UCLA Claims AP No. 1 After First NCAA Title Win
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- UCLA finished No. 1 in the final AP women's basketball Top 25, earning a unanimous vote from the 31-member national media panel after routing South Carolina to win the program's first NCAA championship.
- UConn fell to third after losing to South Carolina on Friday — snapping a season-long unbeaten run — though the Huskies extended a streak of 33 consecutive years finishing in the final poll's top 10.
- Notre Dame made the poll's biggest leap, climbing 13 spots to No. 9 after upsetting Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16 and reaching the regional final.
- Virginia landed at No. 19 — its first AP ranking since 2011 — after becoming the first First Four team to reach the regional semifinals, then fired coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton over the weekend.
- UCLA joined Maryland (No. 20) and Baylor (No. 23) as the only three teams that appeared in both the first women's basketball poll 50 years ago and the final Top 25 of this season.
- The SEC and Big Ten each placed eight teams in the final Top 25, with the ACC at five, the Big 12 at three, and the Big East at one.
Why it matters: UCLA's unanimous coronation ended a season in which UConn had held the No. 1 spot all year until Monday's vote. The SEC and Big Ten combined for 16 of 25 final-poll spots — eight apiece — confirming the depth of the two conferences that produced the championship-game matchup.
