South Carolina beat a top opponent to remain No. 1 The Associated Press College Basketball Poll was released on Monday and now has a showdown with another one looming this weekend.
The Gamecocks (23-0) surpassed then- No. 5 UConn 81-77 on Sunday to remain undefeated and remain the unanimous vote at the top of the poll by the 28-member national media body. After Thursday’s clash with Auburn, South Carolina will take on No. 3 LSU on Sunday in a matchup of the last two undefeated women in Division I college basketball.
Dawn Staley’s team has won 29 straight games and has been No. 1 in the poll for 33 straight weeks. That’s a week to tie the Huskies for the third-longest streak at the top of the poll. Only UConn (51 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) had longer runs at #1.
While South Carolina has held No. 1 in a stranglehold for more than a year, Indiana makes its first ever appearance at No. 2 after Stanford lost to Washington.
“I’m going to enjoy that for a minute because I know where the program has been, where it is,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “We’ve made a lot of history since we’ve been here in our nine seasons and it’s one of the more historic things we’ve been able to accomplish. Give credit to our players, I don’t want to belittle what a great achievement this is. We are more than proud to be number 2.”
Indiana has won 10 straight wins since suffering its only loss of the season to Michigan State. The Hoosiers are in for a rough patch, beginning with a home game against No. 5 Iowa on Thursday. Indiana, which was no higher than fourth before Monday, then plays No. 13 Ohio State and No. 12 Michigan.
“So we’re taking it one game at a time, but you understand the magnitude of what’s ahead. I tell the kids all the time that we have our own destiny in our hands,” Moren said.
LSU stayed in 3rd after narrow victories over Tennessee, Georgia and Texas A&M. The Tigers have a week to prepare for the Gamecocks.
UConn moved up one spot to fourth after their narrow loss to the Gamecocks and Iowa was fifth.
The Cardinal dropped to sixth, with Utah, Maryland, Duke and Notre Dame rounding out the top 10. The Blue Devils beat the Irish on Sunday to take first place in the ACC alone and move up seven spots in the poll. It’s Duke’s best finish since the team finished the 2017 season in ninth place.
The NCAA will announce the top 16 teams in the tournament so far on Thursday for the first time.
FALLING CYCLONES
It’s been a tough week for Iowa State, who lost Kansas by one point and Baylor by six. The Cyclones fell nine spots in the poll from 12th to 21st.
REENTRY
Colorado returned to the poll at No. 25 after beating Oregon and Oregon State over the weekend. The Buffaloes were ranked for four weeks before being sidelined last week. Middle Tennessee was eliminated from the poll after losing both games last week.
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