UCLA vaulted back up to No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday after beating USC for the Big Ten title over the weekend.
The Bruins, who spent 12 weeks atop the poll before losing to the rival Trojans in early February, received 16 first-place votes from a national panel to jump from fourth to first. It was the second time this season that the Bruins leaped over a few teams to move up to No. 1. UCLA topped then-No. 1 South Carolina before Thanksgiving to move up four places to claim the top ranking.
South Carolina knocked off previous No. 1 Texas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game and moved up to second from fifth in the poll. The Gamecocks garnered nine first-place ballots.
UConn remained third going into Monday night’s game against No. 22 Creighton for the Big East title. The Huskies received the other seven first-place votes.
USC, which beat UCLA twice in the regular season, fell two spots to fourth and Texas dropped to fifth.
TCU climbed up two spots to sixth for the highest ranking in school history after topping Baylor for the Big 12 championship Sunday. The Horned Frogs last won a tournament title in 2005 when they were a member of Conference USA.
Duke moved up four places to seventh after it beat N.C. State for the ACC championship. It was the Blue Devils’ first tournament title in 12 years. It’s also the team’s best ranking since it was also seventh on Nov. 17, 2014.
Notre Dame fell to eighth, with N.C. State and LSU rounding out the top 10.
Ins and outs
Mississippi joined the poll at No. 25 after reaching the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Ole Miss was ranked for the first nine weeks of the season. Michigan State fell out of the poll.
Getting recognition
UTSA received a vote in the poll for the first time in school history. The Roadrunners finished off the regular season with a school record 26 wins, including a 17-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference. The 17 conference victories match the school mark set in 2002-03 when the team was in the Southland Conference.
The team is led by conference player of the year Jordyn Jenkins and is coached by Karen Aston.
Conference breakdown
The Southeastern Conference has eight ranked teams. The ACC and Big 12 each have five while the Big Ten has four. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.
Games of the week
With the power conference tournaments finished, attention turns to the mid-major showdowns. The MAAC, NEC and Ivy League all have their championships this weekend.
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