South Carolina starts the season where it ended last year: ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 women’s college basketball poll.
The Gamecocks received 27 of 30 first-place votes in a national media panel’s preseason rankings on Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from last year’s national championship team that went undefeated, capping its historic season Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game.
UConn is No. 2, USC is No. 3 and Texas and UCLA round out the top five.
South Carolina has been ranked No. 1 in four preseason polls for the past five years. Last season they started sixth in preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year.
“We knew we would have a target this season as the reigning champions and these preseason rankings only confirm that,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. “We appreciate the recognition, but I know our coaching staff and team are more focused on what we see in the gym every day. And that means that every player works extremely hard to improve individually and as a team.”
UConn received two first-place votes. The Huskies have now been ranked in the top 10 of the preseason poll for 30 years in a row. Geno Auriemma’s team continued major injury problems last year, but the Huskies appear to be healthy for the most part to start this season.
Third-ranked USC is led by phenomenal sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and the team added two talented transfers in Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen. The Trojans, who got the other top spot, have their highest preseason ranking since the 1982 and 1983 teams were No. 1 in the opening poll both years.
Texas welcomes back Rori Harmon, who was sidelined most of last season with an ACL injury. She and Madison Booker give the Longhorns a solid 1-2 punch on offense. UCLA added its own solid group of transfers to a strong team, with Charlisse Leger-Walker and Timea Gardiner joining Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.
Notre Dame, LSU, Iowa State, North Carolina State and Oklahoma rounded out the top 10 teams in the poll. It’s the second time in three seasons the Cyclones have started this high in the preseason poll. The Sooners haven’t been this high in the first poll of the season since 2010, when they were also 10th.
Welcome back
No. 24 Alabama appears in the rankings for the first time since the last poll in 1999. The Crimson Tide has not been in the preseason poll since 1998 (No. 9). The team has appeared in consecutive NCAA Tournaments behind stars Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye.
“We are very grateful for the mention, but want to take care of every day,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “We are excited about the group this season and the way we finished last season.”
End of an era
Stanford is unranked in the preseason rankings for the first time since 1999. Hall of Fame Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer April retired and was replaced by longtime assistant Kate Paye. It was the second-longest active streak of the preseason, behind only UConn.
The supremacy of the conference
New conference additions Texas and Oklahoma give the SEC seven teams in the Top 25. They are joined by South Carolina, LSU, No. 20 Ole Miss, No. 22 Kentucky and Alabama. The ACC and Big Ten each have six ranked teams, while the Big 12 has four. UConn and Creighton give the Big East two teams.
