If you take a quick trip in your holiday sleigh around some college campuses this week, it will feel like a deserted island, with just a handful of people walking around and dorms dark from floor one to 10. On others, there are still finals to be taken and papers to be turned in, all under the soft glow of holiday lights streaming through the windows. The next 10 days are what we like to call pure survival for college basketball programs across the country – the short break is coming, but it is not here yet.
The lights are on in full force in basketball offices, as coaches put together practice plans to keep everyone engaged but rested, while support staffs plan holiday gatherings, gift exchanges and unreasonable travel amid winter weather. Players are being beckoned to the training room for treatment and looking for a spare moment to nap where they dream not of sugar plums, but of getting home to see family. There will be many a tired point guard that forgets the new hat for grandpa’s gift from the bookstore – and their mother will be irate.
This season, at The Weekly Fast Break, we live by the great Billie Jean King’s phrase that “pressure is a privilege – it only comes to those that earn it.” This stretch before the holiday break is a pressure cooker for everyone – finishing finals, preparing for meaningful non-conference games and tipping off conference play – who can withstand the heat before a short cooling off period? As you navigate your sleigh with care through snow-covered streets, be on the lookout for the holiday helpers who can make your team’s December wishes come true.
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TIP-OFF
Criteria that can make you cringe: The month of December not only gives us holiday craziness and blizzard warnings but also brings on the anxiety of watching the NET rankings in women’s basketball. The “NCAA Evaluation Tool” (NET) is updated daily on NCAA.com. And, in women’s basketball, NET rankings serve as a sorting tool used to measure a team’s quality and help evaluate team resumes for selection and seeding in the NCAA Tournament. In the simplest of terms, a team’s NET ranking is determined by who you played, where you played, how efficiently you played and the results of those games and measures how good/efficient a team is.
(Mandatory credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images)
Last year, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Selection Committee approved the use of quadrants on team sheets during the selection of the field of 68. The quadrant ranges for women’s basketball are based on expected winning percentage versus a given opponent rank (in NET) with respect to game location, across all games and differ from the men’s basketball quadrant ranges. The committee voted in July 2025 to add the use of WAB – Wins Above Bubble – a metric that is currently referenced and used by the men’s selection committee. The WAB is a results-based metric that measures the quality of a team’s resume. WAB shows how many wins a team has compared to what a bubble team would average against the same schedule. Each game has an individual value and does not factor in margin of victory or efficiency, just results. NET and WAB are complementary metrics and are two of 12 total criteria used by the women’s selection committee.
We would caution everyone that these metrics are moving targets and change daily. So, before you pour too much “extra sauce” into your eggnog, take a moment to see the big picture. We will hear a lot about NET and WAB in 2026 – now is not the time to put your tinsel in a knot.
Battle of Bedlam: When Oklahoma announced it was leaving the Big 12 Conference for the SEC in 2021, many wondered if the Bedlam Series would be no more. The name of the rivalry is rooted in the history of OU and Oklahoma State’s two prestigious wrestling programs. Legend has it that a reporter once emerged from a wrestling match between the two schools to say that inside OSU’s historic Gallagher Hall, “it’s bedlam in there!” Their battles on the gridiron began in 1904, and when the Sooners departed the Big 12 in 2023, that football rivalry ceased. Many believed that once the two in-state rivals were no longer conference partners, Bedlam would cease in every other sport as well.
Give credit to the coaches of all four basketball programs (women’s and men’s) for not folding under the pressure and seeing the importance of a rivalry that means so much in their state. On Saturday, Dec. 13, Bedlam descended on Oklahoma City and the Paycom Center, home of the reigning NBA world champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The men’s battle was on deck first, with the Sooners handling OSU 85-76. The women’s programs, both ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time, were the second bill of the doubleheader and a matchup of two of the top three offenses in the nation. The No. 8 Sooners, behind a double-double from senior Raegan Beers, dominated the Cowgirls on their way to a 92-70 victory. It was their seventh straight win over OSU, and they now hold a 70-47 advantage all-time in the Bedlam series. The Sooners are also on a 10-game winning streak and open SEC play Jan. 1 at Texas A&M. The Cowgirls are 10-2 and will start Big 12 play before the holiday break, traveling to Cincinnati on Dec. 21.
Smooth sailing so far: An 87-58 victory on Dec. 13 over South Florida pushed No. 13 Vanderbilt to 10-0 on the season and extended its non-conference home winning streak to 25 games. The Commodores are 10-0 for the first time since the 2011-12 season, and head coach Shea Ralph’s team has been cruising on calm waters to start the year. Sophomore Mikayla Blakes continues to shine, posting her 29th straight double-digit scoring game against the Bulls, posting 19 points. She is currently the third-best scorer in the nation, averaging 25 points per game. The ’Dores offense is top 20 in the country and has been given a boost by Justine Pissott. The 6’4 senior is second in scoring behind Blakes at 10.9 points per game and is shooting 41% from deep. Vanderbilt will lower their anchor for three more games at home and then ring in the New Year on the road to start SEC play on Jan. 1 at Arkansas.
Not to jingle the holiday jinx for any one team’s current success, but there are still just three schools that have undefeated women’s and men’s teams as of Dec. 17 – Vanderbilt, Nebraska and Iowa State.
(Photo credit: Nicole Hester | THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The lights are not twinkling: Basketball is a winter sport, so we are always prepared for the travel insanity that comes with that. Teams are always dealing with delayed flights, buses that are late due to road conditions and sometimes light crowds because it is too treacherous for fans to venture to the arena. We usually can count on the lights staying on in arenas even when it is cold outside, but on Dec. 13, it went dark inside the Lawlor Events Center at Nevada. A power outage occurred with 55 seconds remaining in overtime and Nevada leading Pacific 70-67. The game was ruled an interrupted game due to the power outage (no explanation was officially given for the outage), and due to the ruling of an interrupted game, no winner was declared, and stats were all voided. Halloween is behind us, so we cannot chalk this up to a ghostly spirit haunting the arena. Maybe they need to take after Clark Griswold – sometimes you just need to check every bulb and every outlet.
Poll watch: There is a stranglehold on the top spot so far this season, and by the looks of things, UConn is not letting go anytime soon. The Huskies sit at No. 1 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, garnering 24 of the 32 first-place votes. UConn has now been ranked 646 weeks and is tied with Stanford for third-most in the 50-year history of the poll. They sit behind Tennessee (No. 17 this week) and Texas (No. 2 this week). The Huskies destroyed USC on the road 79-51 over the weekend, dropping the Trojans three spots to No. 19. Oklahoma is up one to No. 8 after a 92-70 win over Oklahoma State on Dec. 13, dropping the Cowgirls out of the poll. Louisville is the biggest holiday hopper, up six places to No. 16 after their Dec. 14 overtime win against now No. 18 North Carolina (76-66). Princeton is in at No. 25 and sits at 10-1 while three Big 12 teams received votes this week – Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Arizona State.
(Photo credit: Jamie Rhodes | Imagn Images)
STAR POWER
The holiday light show is on full display in Texas and the Big 12 has been in overdrive with star power and triple-doubles in the past week. On Dec. 9, Baylor graduate student Jana Van Gytenbeek recorded her first career triple-double in the Bears’ 90-36 win over Alabama State. The 5’7 guard had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, making it just the eighth in program history and the first since 2022. Olivia Miles of TCU became the first player in Big 12 history to record a triple-double in back-to-back games. She registered one on Dec. 6 against UTEP and posted her second on Dec. 14 in the Horned Frogs’ win over Jacksonville, 89-49. The 5-10 graduate student guard had 15 points, 11 boards and 10 assists in 28 minutes of work and now ranks fifth in NCAA history for career triple-doubles. This is the second time Miles has had consecutive triple-doubles in her career. In December 2024, as a senior at Notre Dame, she did it against Loyola (MD) and Virginia.
In crosstown rivalries, you need stars to shine brightly. The battle between Charlotte and Davidson is known as the 704 Cup and 49ers held home court for a 71-61 victory on Dec. 14. With her season high 19 points in the win, graduate student guard Tanajah Hayes was named American Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. The Florida International transfer also had eight assists and three steals in the victory. Hayes was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, where she clinched her 1,000th career point, becoming the 30th player in program history to reach the milestone. This was Charlotte’s first win over Davidson since the 2019-20 season.
Taylor Barbot was named Coastal Athletic Association Player of the Week after leading College of Charleston to a 75-70 win over Florida State on Dec. 14. The junior guard poured in a game-high 20 points and dished out eight assists as the Cougars defeated a Power 4 school for the second consecutive year. This was also Charleston’s first win over an ACC school since 2009. For Barbot, a native of Floral Park, N.Y., this is her second CAA weekly honor, having earned player of the week last December. She is currently in the top 10 in the nation in both total assists and assists per game.
It was the weekend of Hoosier Heisman dreams coming true (Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza was given the top award in college football) and a sweep of the Big Ten weekly women’s basketball awards. Senior guard Shay Ciezki was named Big Ten Player of the Week after two stellar performances in Indiana victories. On Dec. 11, she dropped 31 points in the 98-54 win over Louisiana-Monroe, going 12-for-17 from the floor for her third 30-plus point performance of the season. She then posted a team-high 25 points in the Dec. 14 win over Eastern Michigan, knocking down three triples from deep. The Buffalo, N.Y., native earned her second weekly award of the season and became the first Indiana player to earn multiple awards since Mackenzie Holmes in 2022-23.
(Photo credit: © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
6’3 forward Maya Makalusky was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after posting 22 points against ULM in her first career start. She went 6-for-10 from behind the arc in that Dec. 11 victory and over the course of the week, averaged 15.5 points and 5 boards per game. She also shot 58% from the floor in the two Indiana wins. The Fishers, Ind., native is the first freshman to win the Big Ten award since 2023.
Utah Valley senior Kaylee Headrick was named WAC Newcomer of the Week after registering a double-double in the Dec. 13 victory at Kansas City (64-58), finishing with 18 points to tie a career high and a career-best 11 rebounds. The 5’10 forward, who transferred from Colorado State, scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half to help the Wolverines secure the victory. Headrick is averaging just shy of nine points and five boards per game and is the first Utah Valley player to receive a WAC weekly award this season.
It is a youthful squad that has BYU sitting with an 11-1 record at the end of their non-conference schedule and a big piece of that is freshman Olivia Hamlin. The 5’10 guard from Santa Clara, Utah, was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week and led the Cougars in scoring in two victories last week. She dropped 22 points in the 68-59 win over Idaho State on Dec. 11 and followed it with 20 points against UTEP (81-46) on Dec. 13. Hamlin went a career-best 4-for-7 from three in the win over the Miners and is averaging just shy of 30 minutes per game in the last eight non-conference games. This is the first Big 12 weekly award of her career.
FULL COURT PRESS
As you maneuver your sleigh through the packed parking lot at your local grocery store and wait patiently in the Starbucks drive-thru line, be sure to take a moment this holiday season to decompress. Settle into your favorite chair and dial up some great matchups before the holiday craziness sets in. Cheer for your team or against your rival – whichever lifts your holiday spirits the most – and keep your eye on these games coming up before the short break (check your local listings for game times and broadcast availability):
Dec. 17
Troy at Old Dominion
Tulane at R/V Alabama
Marquette at No. 1 UConn
Kansas City at Arkansas
South Dakota at Pepperdine
San Diego State at Fresno St.
Dec. 18
Portland at Oregon
Virginia Tech at Florida State
South Dakota State at Duke
Cal Poly at No. 19 USC
Dec. 19
Washington St. at Penn
Fairfield at Rider
Gonzaga at Missouri St.
No. 22 Washington at Stanford
Dec. 20
No. 16 Louisville at No. 17 Tennessee
Eastern Michigan at Ball State
UTSA at Columbia
No. 11 Iowa at No. 1 UConn
BYU at UCF
No. 3 South Carolina at Florida Gulf Coast
Duke at Belmont
K-State at No. 9 TCU
Dec. 21
R/V NC State at Davidson
Kansas at No. 10 Iowa State
No. 2 Texas at South Dakota State
Houston at West Virginia
Lindenwood at Eastern Illinois
Colorado at R/V Arizona State
No. 19 USC at Cal
Dec. 22
Utah at Arizona
Toledo at Long Beach St.
Southern Indiana at No. 17 Tennessee
Western Michigan at No. 21 Ohio State
*All statistics cited in this column are sourced from university and conference-provided statistics
