Women's college basketball is faster than it's ever been. Result: More records falling

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Shortly after Alyssa Ustby recorded the first triple-double in North Carolina women’s basketball history in early January, coach Courtney Banghart was asked: Why are so many records being broken lately in women’s college basketball? What’s different about now compared to, say, 10 years ago?  

Banghart, who played at Dartmouth from 1996-2000 and coached at Princeton before moving to Chapel Hill in 2019, didn’t hesitate. 

“The game is so fast,” she said, shaking her head in awe. “There’s so many possessions — the stats guys might know that better than me — but the talent level and speed of play is remarkable. I’ve been in this game a long time and (players today) can all do so much with the ball. There’s just more versatility as well as athleticism, and that leads to more possessions and more impact on the game.”

As the women’s tournament tips off Friday, more eyeballs are on the game than ever. Much of that attention can be directly attributed to Caitlin Clark, the Iowa superstar who has spent her four-year career shattering records (and TV ratings). 

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But Clark, who became the all-time leading scorer in Division I basketball on March 3 when she passed former LSU great Pete Maravich — and currently has 3,771 points as the top-seeded Hawkeyes begin their bid for another Final Four trip — is hardly the only player re-writing the record book over the past decade. 

Before Clark, the women’s all-time Division I scoring record was held by Washington standout Kelsey Plum, who played for the Huskies from 2013-17. She scored 3,527 points during her tenure, besting a 16-year-old record set by Jackie Stiles from 1997-2001 (3,393 points). Nipping at Plum’s heels and threatening that record just a year later was Ohio State All-American Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 3,402 points from 2014-18 in Columbus. 

And in the middle of that was Sabrina Ionescu, who demolished the NCAA triple-double record during her career at Oregon, tallying 26 from 2016-2020. The previous women’s record had been nine, set in 2019. The men’s record is 12, set by Kyle Collinsworth of BYU from 2010-16. 

And yet, nationwide, the numbers backing up Banghart’s claim about the game being faster are a little wonky. 

MORE:Butter statues, 6-on-6, packed gyms: Iowa loved women's hoops long before Caitlin Clark

Other super scorers of note in recent years: current Syracuse guard Dyaisha Fair, who’s totaled 3,351 points and counting; Iowa State’s Ashley Joens, who scored 3,060 points from 2018-2023; Villanova forward Maddy Siegrist, who finished her career with 2,896 points, playing for the Wildcats from 2019-2023.

'No question the game is faster'

According to HerHoopStats.com, the only advanced analytics website devoted entirely to women’s basketball, average pace — defined as the number of possessions per game — has hovered around 70 per game across Division I since the 2009-10 season, the furthest back HerHoopStats tracks data. Over that same 15-season period, though, points per game has increased roughly seven, and 3-point field goal percentage has ticked up almost 5%, which could account for the impact Banghart was talking about. 

And surely if the “stats guys,” as Banghart calls them, had data back to the 1990s, it would show a more significant increase in pace. 

And yet, according to people in the game, possessions are only one factor. 

“When I think about pace of play, I’m thinking about how fast are teams getting the ball out of net, how fast are they getting it across half court and how fast are they getting the first shot (of the possession) up,” said Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors, who coached Plum at Washington. “ ... the days of walk the ball down the court, set it up, pass it, set a down screen, now pass to the wing, now let’s reverse before we put it into the post — those days are gone. Now we’re flying up the floor. There aren’t as many lulls.”

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To summarize pace merely in terms of possessions per game, Neighbors said, is shallow. 

“Two things can be true at the same time: We have the same number of possessions, and there is no question the game is faster, offenses are harder to guard, people who dribble the ball are faster than they were 10 years ago,” he said.

To Plum, now a WNBA All-Star with the Las Vegas Aces, the college game has absolutely sped up. And there are a lot of reasons why. 

“I think the rule changes have helped tremendously, the four quarters and the foul situations and stuff,” she said. “And the talent level is as high as it’s ever been.” 

Plum is referencing a 2015 NCAA rule change where the women’s game moved from 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters — similar to FIBA rules — and did away with one-and-one free throws when teams got to seven fouls. Now teams shoot two free throws at five fouls, and the foul count resets every quarter. Teams can also advance the ball to the front court in the final minute of the game. Some argue this has made the women’s game considerably more entertaining than the men’s. 

Mitchell, now an All-Star with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, agrees that the college game is — or at least looks — faster than when she played. And that’s coming from someone known for tremendous foot speed, who could get to the rim at will. Having more possessions, she said, means elite scorers have to be in even better shape, something the average fan doesn’t understand. 

Casual viewers, Mitchell said, don’t appreciate “the amount of running you’ve gotta do (to score a lot). People think Steph Curry is just out there shooting shots. Hell no. He is always on the move, he’s not just standing still — you can’t.” 

In the late 1980s, Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen was a 6-on-6 legend, averaging 66 points per game as a senior in high school. Even then, she told USA TODAY Sports, the game was fast. She knows 6-on-6 might sound slow to people who never experienced it. But in reality the best teams scored in the first 8-10 seconds of the possession, constantly pushing the pace. To move from that to slower, clinical 5-on-5, to where the game is now — being played at breakneck speed, with shooters pulling up for and making deep threes or threading passes in transition — thrills her. 

“It’s the evolution of the female athlete, and of women in general in society,” Jensen said. “Think about the stereotype of a female in the '50s: everything was expected to be a certain way, you were going to have dinner on the table, care for your kids, that type of thing. Then women started asking questions — what if I want something different? 

“It’s the same way in sports. Female athletes started asking, how do I get bigger, faster, stronger? Now we’re all enjoying the parity of the tournament because there’s parity in recruiting. Those elite athletes are saying, you know I want to go somewhere different, I want to buck the system. And when you get those athletes, you can go faster.” 

And that, Jensen said, elevates and accelerates the game for everyone. 

Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell