I’ve been voting for Fairfield on my Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball ballot for the past eight weeks. And there’s been several reasons why.
The Stags are 26-1 this season, which is the second-best record in all of Division I women’s college basketball, behind only undefeated South Carolina. Fairfield is also the 16th best shooting team in the country, knocking down 46.8% of their shots from the floor. Their defense is good too, as the Stags allow just 0.69 points per play, which is sixth-best in the nation.
While my fellow voters were slow to hop on the bandwagon driven by freshman forward Meghan Andersen and second-year head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the Stags took it upon themselves to inform the general public about the best team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
On Sunday, Fairfield – with an old-fashioned resume and a bit of wit– applied for a spot in the AP and USA Today Coaches polls.
We would like to apply for a position in your Top-25 rankings.
We would add a 26-1 record and a 24-game winning streak into your group, both second in the country.
Attached is our resume, we look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,#RankTheStags pic.twitter.com/pbuYoi5LTm
— #25 Fairfield Women’s Basketball (@StagsWBball) March 3, 2024
And it worked.
When the latest AP Top 25 Poll debuted at noon on Monday, the Stags – who have won 24 games in a row – held the final spot in the top 25 with 60 voting points. Fairfield is the first team from the MAAC to be ranked in the AP Poll since Marist appeared more than a decade ago.
Thibault-DuDonis was elated to see her program in the national spotlight:
“This is a momentous occasion for our program. I came to Fairfield knowing it was a special place with the infrastructure, the support from the top and incredible people that was set up to be in the national conversation every season, so this is a huge step in that happening. We are grateful that our consistency has been rewarded by the voters and we’re going to keep working hard so that today isn’t a crescendo, but rather a launching point to even bigger accomplishments.”
While Fairfield has a program-record 26 wins – and has a handful of impressive wins over the likes of Rutgers and St. John’s – it will still need to win the MAAC Tournament for a spot in the NCAA tournament. Should the Stags get a coveted spot in the 68-team field, they shouldn’t be taken lightly.
A team equipped with a player like Andersen is one that can bust brackets in March. She’s one of just two players in the country averaging at least 16 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50% from the floor, 38% from 3-point land and 85% from the charity stripe.