Women's college basketball AP Top 25: Baylor and USC enter top 10, UConn remains in top spot
Baylor and USC both defeated top-10 opponents in the first week of the season
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The first week of the women's college basketball season has officially wrapped up and now we have our first AP Top 25 of the regular season. While the top six teams remained the same, with reigning national champion UConn on top, there was movement elsewhere.
Baylor and USC were the biggest winners and have earned their ticket to the top 10. Baylor climbed nine spots to No. 7 after opening the season in Paris with a 58-52 win against then-No. 7 Duke. Neither team shot the ball particularly well, but that win can still give the Bears confidence as they move forward. The Blue Devils found more offense in their 91-48 win against Holy Cross on Sunday but still went down to No. 15.
Meanwhile, the Trojans entered the 2025-26 campaign in rebuilding mode after losing key players to the WNBA and transfer portal, and star player JuJu Watkins to a torn ACL. Regardless, they showed their potential on Sunday with a gutsy 69-68 victory over NC State -- a team that beat Tennessee in its season opener. Lindsay Gottlieb's squad moved up 10 spots to No. 8. While that was not the result NC State had hoped for, Wes Moore's Wolfpack only dropped one spot to No. 10.
USC can't relax because its next opponent will be No. 2 South Carolina. They will face off at the iconic Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Another key game this week is on Monday night, when No. 3 UCLA takes on No. 6 Oklahoma. Cori Close said her Bruins came out flat in their season opener against San Diego State, but are 2-0 after an 87-50 win against UC Santa Barbara while showing that they are a lot deeper than star Lauren Betts.
AP Women's Basketball Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UConn | 2-0 | 798 (30) | 1 |
| 2 | South Carolina | 2-0 | 761 (2) | 2 |
| 3 | UCLA | 2-0 | 732 | 3 |
| 4 | Texas | 2-0 | 708 | 4 |
| 5 | LSU | 3-0 | 672 | 5 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 614 | 6 |
| 7 | Baylor | 2-0 | 509 | 16 |
| 8 | USC | 2-0 | 500 | 18 |
| 9 | Marylad | 3-0 | 498 | 10 |
| 10 | NC State | 1-1 | 479 | 9 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 2-0 | 471 | 11 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 2-1 | 420 | 8 |
| 13 | Ole Miss | 2-0 | 411 | 12 |
| 14 | Michigan | 2-0 | 398 | 13 |
| 15 | Duke | 1-1 | 390 | 7 |
| 16 | Iowa State | 3-0 | 377 | 14 |
| 17 | TCU | 2-0 | 295 | 17 |
| 18 | Notre Dame | 2-0 | 285 | 15 |
| 19 | Vanderbilt | 1-0 | 203 | 19 |
| 20 | Oklahoma State | 4-0 | 167 | 22 |
| 21 | Iowa | 2-0 | 155 | 21 |
| 22 | Louisville | 1-1 | 149 | 20 |
| 23 | Kentucky | 3-0 | 119 | 24 |
| 24 | Michigan State | 2-0 | 111 | 23 |
| 25 | Washington | 1-0 | 58 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Ohio St. 27, Princeton 19, Richmond 16, West Virginia 15, Kansas St 11, Minnesota 10, South Dakota St. 6, Kansas 5, Stanford 4, Columbia 4, Nebraska 2, Fairfield 1.
