%, and her offensive rating is 127.3, making her one of the best offensive players in college basketball. Thus far, McGurk has been a revelation in helping Drexel to a 4-0 start. They have a tough test with Lehigh and NJIT this upcoming week.

Jackie Grisdale

Quinnipiac is going to rely on Grisdale a ton this year, and it has been very evident to start the season that they will be doing so. Through three games, she has played 40 minutes twice and 38 minutes in the other game. She isn't a super high-usage player but makes the most of her opportunities when she touches it. She is scoring 17 points a game and has around a 10% turnover rate. Grisdale is a smart player who simply performs at a high level offensively. Quinnipiac takes on Yale, Charleston, and Colgate this week in a very highly competitive slate where Grisdale will need to be at the top of her game.

Alexis Black

A season after only playing in two games, Black has come back with a vengeance and is playing some excellent basketball. She has a high usage rate of over 30%, but she's capitalizing and making the most of her opportunities. She is not selfish with the ball, as evidenced by her 29.5% assist rate. She is shooting the ball at a 40% clip from the perimeter and making herself tough to guard on both ends of the floor. Black is making the most of her play this season so far, and she'll hope to continue that into Fordham's toughest week yet. They take on Seton Hall and Manhattan this week, making her an extremely important piece to go 2-0 this week.

Berry Wallace

Wallace is off to a scorching hot start for Illinois, as she is scoring points at all three levels and making herself tough to guard. Through the first three games, Wallace has nearly a 70% true shooting percentage and an offensive efficiency rating of above 126. The sophomore forward has started to become someone that opposing teams must gameplan around, as her lowest scoring output this year so far is 22 points. Illinois has Murray State and Florida State this week, which will prove to be tough competition for Wallace and Illinois.

5 Teams to Watch This Week


James Madison

James Madison has not gotten off to the start they were hoping for early in the season with losses to George Mason and Villanova, both games they were likely hoping to win for postseason tournament seeding purposes. This week, however, they can make a huge statement as they face off with Texas and Virginia Tech. A win in either of these two games would be monumental, but the goal might be to stay close with Texas and then give yourself a puncher's chance late in the game with Virginia Tech. A 0-2 week might really hurt their chances for a postseason bid.

Iowa

Iowa has been very good so far this season but has also played no one who can think about giving them a competitive game. Even with that, Iowa has looked better than expected to begin the year. Iowa's first two tests of the season will come this week as they face off with Baylor and Miami (FL). If Iowa goes 2-0 this week, they'll be looked at by many as a Top 10 team in the country. If they lose both games this week, it might be a while before they can pull themselves back up into the "we belong" conversation in the top half of the rankings.

Utah

Utah sits at 3-1 on the season but is coming off a very tough loss to Washington that they'd like to wash out of their memory. With this game in the past, Utah will look to regroup before their season schedule becomes a touch easier over the next month or two. They do have an extremely tough slate of games this week with Syracuse and UConn on the docket, though.

Tulane

Tulane has had a unique schedule so far this year, as after LSU comes to town on Monday, they will have hosted two SEC schools through five games. For an American Conference team, that is very special for their fans and players to experience, and Tulane will hope to have a little more success against LSU than they did against Missouri. With LSU coming to town on Monday and then a trip out to North Dakota State, Tulane will look to spring an upset in one of these two games.

Davidson

Davidson is motoring along this year with their only loss to Mississippi State in the opening game of the year. They have done an excellent job of taking care of business other than that game. They will have two more opportunities to take care of business this upcoming week as they meet both Miami (FL) and Baylor in games at a neutral site. If Davidson can notch a win in one of these games, it will go a long way in helping them down the road.

5 Stats to Know


59.8%

Montana isn't just getting up 3-pointers; they are getting up an incredible amount to start the year. Nearly 60% of their shots have been from beyond the perimeter. Even with such volume, they are shooting the ball fairly well at 33.6%, which plants them at #104 in the country in terms of 3-point percentage. I'll be interested to see if this continues at this efficiency or if Montana starts to take a bit less from the outside as the year goes on.

121.1

UCLA is the most efficient offensive team through the first two weeks of the season, and it isn't even particularly close. Their offensive efficiency number is nearly four points higher than the team in second place and is a testament to how well they have been playing on the offensive end of the floor. UCLA hasn't played a cupcake schedule either, as their two best offensive games have come against South Florida and North Carolina.

41.1

Michigan State has been turning opponents over at an incredible rate through the first two weeks of the season. Their opponents are turning the ball over on nearly 42% of their possessions this season. Granted, the non-conference slate has been fairly weak, but even with the lack of real competition, this is a number that simply jumps off the page at you.

33.0

Kate Koval has seemingly found her home at LSU, as she has rebounded a third of all the LSU misses so far this season. Now, a caveat here is that she hasn't played a ton yet this year and that LSU is so efficient offensively that they simply aren't missing many shots, but for Koval to be grabbing a third of the missed opportunities is quite an accomplishment.

15.0

The best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country is 15 to 1, and it belongs to Oregon's Astera Tuhina. She has just one turnover on the season so far and 15 assists. Her usage rate isn't super high this season, but she is making the most of it when she touches the basketball. She takes care of the ball and does an excellent job of finding her teammates in position to score the ball. Tuhina might have unlocked something in her game after her transfer to Oregon from Washington State.

5 Games to Monitor

11/19 - Minnesota @ Kansas

This will be Minnesota's first real test of this season. While they've looked good so far, they have their first test of the year on the road at Kansas. Kansas, on the other hand, has had a test so far this year and will look to further cement themselves as a team worthy of attention with a win over Minnesota.

11/20 - Baylor vs. Iowa

Baylor has been tested this year, and they have risen to the occasion. Iowa simply has not been tested but is doing exactly what you want a top 10-15 team to do with the level of competition this year. This game will be excellent.

11/21 - USC @ Notre Dame

USC and Notre Dame will be a fantastic matchup, with both teams coming off a loss this weekend to ranked foes. This will be a very good barometer for each of them to see where they stand early in the season coming off of a tough loss for each team against great competition.

11/21 - UConn vs. Michigan

Both of these teams have looked nearly unbeatable this season and will put on a show for the country on Friday night. This has game-of-the-year potential early in the season.

11/22 - Kentucky @ Louisville

A huge rivalry with both teams being top 25 ranked at this point in the year. Kentucky needs this more than Louisville early in the season, but Louisville is always extremely tough at home.

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