Iowa had a huge week and climbed nine spots to No. 12 in the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Top 25 poll released Monday.
The Hawkeyes won a share of the Big Ten regular season championship by beating then No. 10 Indiana, Rutgers and No. 6 Michigan last week. It’s Iowa’s first regular season crown since 2008.
“That’s when you want to play your best basketball,” Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark said after Sunday’s win over Michigan. “And we play our best basketball.”
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1, receiving the first 30 ballots from a national media panel. The Gamecocks, who have held the No. 1 spot since the AP preseason poll, will be the top seed when the SEC tournament begins later this week. South Carolina (28-1) beat Texas A&M and Mississippi to wrap up the conference regular season title.
The top five teams remained unchanged, with No. 2 Stanford followed by NC State, Louisville and Baylor. LSU, UConn, Iowa State, Texas and Michigan round out the top 10 teams.
The Hawkeyes’ standings were their best since the start of the season when the team started in the top 10 before dropping all the way to 25. They shared the regular-season conference with No. 13 Ohio State. The Buckeyes will be the top seed in the conference tournament.
Oregon, which tied for 25th last week, was eliminated from the ballot.
FALLS ALLIGATORS
Florida fell eight spots this week to 23rd after losing to Vanderbilt and Missouri. The Gators have lost three straight and finished the regular season tied for fourth in the SEC.
SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP
The ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC will all crown their tournament champions this weekend. These four conferences are expected to combine to have dozens of NCAA field teams announced on March 13.
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More AP Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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