Vanderbilt entered the Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday at No. 23, its first ranking in more than a decade, while Texas returned to the top five and Ohio State and Duke jumped back into the top 10.
Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt team is in the poll for the first time since Feb. 10, 2014, and has two wins over ranked teams for the first time since 2015-16. The Commodores topped then-No. 19 Alabama on Sunday as the Crimson Tide were one of 12 ranked teams to lose last week.
The top four remained the same as UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame and USC avoided upsets. The Bruins received 31 first-place ballots from the 32-member national media panel after winning three games on an eight-day East Coast trip. They beat then-No. 25 Baylor, Rutgers and then-No. 8 Maryland.
UCLA, which picked up two first-place votes this week, is the only undefeated Division I team after then-No. 5 LSU lost to South Carolina. The Gamecocks received the other top vote.
Texas leapfrogged Connecticut to move up to fifth, and the Huskies remained sixth. LSU dropped to seventh. Ohio State, which also beat Maryland, moved up four places to eighth. The Terrapins dropped to 14th after losing all three of their games last week.
TCU and Duke rounded out the top 10. The Horned Frogs split a pair of games with Oklahoma State and Baylor.
In and out
Oklahoma State and Florida State re-entered the rankings at No. 24 and 25, respectively. The Seminoles were ranked in the preseason poll and topped North Carolina on a buzzer-beater by last week’s AP Player of the Week, Ta’Niya Latson. The Cowgirls have been in and out of the poll the last few weeks.
Michigan, Minnesota and Baylor all fell out.
Oh, baby!
Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell gave birth to her first child a week ago and will return for the 18th-ranked Lady Vols’ game against South Carolina on Monday night. Caldwell gave birth to Conor Scott a week earlier while dealing with the flu. She missed a single game, an 80-76 loss at Texas on Thursday, as assistant Jenna Burdette filled in as acting coach.
Conference breakdown
The SEC has eight teams ranked this week and the ACC seven. The Big Ten dropped to five with Michigan and Minnesota exiting the poll. The Big 12 has four ranked teams and the Big East one.
Games of the week
Columbia at Harvard, Friday. The undefeated Lions will visit the Crimson in a battle for first place in the Ivy League. Columbia is undefeated in Ivy games, while Harvard has one loss, a last-second defeat at Princeton.
No. 12 Kentucky at No. 13 Oklahoma, Sunday. The Wildcats will visit the SEC newcomer Sooners. Kentucky is tied for second in the conference standings at 6-1.
