Women's College Basketball Rankings: AP Poll Top 25 shaken up after multiple ranked matchups

Women’s college basketball had several excellent matchups in the last week, pitting ranked teams against one another. Naturally, with that, the AP Poll has been shaken up in the Top 25 rankings.

Now in mid-December, teams are starting to separate themselves from one another. At the same time, there is still plenty of time for teams to turn their seasons around. Even with multiple ranked matchups that have been played out in recent weeks, not everyone has even begun to play their conference games yet.

With all of that context in mind, here’s a look at how the Women’s AP Top 25 Poll worked itself out after several ranked matchups.

1. UCLA

The UCLA Bruins only had one game last week. That came on Saturday against an overmatched Long Beach State team. In the end, it was a 102-51 win as UCLA doubled up Long Beach State. With that, the unbeaten season marched on. 

This next week, UCLA will have another pair of non-conference games against Cal Poly and Creighton. After that, UCLA will turn its attention back to the Big Ten conference slate. Once that gets going in full, the number of challenging games for the Bruins is going to significantly increase.

2. South Carolina

Since suffering a loss at the hands of UCLA in November, South Carolina has ripped off five wins in a row. That included wins against three ranked opponents. They also added a win over USF on Sunday by a score of 78-62.

That run of success has helped to solidify South Carolina’s spot in the AP Poll this season. Now, the Gamecocks are going to look to continue that success next week when the Gamecocks are set to play Charleston Southern this upcoming week.

3. Notre Dame

A few weeks ago, Notre Dame lost back-to-back games and it looked like the Irish might fall out of the AP Top 10. However, they quickly turned things around and have since won four straight games, including against two other AP Top 10 teams. That includes beating UConn last week.

Now, Notre Dame is going to have a brief break before playing a non-conference game against Loyola Maryland next Sunday. After that, the Irish will be turning their attention to ACC play.

4. UConn

UConn’s standing in the AP Poll took a bit of a hit with the loss to Notre Dame. At the same time, the Irish are very well respected and in the end, it wasn’t a major hit, especially with it being their first loss of the season and how the Huskies were able to bounce back. That came in the form of a conference win against Georgetown.

The schedule doesn’t get easier from here for UConn. The Huskies are going to have two non-conference games against ranked opponents in the next week. After that, it’s back into Big East play.

5. LSU

The LSU Tigers have been a relatively quiet team in women’s college basketball. Last week, they kept that going with a big win over in-state opponent Louisiana. Now, LSU finds itself moving up in the AP Poll. 

The SEC still has some time before conference play gets going. LSU doesn’t have an SEC opponent on the schedule until January. In the meantime, it’s three more non-conference games that the Tigers are hoping to survive, starting with Seton Hall on Tuesday.

6. Texas

The Texas Longhorns marched on last week, having now won three games in a row since their tough loss to Notre Dame. In three straight non-conference games, including two on the road, the Longhorns have won and won by double digits.

Texas won’t begin SEC play until January. In the meantime, they’ll have three more non-conference games to deal with this season. All three of those games will come at home, starting with La Salle on Tuesday.

7. USC

USC is now on a six-game winning streak. During that run of winning, they’ve scored at least 84 points in five of their games. The only one that they didn’t score 84 points came against Oregon, which was their first Big Ten game of the season. 

After dominating Elon on Sunday, USC will now have a few days off. They’ll need to use that time to get prepared because once they’re back in action on Saturday the Trojans will need to play UConn, one of the best teams in the country. The very next day is a Big Ten game against Michigan.

8. Maryland

All Maryland has done this season is win. With that, Maryland keeps moving up in the Women’s AP Poll. Last Saturday, that included a win against Purdue in Big Ten play. However, in a unique quirk of the schedule, the Terrapins haven’t played since that game on December 7th, so they weren’t able to add to their resume last week.

Next Thursday, on December 19th, Maryland will finally be back in action. That game against William & Mary will be Maryland’s only game until after Christmas. That’s when Big Ten play will become more consistent for all the conference’s teams.

9. Duke

Duke has had several wins over highly ranked teams this season. At the same time, the Blue Devils have also suffered a pair of losses to teams ranked highly in the AP Poll. That’s been part of the reality for a Duke team playing a difficult non-conference schedule. 

Now, Duke has a pair of non-conference games against Wofford and USF. Those are both games that Duke is going to expect to win before ACC play and at that point, the schedule will once again get very difficult.

10. Oklahoma

Oklahoma only has one loss this season. That came in overtime against an AP ranked Duke team at the end of November. Since then, Oklahoma has won three straight games. That includes a 40-point win over Oral Roberts in non-conference play last week.

Oklahoma is going to be tested again in non-conference play this upcoming week with a test against the Michigan Wolverines. From there, the Sooners have a pair of winnable non-conference games before SEC play gets underway in January.

Rest of AP Top 25 Poll

11. Ohio State
12. TCU
13. Kansas State
14. West Virginia
15. Michigan State
16. Kentucky
17. Georgia Tech
18. Tennessee
19. North Carolina
20. Michigan
21. NC State
22. Iowa
23. Nebraska
24. California
25. Ole Miss