South Carolina reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Top 25 poll on Monday, overtaking the SEC perch from LSU in the process.
The Gamecocks are off to a 2-0 start by taking down preseason No. 10 Notre Dame (100-71) and preseason No. 14 Maryland (114-76) in dominant showings to begin the season.
Defending national champion LSU opened the regular season as the No. 1-ranked team and lost 92-78 in Las Vegas to Colorado. The Lady Tigers are seventh in this week’s AP Top 25 rankings.
Ranked sixth in the preseason AP Top 25, South Carolina had a streak of 38 consecutive weeks at No. 1 and is in the top spot for the 64th time, which is the fourth-best of all-time. Head coach Dawn Staley has a brand new starting five, but South Carolina is second in the nation in scoring (107 points per game) and assists per game (29.5).
Colorado (3-0) jumped to No. 5 in a cluster of Pac-12 programs that helped the conference start the season a collective 26-0.
Behind No. 2 Iowa (3-0) are UCLA (3-0), Utah (2-0), Colorado and Stanford (2-0). USC (2-0) also checked in at No. 10 and Washington State (3-0) is 24th.
UConn (1-1) dropped from No. 2 to the eighth spot in the rankings after a loss to then-unranked NC State (2-0) — ranked 14th this week — one ahead of Virginia Tech (1-1).
The Hokies’ 80-76 loss last week came against Iowa behind Hawkeyes All-American Caitlin Clark’s 44-point effort.
The Huskies’ spot in the rankings set a new record for consecutive weeks in the poll at 566. Tennessee, currently No. 15, held the previous record (565).
The loss to South Carolina took Maryland (1-1) down to the 20th spot in the poll Monday. The Terrapins visit UConn in Storrs on Thursday night.
–Field Level Media
