Cream of the Crop: Women's basketball update

As No. 3 Duke continued to recover from the sudden loss of its captain Chelsea Gray to a career-ending injury, the Blue Devils narrowly slid by Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon in a 74-70 victory. Around women's college basketball, the increasing parity and competition of the conference season has begun to take hold of the headlines. Though there will be little changes in the top-10 teams in the country, the increased competition is proving to make the possibility of a compelling NCAA tournament ripe with upsets more likely.

The biggest upset of the week came to No. 7 Baylor which lost to an unranked Kansas squad by 16 points after a close matchup with No. 1 Connecticut earlier in the week. Speaking of the Huskies, they continue to cruise during American Athletic Conference match-ups, crushing No. 23 Rutgers by 30 points. Since the Blue Devils' loss to the Huskies in December, Notre Dame has taken over as the No. 2 ranked team in the country with Duke falling to No. 3. The Fighting Irish blew out Pittsburgh this week and are facing a Monday night matchup with No. 12 Tennessee. Duke fans should circle the upcoming games against Notre Dame as they will be the indicators of whether this Blue Devil squad can remain in the National Championship discussion. With the addition of the Fighting Irish into the ACC this season, the conference has become the most competitive in the women's game, boasting four of the top 10 teams and a bevy of other ranked squads.

Both No. 6 Maryland and No. 9 North Carolina earned victories, yet No. 20 North Carolina State and No. 17 Florida State were upset by unranked ACC opponents. The fact that Virginia Tech stayed in the game with Duke is of important note here as well because it shows how contested ACC play will become moving forward. Any team has the ability to beat the other and Duke will certainly be challenged to maintain the top position in the conference not just from other top-10 performers but unranked competition as well.

What has become apparent as the push to the final third of the college basketball season begins is that there are two tiers in the women's game. There is Connecticut and everyone else. Within the rest of the game there is increasing parody, but few can even contest the Huskies let alone hope to pull off the upset. Duke had its chance and failed yet again losing by 20 points ranked No. 2 in the country. The story line moving forward will be whether this Blue Devil squad can succeed consistently against this second-tier competition because that points for the chance to upset the Huskies in the NCAA tournament. The season is heating up quickly and the games continue to increase in intensity and excitement. Without further ado, here are the picks for the week.

Game to watch: No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Tennessee. Monday, 7:00 p.m.

ACC Game: No. 3 Duke vs. No. 17 Florida State. Thursday, 7:00 p.m.

Upset Alert: No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Tennessee. Monday, 7:00 p.m.