Women's college basketball power rankings: Who's keeping LSU afloat?

The 2023-24 college basketball season felt disproportionately impacted by injuries.

Whether it was TCU being forced to turn to walk-ons or Elizabeth Kitley and Kylee Watson being lost at the end of the ACC season or UConn s ever-thinning bench, the ratio of big-name players on the injury report versus the court was too high.

Advertisement One of the joys of the first week of the season has been a series of triumphant returns.

As we kick off this years power rankings, the mood for Week 1 will be a little brighter than usual for a celebration of players returning to the court.

Lets look at several players who returned from season-ending injuries and examine how theyll affect their teams.

Almost famous: Kentucky, Michigan, Louisville Dropped out: Nebraska (15), Princeton (25) Miles returns as the nations best passer Its hard to pick a favorite moment from Olivia Miles first two games in nearly 20 months for Notre Dame .

There was the half-court buzzer-beating swish against Purdue to end the third quarter and put the Irish up by 36.

There was the behind-the-back blind pass in transition to Hannah Hidalgo and a cross-court heave to Sonia Citron .

There was the way she elevated and used one hand to scoop the ball in for multiple layups, a full-on Statue of Liberty in motion.

Oh, and how can we forget the triple-double (20 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds) she posted in her first official game back against Mercyhurst? Miles is a pure joy to watch.

Shes dancing up the court, sprinkling in no-look passes and serving notice that Notre Dame is once again a national title contender.

Any concerns about how she and Hidalgo would exist in the same backcourt havent materialized yet, as Hidalgo is thriving off the ball and punishing tilted defenses.

The sophomore guard can now expend even more energy on defense (not that she was holding back last season), knowing Miles is available to take on the offensive load.

There arent many passers like Miles in basketball those with the vision, audacity and green light to go for it.

She looks as bouncy and confident as ever and was the highlight of the first week.

Connecticuts developing a versatile post rotation Jana El Alfy missed all of last season with an Achilles injury and was powerless to help; Aaliyah Edwards almost single-handedly held down the frontcourt for UConn.

Now, she returns to the Huskies as a bigger, more physical post presence than the other two bigs ( Sarah Strong and Ice Brady ) in the rotation.

Listed at what appears to be an underestimate at 6 feet 4, El Alfy has excelled with her back to the basket in UConns opening games.

Shes been good at sealing deep, whether thats catching and scoring or collecting offensive rebounds for putbacks.

El Alfy was the leading scorer and rebounder (17 and 11, respectively) in the Huskies debut win over Boston.

Advertisement A lot of those points were the result of El Alfy simply overpowering an undersized Terriers defender all she had to do was secure an entry pass, turn and finish and the redshirt freshman already knows how to use her size to her advantage.

Shes a little too right-hand dominant right now, preferring to turn over her left shoulder to finish with her strong hand (her lone drive in the first two contests also came with her right hand), and defenses will learn to shade her left as the season continues.

Then again, theres also a chance that El Alfy will become more comfortable going left after more than two NCAA games; her one lefty make against South Florida looked smooth.

Regardless, El Alfys traditional post presence is a useful complement to Strongs rolling ability and Bradys willingness to stretch the floor.

There is a variety of skills that Geno Auriemma can lean on depending on the matchup, though there likely wont be a frontcourt to test UConn until the Huskies face Iowa State and USC in back-to-back games in December.

Is Harmon super-human? In an era when ACL recovery timelines have been trending in the wrong direction, Rori Harmon s return from her torn ACL in less than 11 months seems downright miraculous.

Short of the brace she was sporting in Texas dominant victory over Southeast Missouri State, Harmon showed no indication she was dealing with any lower leg difficulties.

Even though Madison Booker kept the trains running in Harmons absence last season, a certain creativity was missing in the Longhorns offense.

Booker had so many responsibilities as the leading scorer and shot creator that the playbook felt limited.

It didnt help that defenses could key in on Booker and shut down her angles because her teammates were far less threatening to a defense.

Now that Harmon is back, the options are abundant.

She has more space to operate, which lends itself to some additional flair, like when she chased down her own miss for an over-the-shoulder pass.

Bookers life is much easier when she can focus on being a scorer.

She made 6 of 10 shots in the opener, a shooting percentage she managed once last season without Harmon around.

Granted, Harmons injury coincided with the start of conference play, so its worth keeping an eye on Bookers efficiency as the schedule becomes more difficult.

However, most teams dont have two perimeter defenders capable of handling Harmon and Booker.

Advertisement Smiths return lessens the loss of Reese In theory, replacing Angel Reese in the LSU starting lineup and filling the void left by the reigning SEC player of the year would be a massive lift for SaMyah Smith .

In practice, Smiths ability to function as a true center allows the rest of the Tigers to slot into their natural roles.

More shot creation trickles down to Aneesah Morrow , Flaujae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams while Smith crashes the glass and creates extra possessions, which is the bread and butter of any Kim Mulkey offense.

Of Smiths 10 field goals, five have come as direct putbacks.

Her offensive rebound percentage of 17.9 is in line with Reeses 18.3 percent mark last season.

The rare post-up attempts have not gone well both of Smiths misses came when she attempted to create her own bucket in the post but she knows how to position herself for dump-offs on drives and fill in the gaps.

The Tigers havent exactly scheduled a murderers row stop me if youve heard that before but Smiths athleticism jumps off the screen.

Less than a year removed from her torn ACL, her leap and speed appear unaffected.

LSUs pace is its greatest advantage with plus athletes at every position.

A healthy Smith makes perfect sense in that context.

Has Coach Yo ever had a shooter this good? The knock on Ole Miss has always been offensive execution.

The defense puts the Rebels in a position to win, but the offense cant cash the checks.

Thats what makes it so fun to see KK Deans in Ole Miss system as a shooter who can hit tough shots and put pressure on defenses.

However, after Deans missed most of last season with a torn ACL, it doesnt appear Ole Miss knows how to optimize the sharpshooters skills with one notable exception.

Deans is getting up shots, with a total of 18 3-pointers attempted through two games.

Ole Miss averaged 11.5 3-point attempts per game as a team last season, so Deans impact has not gone unnoticed.

However, the threat of her shooting isnt bending defenses yet.

Most of her 3-pointers either come after offensive rebounds or catch-and-shoots off kick-outs she does a good job of relocating, but defenses arent changing how they contain Ole Miss drives.

Deans has displayed a few instances of running a pick-and-roll and spotting up as the ballhandler, but since she isnt much of a passing threat, those possessions are relatively easy to contain.

What Id like to see is more of Deans getting run off screens.

Those are situations that create confusion for a defense and often result in an open player, even if it is not the one directly involved in the action.

Ole Miss has used one specific play in both games when Deans and a big line up in a horns set.

She appears to set a ghost screen for the ballhandler (she runs off without really making contact) and then gets a flare screen from the big, which results in wide-open 3-pointers multiple times.

If the defender managed to stay attached to the shooter, it would create some empty space in the middle of the floor for the big to roll to the basket, an outcome that presumably will transpire as defenses start to focus on Deans.

Given how much congestion the Rebels usually see in the paint, getting Deans to draw out defenders has to be the goal as often as possible.

Advertisement An abundance of depth in Maryland Mir McLean hadnt played since Jan.

8, 2023, when the one-time UConn recruit was helping Virginia return to prominence.

The grad student is at her final stop in Maryland, back in her home state to complete a stop-and-start college career.

The 25th-ranked recruit in 2020 still has the juice to get to the rim, which she showed off in the Terrapins three wins to start the season.

Unfortunately, she might not get much time on the court with all of the transfer talent coach Brenda Frese has brought in.

Sarah Te-Biasu , Kaylene Smikle , Christina Dalce and Saylor Poffenbarger (another former Huskies player) all come in above McLean on the depth chart, and Shyanne Sellers is a star at the same position as Maryland attempts to get back in the Big Ten title picture.

However, even limited minutes are a win for McLean, who played only 53 games in her first four college seasons.

(Photo of SaMyah Smith: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images).

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