South Carolina Tops AP Poll With 23 First-Place Votes — SkimNews
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- South Carolina received 23 first-place votes from the 31-member media panel to sit atop the AP preseason Top 25, its fifth No. 1 preseason ranking in seven years; UConn, USC, Duke and Michigan filled the next four spots.
- Dawn Staley called the ranking a “gift and curse,” saying players feel respect but also pressure from a nonconference schedule that includes five ranked teams in the first month, among them UConn, USC and Duke.
- UConn placed second with six first-place votes, has appeared in the AP preseason top 10 every year since 1994, and will meet South Carolina in Uncasville on Nov. 24 after last season’s Final Four loss.
- USC received the remaining two first-place votes and matched the No. 3 ranking it held two years ago, with JuJu Watkins healthy after missing last season while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
- Michigan reached No. 4, its best preseason AP ranking ever, after spending the final 18 weeks of last season’s poll in the top 10; coach Kim Barnes Arico credited a junior class led by Olivia Olson and Syla Swords.
- UCLA, the defending national champion, sat No. 11, followed by North Carolina, Notre Dame, Kentucky and TCU.
- Big Ten placed nine teams in the Top 25, the most ever for one conference in the preseason poll; the SEC had seven, including four in the top 10, while the ACC had five and the Big 12 three.
Why it matters: South Carolina earned the AP’s No. 1 position with 23 of 31 first-place votes, while Staley says five ranked opponents in month one create immediate pressure. The slate also supplies a Nov. 24 rematch with UConn, the team South Carolina beat in last season’s Final Four.
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