Current champion University of California, Connecticut picked up where it left off, becoming the No. 1 team in the country in the Associated Press women's basketball preseason poll released Tuesday.
The Huskies received 27 first-place votes from the 31-member national media panel. South Carolinalast season's runner-up to UConn, was picked second in the poll and received four more first-place votes. This is the fifth time in the last six years that Dawn Staley's Gamecocks have been ranked in the top five in the preseason poll. UCLA And Texas were third and fourth and LSU was fifth.
Oklahoma was sixth, which was the Sooners' highest preseason ranking since they were fourth in 2008. Duke, Tennessee, North Carolina State And Maryland closes the top 10.
Led by a sensational sophomore Sarah Strong and super senior Azzi's BenefitGeno Auriemma's Yukon team finished first in the preseason for the 13th time since 1995 and first since 2017.
“Hopefully this will be a little bit of a confidence booster rather than, 'Oh my God!' Auriemma said. “I'm happy for them. We talk a lot about how we're not here to prove that we're the defending national champions or we're number one in the preseason in the country and we need to beat everyone by 40 points. We don't want to fall into that trap. You tend to end the year where you're projected to be. So I like being in that position.”
In eight of the previous 12 times UC was picked first, the Huskies won the national championship. Auriemma believes his team has a good chance this year.
“It has to happen with good leadership, a little bit of luck and people who rise to the occasion,” he said. “The four times we didn’t win, we were unlucky or didn’t stay healthy.”
The top four teams were selected in the same order as in last season's final poll. For the first time in the 50-year history of the women's polls, the top four teams in the final poll were tied for next year's preseason top 25; Last year was only the second season that the AP released a Top 25 list after the championship game. For more than four decades, the final poll was released before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Conference excellence
The Southeastern Conference has eight teams in the top 25, including five in the top 10. The Big Ten is next with six schools in the poll. The ACC has five and the Big 12 has four. The Atlantic 10 and Big East each have one.
Great Expectations for Ann Arbor
Michigan ranked 13th in the preseason poll, its highest ranking in the first poll since 2021 (11th). Last year, the Wolverines started three freshmen and went 23-11, winning the NCAA Tournament. Great success is expected from this trio. Power Swords, Mila Holloway And Olivia Olson.
Resurgent Commodores
No. 19 Vanderbiltunder the guidance of a sophomore Mikayla Blakesfor the first time since 2012, she was included in the preseason rankings. Blakes had one of the best freshman seasons in school history when she averaged 23.3 points and scored over 50 points twice. Coach Shea Ralph's team was ranked last year for the first time since 2014, when they were in the poll for two weeks.
Richmond rating
No. 24 Richmond has its first ranking in school history. Expectations are high for the Spiders, who won their first NCAA Tournament game last season. The Spiders are the first Atlantic 10 team in a decade to be ranked in the top 25 (George Washington, 2015).
Richmond returns outstanding players Maggie Dugan And Rachel Ullstrom from last season's team that went 28-7. Spiders also added a transfer Earth Simon from St. Louis.
“It says a lot about where the program is right now,” Richmond coach Aaron Roussel said. “I don’t think that was ever the goal, we just wanted to continue to display this program. We talk about this a lot.”
