Women's Fastbreak On SI

UCLA Rises to 1 as South Carolina Falls to 4 in Latest AP Rankings

The latest AP women's college basketball rankings have been released, and show some major movement among top teams.
Grant Young|
South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley listens to a question from the media after the game with Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday, November 20, 2024; Clemson, SC, USA.
South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley listens to a question from the media after the game with Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday, November 20, 2024; Clemson, SC, USA. | Ken Ruinard - staff / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This past weekend in the women's college basketball world contained some of the most compelling regular season matchups there has been in some time.

This was because there were two contests between top-six teams in last week's AP rankings. The 2024 NCAA champion South Carolina Gamecocks played the UCLA Bruins on Sunday while JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans played Hannah Hidalgo and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday.

The higher-ranked teams (South Carolina and USC) lost in both cases, which means that fans could expect some major shakeups in the Top 25 of the AP rankings, which were released on Monday.

And that's exactly what ended up being the case.

The UCLA Bruins (who were AP's No. 6 team headed into the weekend) have moved all the way up to the No. 1 spot, supplanting the Gamecocks after ending their 43-game winning streak. This marks the first time in program history that UCLA is ranked No. 1 in the country.

As for South Carolina, they moved down to the No. 4 spot after suffering their first defeat since losing to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Saturday's USC vs. Notre Dame game also had major implications on the rankings. Notre Dame and USC swapped spots. Notre Dame took the No. 3 position that the Trojans had heading into the weekend while USC fell to No. 6, which once belonged to the Fighting Irish.

The UConn Huskies remained at the No. 2 spot. Also of note is that that Iowa Hawkeyes entered the rankings for the first time this season, coming in at No. 22.

This is just the start of what's sure to be a thrilling season of women's college basketball.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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