Tag: Poll

February is here and with that the women’s college basketball season is entering one of the most important periods of the regular season as conference championship races heat up. With that, the AP Top 25 Poll has once again been updated with the latest results in mind.

Conference play is in full swing and, with that, the race for the top of the standings in the regular season is heating up. At this point, there are only so many opportunities to make a move or risk not having enough time to get to the top of their respective conference standings. That also means that teams are jockeying for position in their future conference tournament seeding.

With all of that in mind, here’s a look at the updated AP Top 25 Poll in women’s college basketball for the first week of February.

The UCLA Bruins march on with their undefeated season. Since the last AP Poll came out, the Bruins only had one game, a Big Ten battle against Minnesota that saw the Golden Gophers hang around for a half before the Bruins pulled away to win by 26 points. That improved UCLA to 22-0.

On Wednesday, UCLA is in for a major test when they host the Ohio State Buckeyes. That should, on paper, be the start of the toughest stretch of the season for UCLA. With eight total games remaining, four of those are against ranked teams including two against USC before the season comes to an end.

In SEC play, South Carolina has once again been dominant and their only loss this season remains against UCLA in non-conference play. In the last week, that saw the Gamecocks win a pair of games, starting with a hard-fought win against Tennessee, before returning home for a double-digit win against Auburn.

In this next week, South Carolina is going to hit the road for a pair of tests. First, the Gamecocks are set to travel to play Georgia on the road. That could become a trap because, at the end of the week, they’ll travel to Austin for one of the biggest games of the season against Texas.

Since Notre Dame stumbled in late November in non-conference play, the Irish have been dominant. That has seen them become the frontrunner in the ACC throughout the season and that continued with a pair of double-digit road wins against Virginia Tech and Louisville. 

Now considered one of the best teams in the country by the AP Poll, Notre Dame has a target on its back moving forward this season. Of course, the schedule also doesn’t get easier from here. Notre Dame will return home next week before hosting a pair of West Coast schools, hosting Stanford and Cal.

The Texas Longhorns have now won six games in a row since dropping a road test against South Carolina in the middle of January. Last week, that included wins over Missouri and Texas A&M. That win over the Aggies was especially sweet.

The schedule gets tougher next week with some AP-ranked opponents coming up. First, Texas will need to stay focused on Thursday when they take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. Otherwise, they could easily get trapped looking ahead to South Carolina coming to town on Sunday for a rematch.

All the UConn Huskies do in Big East play is win. The last time they had a game that was less than a double-digit win was back in December when they suffered a two-point loss to USC. Last week, for the Huskies, it was a pair of blowout wins over DePaul and Butler consecutively. 

Next week, UConn has an interesting test to look ahead to, and it’s not in the Big East. Next Thursday, the Huskies have an interesting test against Tennessee, in a classic women’s basketball matchup. After that, it’s back to Big East play against Providence.

The LSU Tigers seem to have fully bounced back from their loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks with a run of three wins in a row. That included a close win over Oklahoma where the score went on to be 107-100 last Thursday. The Tigers would then follow up with a double-digit win over Mississippi State.

Next week, LSU hits the road for a game against Missouri. After that, they’ll enter one of their toughest stretches of the season, playing teams who either are ranked in the AP Poll or were recently ranked in the AP Poll in four of the next five games, starting with Tennessee.

The USC Trojans stumbled in their second game of the week, dropping a road game against Iowa in front of an emotionally charged crowd. In particular, a four-point first quarter was costly and put a damper on their win over Minnesota earlier in the week. It also cost the Trojans in the AP Poll.

Things aren’t going to get any easier for USC from here in Big Ten play. Next week, the Trojans are set to take on Wisconsin and Ohio State. They’ll need to maintain focus too because UCLA is just around the corner the week after that set of tough games and a loss there would put USC behind the eight-ball in a tough Big Ten.

Since getting upset by Penn State in January, Ohio State has bounced back with three straight wins and is now ranked in the Top 10 of the AP Poll again. Only one of those games came since the last AP Poll came out, a 10-point game against Washington. That has left them tied for second in the Big Ten standings.

From here, however, Ohio State is really going to get tested by Big Ten play. On Wednesday, the Buckeyes are on the road against UCLA. After that, they’ll stick in Los Angeles for another road test against USC. That could make for a potentially make or break week for the Buckeyes as it relates to their regular season hopes in conference play.

Since their one-point upset loss to a tough Oklahoma State team, TCU has bounced back in a fairly major way. They’ve added wins against Baylor and Iowa State, both of whom are competitive in the Big 12, and now they’re back at the top of the conference standings and are highly ranked in the AP Poll.

Next week has maybe the biggest game of the season for TCU. The Horned Frogs are set to take on Kansas State on Wednesday. Another highly ranked team, the two seem to be the top two competitors in the Big 12 and, with that, the game is going to put someone in the driver’s seat. From there, TCU needs to avoid upsets, starting with Texas Tech at the end of the week.

The Duke Blue Devils had an interesting week in the middle of the season and conference play. They didn’t play a single game. Beating Georgia Tech last Sunday helped the Blue Devils get into the AP Top 10 at the time, but they haven’t played a game since the last poll came out.

Now, Duke is getting ready for a tough game on Monday night when they travel to rival NC State. From there, they’ll play a back-to-back against Clemson before adding another game on Sunday against Miami. That should, in part, make up for the week off that Duke had to try and hit the reset button with.

Rest of AP Top 25 Poll

11. Kentucky
12. Kansas State
13. North Carolina
14. NC State
15. Oklahoma
16. Maryland
17. Georgia Tech
18. West Virginia
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan State
21. Cal
22. Florida State
23. Alabama
24. Vanderbilt
25. Oklahoma State