Vanderbilt entered the Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 at No. 23 on Monday, its first ranking in more than a decade, while Texas returned to the top five and Ohio State and Duke jumped back into the top 10.
Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt team is in the poll for the first time since February 10, 2014, and has two wins over ranked teams for the first time since 2015–16. The Commodores did then-No. 19 Alabama on Sunday as the Crimson Tide were one of 12 ranked teams to lose last week.
The top four remained the same as UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame and USC. The Bruins received 31 first-place ballots from the 32-member national media panel after winning three games on an eight-day East Coast trip. He then defeated-No. 25 Baylor, Rutgers and then-No. 8 Maryland.
UCLA, which picked up two first-place votes this week, is an undefeated Division I team then, not later. 5 LSU lost to South Carolina. The Gamecocks received the other top votes.
Texas upset Connecticut to move up to fifth, and the Huskies finished sixth. LSU dropped to seventh. Ohio State, which also defeated Maryland, moved up four spots to eighth. The Terrapins dropped to 14th after losing all three of their games last week.
TCU and Duke rounded out the top 10. The Horned Frogs split a pair of games with Oklahoma State and Baylor.
In
Oklahoma State and Florida State entered the rankings at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively. The Seminoles were ranked in the preseason poll and topped North Carolina on a buzzer-beater by the previous week’s AP Player of the Week, Tania Latson. The Cowgirls have been in and out of the polls over the past few weeks.
Michigan, Minnesota and Baylor all fell out.
Oh baby!
Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell gave birth to her first child a week ago and will return for the 18th-ranked Lady Vols’ game against South Carolina on Monday night. Caldwell gave birth to Connor Scott a week early while dealing with the flu. She missed a single game, an 80–76 loss at Texas on Thursday, with assistant Jenna Burdette filling in as acting coach.
break conference
The SEC has eight teams this week and the ACC seven. The Big Ten finished out of the polls with Michigan and Minnesota. The Big 12 has four ranked teams and the Big East has one.
game of the week
Columbia at Harvard, Friday. The undefeated Lions will visit the Crimson in a battle for first place in the Ivy League. Columbia is undefeated in Ivy sports, while Harvard has one loss, a last-second loss at Princeton.
No. 12 Kentucky at No. 13 Oklahoma on Sunday. The Wildcats will visit SEC newcomers the Sooners. Kentucky is 6–1 and is in second place in the conference standings.