Vanderbilt ranked in women's AP Top 25 for 1st time in 11 years; UCLA, South Carolina still 1-2

 

[January 28, 2025]  By DOUG FEINBERG

Vanderbilt entered the Associated Press women's basketball Top 25 on Monday at No. 23, its first ranking in more than a decade, while Texas returned to the top five and Ohio State and Duke both jumped back into the top 10.

Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt team is in the poll for the first time since Feb. 10, 2014, and has two wins over ranked teams for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The Commodores topped then-No. 19 Alabama on Sunday as the Crimson Tide were one of a dozen ranked teams to lose last week.

The top four teams remained the same as UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame and USC all avoided upsets last week. The Bruins received 31 first-place ballots from the 32-member national media panel after winning their three games on an eight-day East Coast trip. They beat then-No. 25 Baylor, Rutgers and formerly eighth-ranked Maryland.

UCLA, which picked up two first place votes this week, is the only undefeated team left in Division I basketball after then-No. 5 LSU lost to the Gamecocks. South Carolina garnered the other top vote.

Texas leapfrogged UConn to move up to fifth and the Huskies remained sixth. LSU dropped to seventh. Ohio State, which also beat Maryland, ,moved up four places to eighth. The Terrapins dropped to 14th after losing all three of their games last week.

TCU and Duke rounded out the top 10. The Horned Frogs split a pair of games with Oklahoma State and Baylor.

In and out
Oklahoma State and Florida State re-entered the rankings this week at No. 24 and 25, respectively. The Seminoles were ranked in the preseason poll and topped North Carolina on a buzzer-beater by last week's AP Player of the Week Ta'Niya Latson. The Cowgirls have been in and out of the poll the last few weeks.

Michigan, Minnesota and Baylor all fell out.

UCLA guard Londynn Jones (3) gestures after she made a 3-point basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Maryland, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Oh baby!
Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell gave birth to her first child a week ago and was returning for the 18th-ranked Lady Vols' game against South Carolina on Monday night. Caldwell gave birth to Conor Scott a week earlier while dealing with the flu. She missed a single game, an 80-76 loss at No. 7 Texas on Thursday, as assistant Jenna Burdette filled in as acting coach.

Conference breakdown
The Southeastern Conference had eight teams ranked this week and ACC has seven. The Big Ten dropped to five teams with Michigan and Minnesota exiting the poll. The Big 12 has four ranked teams and the Big East one.

Games of the week
Columbia at Harvard, Friday. The undefeated Lions will visit the Crimson in a battle for first-place in the Ivy League. Columbia is undefeated while Harvard has one loss, a last-second defeat at Princeton.

No. 12 Kentucky at No. 13 Oklahoma, Sunday. The Wildcats will visit the SEC newcomer Sooners. Kentucky is currently in a tie for second in the conference standings at 6-1.

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