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Women's college basketball ballot breakdown | Trouble brewing in … – The News-Gazette
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Partly cloudy. Low 32F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: November 21, 2023 @ 7:58 pm
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, right, and forward Kamilla Cardoso have had plenty of high-five about this season with the top-seeded Gamecocks at 34-0 ahead of Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed UCLA in Greenville, S.C.
Angel Reese of the LSU Lady Tigers gestures toward Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Sports Copy Editor
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, right, and forward Kamilla Cardoso have had plenty of high-five about this season with the top-seeded Gamecocks at 34-0 ahead of Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed UCLA in Greenville, S.C.
Angel Reese of the LSU Lady Tigers gestures toward Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, and total points based on 25 points for a first- place vote through one point for a 25th- place vote and previous ranking:
RK., TEAM REC. PTS PRV
1. South Carolina (36) 4-0 900 1
2. UCLA 4-0 837 3
3. Colorado 4-0 773 5
4. Stanford 4-0 768 6
5. Iowa 4-1 678 2
6. Connecticut 3-1 672 8
7. LSU 5-1 642 7
8. Southern California 4-0 600 10
9. Virginia Tech 3-1 567 9
10. Utah 4-1 518 4
10. North Carolina State 4-0 518 14
12. Texas 4-0 517 11
13. Florida State 4-0 490 12
14. Baylor 3-0 457 21
15. Ohio State 3-1 400 13
16. Kansas State 4-0 368 NR
17. Notre Dame 3-1 343 16
18. North Carolina 4-0 328 17
19. Tennessee 3-1 309 15
20. Louisville 4-0 263 19
21. Indiana 3-1 259 18
22. Oklahoma 5-0 146 25
23. Washington State 5-0 114 24
24. Mississippi 5-1 105 23
25. Mississippi State 5-0 55 NR
Others receiving votes: Maryland 48, Creighton 10, Princeton 6, Marquette 6, Michigan 1, UNLV 1, Davidson 1.
THE NEWS-GAZETTE’S TOP 25Rankings from The News-Gazette’s women’s college basketball and Illini beat writer Joe Vozzelli, with his previous rankings listed:
Rk., Team Prev.
1. South Carolina 2
2. UCLA 3
3. Colorado 8
4. Stanford 7
5. Connecticut 5
6. LSU 4
7. Iowa 1
8. Utah 6
9. Florida State 9
10. Southern California 10
11. Virginia Tech 11
12. Texas 12
13. Notre Dame 15
14. Ohio State 13
15. North Carolina State 18
16. Baylor 20
17. Tennessee 14
18. Indiana 16
19. Kansas State NR
20. Oklahoma 19
21. Louisville 21
22. North Carolina 22
23. Mississippi State 23
24. Mississippi 25
25. Maryland 17
WHO’S UPUCLA and USC. The two Los Angeles-based programs are in the top 10 ahead of their move to the Big Ten next season. The Bruins, who receiving their highest-ever ranking on Monday, have been built by coach Cori Close around some talented recruiting classes, a key transfer portal addition (Lauren Betts) and veteran presence in fifth-year guard Charisma Osborne. Betts, a former No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022 who transferred to Westwood after one season at Stanford, is averaging 19.5 points and 10.8 rebounds as a 6-foot-7 sophomore center. Meanwhile, across town in downtown L.A., five of the top eight players in Lindsay Gottlieb‘s Trojans rotation are non-seniors, led by a freshman sensation in 6-2 guard JuJu Watkins (28.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg) from Sierra Canyon High School.
WHO’S DOWNLSU. And not for on-the-court reasons. Well, sort of. The defending champion Tigers took care of Kent State, Southeastern Louisiana and Texas Southern in the past week. But not without drama amid a rift between LSU star Angel Reese and coach Kim Mulkey. Reese was not with the team on Friday in a 73-50 win against Southeastern Louisiana and missed Monday night’s 106-47 win against Texas Southern after Mulkey sat the junior forward for unspecified reasons. Mulkey offered few details on the situation postgame after the Southeastern Louisiana win, other than: “Angel is a part of this basketball team and we hope to see her sooner than later.” Reese responded on Sunday with a straightforward social media message. “Please don’t believe everything you read,” Reese wrote. Oh, boy.
WHO TO WATCHIt’s Thanksgiving tournament week, with the Women’s Paradise Jam one of the top events, as Colorado, North Carolina State and Texas are all in the field. Saturday’s Colorado-N.C. State noon matchup (ESPN+) in the U.S. Virgin Islands is one of five games in the upcoming week that will feature two AP Top 25 teams. The Buffaloes (4-0) and Wolfpack (4-0) have both vaulted up the rankings with impressive wins against LSU and Connecticut, respectively.
Joe Vozzelli
Sports Copy Editor
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