We’re a little over a month into the women’s college basketball season and a lot’s happened so far around the state of Texas. Taking stock of where all 25 Division I programs are at would take a long time, but let’s take a look at some of the biggest storylines around the Lone Star State.

Texas is a national-title contender

The Big 12 doesn’t get the attention it deserves. The top two teams in the conference, Texas and Baylor, both look like contenders this season, though the Longhorns look to be a step ahead of Baylor and, well…potentially a step ahead of everyone.

The Horns rank first in the country in net rating this year at +51.1, and while that number might be a bit inflated because of competition—per Her Hoop Stats, the team ranks 343rd in opponent average win percentage—it’s still an impressive mark.

Rori Harmon is, of course, the big name in Austin. Harmon, the cover story from this year’s magazine, is the best two-way guard in the country. Her offense has reached another level this year, with Harmon shooting 51.4 percent from the floor. Last year, she shot 36.8 percent.

Texas is +314 with Harmon on the court. I don’t usually put a ton of stock into individual plus/minus, but it’s just a little absurd how much the Horns beat their opponents by in her minutes. That number leads the nation by a good margin. Second is Texas teammate Amina Muhammad, while third is the first non-Horn, Raven Johnson from South Carolina. The Gamecocks are +257 with her on the floor.

Another big part of Texas looking this good is freshman Madison Booker, who has averaged 11.4 points, 3.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. You don’t often see a freshman come in and start from day one on a team as talented as Texas, but that’s just what Booker’s done. Her ability to shoot the ball from three has added another dimension to Vic Schaefer’s offense.

Bella Earle has hit her stride at ACU

There have been 13 triple-doubles this season in Division I, and just two players have recorded multiple of them. Both of those players have a Texas connection. One is Zaay Green, the former Duncanville star who played 17 games for Texas A&M back in 2021 before transferring to UAPB. She has the Lady Lions positioned to fight for a SWAC title this year.

The other player? Bella Earle from Abilene Christian. Earle, who played at Denton Guyer and is now in her third season with the Wildcats, had 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in a win over Navy, then followed that up one game later with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against UT Arlington.

ACU’s going to need more of that from Earle if the team wants to fight for a top spot in the WAC. The team’s only two wins over Division I opponents happen to be the two games in which Earle recorded a triple-double.

SFA is still good

After Mark Kellogg left for West Virginia and took some of SFA’s best players with him, there were a lot of questions about where the Ladyjacks would go from there. SFA entered the season with a talented but untested roster—things could have gone really well, or they could have gone really bad.

Nine games in, the Ladyjacks sit at 6-3, which includes a 2-0 mark in WAC play. The team’s losses are an overtime loss to Liberty, a loss to a really good UNT team, and a close loss to Alabama.

The defense isn’t playing at the level it was under Kellogg, but the offense has largely kept pace with where the team was last year. In eight games against Division I competition, the Ladyjacks have averaged 73.8 points per game, just 0.7 below last year’s average. Kurstyn Harden has really blossomed this year, averaging 18.1 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting.

Mark Campbell has TCU humming

Let’s get this out of the way first—yes, TCU’s schedule has been relatively weak. The team ranks 257th in opponent average win percentage. Still, that shouldn’t take away from the fact that the team is a perfect nine-for-nine when it comes to beating Division I opponents. That’s already one more win over a DI team than the Horned Frogs had all of last year.

Much of this has been fueled by two key transfers—Madison Conner from Arizona, who is averaging 23.9 points per game and shooting 44.3 percent from three on 11.8 attempts per game, and Sedona Prince from Oregon, who is averaging 21.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per contest.

Conner’s shooting numbers are just astronomically wild. She’s the Division I leader in 3-point attempts per game and ranks in the 89th percentile in 3-point percentage. Of the 32 players to average at least eight shots per game from behind the arc, only three make their shots at a higher rate than Conner. And of the six players attempting at least nine per game, Conner’s the only one over 40 percent.

Meanwhile, Prince is the only player in Division I to average 20-plus points and three-plus blocks per game. Only one other player, Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley, averages 20-plus points and two-plus blocks per game.

Will TCU keep this torrid play up when the team is playing Big 12 opponents every night? I don’t know, but if the Horned Frogs can even just push to finish near the middle of the conference, they might be able to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Jason Burton was the answer for UNT

The Mean Green are 9-1, the best start in program history. The team’s only loss was against Texas A&M. It certainly looks like Jason Burton was the right hire for this program.

The former Texas A&M Commerce coach brought two of his former players along with him this year, adding Dyani Robinson and DesiRay Kernal. Robinson, who is returning from a torn ACL, has struggled with her shot a little but is adding 1.2 steals per game for the Mean Green. She’s scored in double figures in two of the past three games though and looks to be finding her form. North Texas will be even more dangerous when she hits her stride.

Meanwhile, Kernal’s been one of the best players in the state this year. She’s averaging a career-high 18.0 points per game on 54.7 percent shooting along with 9.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. She’s shot 50 percent or better in six consecutive games and put up 28 points in a win over UAPB.

Houston Christian’s rocky start

It’s been a really good start to the season for much of the state, but it hasn’t all gone well. Houston Christian currently has the fourth-lowest net rating in the country in its seven games against Division I teams. While the team is 4-6 overall, three of those wins are against non-Division I schools. The team has three losses by 45 or more points.

But hey—they’ve also played some incredibly good teams. They rank 18th in opponent average win percentage, and they still have one of the most underrated players in Texas, N’Denasija Collins, who is averaging 11.3 points per game.

The stats say the Huskies haven’t played well, but don’t count this team out of Southland contention. That tough schedule can help the team build character and playing conference teams each night is a lot different than playing teams like Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, and Kansas every night.