Can Women’s Basketball Apply a Winning Formula From Other Sports?

What a weekend in women’s college hoops! Zena, Chantel, and Sabreena kick things off with an association-wide roundup, breaking down Vanderbilt’s first loss of the season to SEC rival South Carolina, Iowa’s dominant victory over Ohio State, and the teams making impressive pushes at this stage of the season. We then take a moment to acknowledge the tragic events in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Turning back to the court, the conversation shifts to Indiana football’s historic win under Coach Curt Cignetti. They examine how investment, coaching, transfer portal strategy, and culture came together to form a championship formula—and discuss how women’s college basketball programs can adopt a similar blueprint, highlighting teams already on that path. No Offseason is a part of The Athletic Podcast Network: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/ 00:00 Intro 01:06 South Carolina dominated Vanderbilt with a 103-74 victory 02:22 Dawn Staley tweaks her strategy against Vanderbilt 04:17 Assessing Vanderbilt’s strategy 05:52 How can Vanderbilt bounce back after losing to South Carolina? 07:04 Iowa cruised past Ohio State 91–70 10:16 What stands out about Iowa? 12:29 Georgia showed up strong with wins over Ole Miss and Kentucky 13:02 Key factors behind Louisville’s success 13:53 Michigan defeats USC 73-67 despite second-half struggles 21:04 Inside Indiana football’s historic championship  23:55 How can Indiana football’s championship strategy translate to WCCB? 29:23 Did Wisconsin miss a chance to build on their success? 33:28 How building a WCCB program differs from building a CFB program 35:36 Why Oregon is positioned to grow its support 38:21 What are the biggest challenges WCBB faces in building a winning team? 43:59 What’s the first step in building a winning program? 47:47 Opening Up the Mailbag Related links and articles: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6993115/2026/01/22/oklahoma-south-carolina-overtime-upset/ by Sabreena Merchant https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6998381/2026/01/26/womens-college-b%E2%80%A6e-winning-streak/ by Sabreena Merchant https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6997834/2026/01/25/south-carolina-vanderbilt-first-loss-of-season/ by Chantel Jennings https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6997890/2026/01/26/minnesota-ice-federal-agents-protestors-nba-game/ by Jon Krawczynski Follow and listen to the audio podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/no-offseason-the-athletic-womens-basketball-show/id1699815468 Get in touch! Leave a comment wherever you’re listening, or email us at NoOffseason@TheAthletic.com Show Links: -YouTube: @No-Offseason -Instagram: @tanooffseason [https://www.instagram.com/tanooffseason] -TikTok: @no_offseason [https://www.tiktok.com/@no_offseason] Credits: -Zena on BlueSky: @zenakeita -Sabreena on BlueSky: @sabreenajm -Chantel on BlueSky: @chanteljennings -Produced by Taneka Burrell -Executive Produced by Andrea B. Scott Visit the Yahoo Women's Sports Hub: https://sports.yahoo.com/womens-sports/?guccounter=1 Full Episodes Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5UWQzuMYdm7txmok7cpMB3YlgkwrT2E0 Shorts Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5UWQzuMYdm72uhBjsd24rsh5teZtgUpS