Only 1 Big East team can beat Geno Auriemma’s star-studded UConn, presumes college basketball analyst

Women's basketball analyst Kim Adams believes the Creighton Bluejays have the tools to defeat the UConn Huskies in the Big East Conference during the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Adams, who provides coverage and analysis for the Big East, shared on "Got Next" with hosts Zora Stephenson and Meghan McKeown that Creighton has a strong roster for the season, including several returning players who be selected in the 2025 WNBA draft.

"Creighton is a team who pretty much returned the entire roster from last year with the exception of their forward Emma Ronsiek," Adams said (7:45 mark). "But they returned some big time players in Lauren Jensen and Morgan Maly."

"I think these are two players who we could probably hear announced in the WNBA draft in the spring and a whole bunch of other returners."

The Geno Auriemma-coached Huskies swept the Big East Conference last season, going 18-0 in the regular season and 3-0 in the Big East Tournament to complete a Big East regular season-tournament double.

Creighton, meanwhile, finished second in the regular season at 15-3 but was ousted in the tournament semifinals by Georgetown. The Bluejays were seeded seventh in the Albany Regional 2 and were stopped by No. 2 seed UCLA in the second round.

Adams is hopeful that Creighton can shake things up in the Big East and break UConn’s stronghold over the conference.

"Can they beat UConn? I don't know, (but) I would like to see it just to spice things up a little bit in the Big East. I think it would make things more interesting," she said (8:32 mark). "If anyone is going to beat UConn — and they have come close — I would say it would be Creighton."

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Kim Adams details potential Creighton weakness

While she heaped praises on Creighton, Kim Adams also identified one big issue in the program's campaign this season — their lack of a strong post presence.

Adams raised questions about the Bluejays' lack of interior presence following the departure of 6-foot-2 forward Emma Ronsiek, saying this could affect the team's campaign, especially against opponents with bigger players.

Last season, the Bluejays shot 35.2% from the 3-point line. The analyst expects coach Jim Flanery to place a premium on outside sniping to open up the inside lane and allow their guards to slash from the middle as rivals will be wary of the threat.

Creighton opens their 2024-25 women's basketball campaign against Southwest Minnesota State in an exhibition game on Oct. 30. The Bluejays will kick off their non-conference regular season stint against South Dakota State on Nov. 8.

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Will Creighton give UConn a loss in the Big East Conference this 2024-25 college basketball season? Let us know your views in the comments section.