Iowa moved up to No. 2 and Colorado to No. 3 behind top-ranked South Carolina in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll after a chaotic week that saw half of the top 10 teams lose.
The Gamecocks (15-0), who are the last unbeaten team left, routed Missouri in their lone game last week and received all 36 first-place votes from the national media panel in Monday’s poll released hours before South Carolina routed Kentucky in a game that featured a dunk by Ashlyn Watkins.
Previously undefeated UCLA and Baylor both lost and fell in the rankings. The Bruins dropped from second to fifth and the Bears plummeted from fourth to 12th after losing to both Kansas and Iowa State. The Cyclones entered the poll at No. 24.
Caitlin Clark and Iowa moved up to second after routing then-No. 14 Indiana on Saturday night. Colorado and N.C. State followed the Hawkeyes. The Buffaloes are 15-1 for the first time since the 1992-93 season.
USC moved up to sixth after handing the Bruins their first loss of the season.
Kansas State shot up five spots to seventh, the Wildcats’ best ranking since they were fifth in the preseason poll in 2003. Stanford and UConn were next, with the Huskies moving up four spots to return to the top 10 at No. 9. Defending champion LSU saw its nation’s best 16-game winning streak end with a loss at Auburn and fell three spots to 10th.
West Virginia dropped out of the poll after losing to Iowa State.
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer moved within one victory of tying Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins all-time in college basketball. VanDerveer sits at 1,201 after her team beat Utah on Friday, but lost at Colorado on Sunday. She will next have a chance to tie the mark on Friday at home against Oregon.
Florida State had two wins over ranked teams last week, topping then-No. 20 North Carolina and previously 11th-ranked Virginia Tech to move up to 15th from 21.
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