USC has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday.
The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since it was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.
“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and it’s a neat feeling in the present moment.”
Texas remained No. 1 after receiving the other 25 first-place votes. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.
UCLA fell to fourth behind No. 3 Connecticut. South Carolina, which won a coin flip for the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.
North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular-season crown with Notre Dame, while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.
LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers lost to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Mississippi. The Tigers will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.
Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.
Ranked Rabbits
South Dakota State entered the poll for the first time this season at No. 25. It’s the first time the Jackrabbits are ranked since the preseason poll in 2022. They went 16-0 in conference play and have gone undefeated in the Summit League three straight years.
The Jackrabbits have won 63 straight regular-season conference games and are 81-1 dating to the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Their only three this season came to Duke, Georgia Tech and Texas.
Conference breakdown
The SEC has seven ranked teams, and the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each have five. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.
Games of the week
All four major conferences begin their tournaments this week with the championship games Sunday.
