Heading into this season, there are 10 women's basketball teams that have earned 28+ wins in both of their last two campaigns.

Within that group, there's both of the national champions — South Carolina and UConn — as well as a handful of recent powers: LSU, NC State, Notre Dame, USC and Texas. The other three are mid-majors, each with varying histories of success.

There's Florida Gulf Coast, the perennial mid-major power with eight straight NCAA Tournament appearances. While the Eagles have been first round exits the past two seasons, they've had four first-round victories in the last 10 tournaments, including wins in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023.

There's also Richmond, a newer dominant mid-major in a more well-rounded conference than Florida Gulf Coast. The Spiders lost in the A10 Tournament last season, but entered the tournament as an at-large and dominated 8-seeded Georgia Tech 74-49. It was the program's first NCAA Tournament win after five tries.

Then, finally, there is Fairfield.

Under head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the Stags have catapulted into immense success in recent years. After a 15-15 season in 2022-23, Fairfield won 31 games the very next year, including 29 in a row. The Stags followed that up with 28 victories last season, this time with a much more modest 19-game win streak in the middle.

Fairfield has 59 wins over the past two seasons, more than just about anyone in the country. This season, the Stags are 2-0, with a double-digit road win over Villanova and a dominant home victory over Lehigh, who made the tournament last season. It's the start of Fairfield's second straight non-conference slate that appears built to handle the one big hurdle left in the program's way.

That hurdle? Both of these past two seasons ended in NCAA Tournament berths, the Stags' sixth and seventh in program history. But those tournament runs ended just like the five before it: In defeat. Fairfield was blown out on the road by Indiana in 2024, then earned a neutral-site first-round game last season as a 12-seed, only to be blow out again by Kansas State.

It's a difficult journey for a mid-major to achieve a heightened status, and it's an even more difficult leap to turn that success into wins in March when it matters the most. Fairfield has done a great job in getting over that first hurdle under Thibault-DuDonis, and the work to get over the next hump is well on its way.

For starters: It appears the head coach could be around to stay. Thibault-DuDonis signed a contract extension through 2030-31 this offseason, a massive sign of belief in both parties. The Fairfield head coach, who turned 34 this offseason, is and likely will continue to be a name thrown around big-time coaching searches, but she is signed on for the long haul with this program.

That belief translated over to roster retention. Fairfield returns every player that saw action last season that could return: The one transfer out — Karly Fischer — redshirted the campaign before exiting to Marist. In total, 10 players return from last season's team, including the top two performers from last season in Meghan Andersen and Kaety L'Amoreaux.

Andersen has had a tremendous first two seasons with Fairfield, and the junior road runner — Fairfield does not believe in traditional forwards — has gotten off to an unbelievable start this season with 65 combined points on 60.5% shooting across her first two games. She's shown true star potential and has continued to develop well, especially if this start is a sign of what's to come.

This is also year three for L'Amoreaux, an impressive defensive guard (2.0 SPG, 42nd in Defensive Win Shares among all players last season) who has 16.5 PPG and 4.0 APG through the two wins thus far. Both players also continue to improve as three-point shooters, a continued area of prominence for Fairfield's attack: It's 41.0% three-point rate was 10th in the NCAA last season, and is up to 42.7% through two games so far.

Fairfield also thrived through moving the ball around and doing it cautiously: The Stags' 17.5 APG and 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratios were both Top 20 nationally. Those numbers are at 18.0 and 1.57 through two games.

These continued numbers are significant because Fairfield has not started with the easiest of competition. Villanova is 46th in Bart Torvik, and while Lehigh is 180th, the Mountain Hawks did make the NCAA Tournament last season. The Stags also won both games with just one limited game of Janelle Brown, who was picked for the Preseason All-MAAC First Team. Penn State transfer Alli Campbell, who was selected for the Third Team, also has not yet played.

The next month of games has a bunch of great tests for the Stags, starting with South Florida (66th in Torvik) and North Carolina (14th) in the WBCA Challenge this week. After that, road games against Iowa (23rd) and Richmond (38th) will make it five matchups against top 75 opponents.

The netural site games this week feel significant for where the Stags are trying to go. Fairfield's conference schedule is not likely to have many challenges from mid-December until March, but everything will be about not only making it back to the NCAA Tournament, but getting there and winning that first tournament game in program history.

Last season, despite a prior year to learn from, Fairfield lost big to Kansas State. There are a few factors as to why, but it's also fair to say the Wildcats were better than their 5-seed line would say, as star forward Ayoka Lee was not healthy most of the season and Kansas State went on to the Sweet 16, upsetting Kentucky at home.

Fairfield got killed to begin both halves: In the first and third quarters, the Stags were outscored 50-15, compared to 35-26 elsewhere. Shots, and most importantly, three-pointers, weren't falling, something that will need to change for a team that lacks almost any height with just one rostered player listed above 6-1.

Those type of things are what makes this next month of games so important. The large bulk of last year's team is back again for another round. Playing against elite teams now, with two years of having the end goal in mind, could be what takes the Stags over the edge and gives them a real chance at finding that win.

Seeding will continue to matter as well. Fairfield was on the right side of the 12-13 line last season, which will be critical in avoiding a first-round road game. The results make it clear how much that matters:

All-Time Seed Records, Women's NCAA Tournament

  • 11 Seed: 51 wins
  • 12 Seed: 31 wins
  • 13 Seed: 10 wins
  • 14-16 Seed: 1 combined win

The Stags have built up an exciting program under Thibault-DuDonis, and one that deserves a ton of recognition as it stands today. The amount of wins it has pulled together to take complete control of the MAAC is remarkable, and this current roster feels equipped, both talent and experience-wise, to be the best team in the program's history.

Thus far, the best teams in Fairfield history have all gotten to where they wanted to go, but lost when they got there. Just once — 1991 — have the Stags stayed within single digits, losing to Providence by 1.

But this Fairfield team, with an exciting head coach and a battle-tested roster, has plenty of reason to believe in 25-26 and beyond, with two star players with another year of eligibility, and the exciting head coach in charge of it all signed until the new decade.