No. 2 USC has best ranking in AP Top 25 in 39 years after beating UCLA; Texas still No. 1

Southern California has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular season crown with Notre Dame while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.

LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Miss. The Tigers also will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.

Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.

Ranked Rabbits

South Dakota State entered the poll for the first time this season, coming in at No. 25. It’s the first time the Jackrabbits are ranked since the preseason poll in 2022. The team went 16-0 in conference play and have gone undefeated in the Summit League three straight years. The Jackrabbits have won 63 straight regular season conference games and are 81-1 dating back to the beginning of the 2020-21 season. The team’s only three losses this season came to Duke, Georgia Tech and Texas.

Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference has seven ranked teams. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each have five. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.

Games of the week

All four of the major conferences begin their tournaments this week with the championship games on Sunday.