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USC, UConn See Notable Shift in Final Regular Season AP Women's Basketball Rankings

The final AP NCAA women's basketball regular season rankings show some noteworthy movement among top teams.
Grant Young|
Dec 21, 2024; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) and USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) on the court in the first half at XL Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Dec 21, 2024; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) and USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) on the court in the first half at XL Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

The 2024-25 NCAA women's basketball season has been extremely exciting to follow, if only because of its unpredictability.

What's for sure is that no team seems like a clear favorite to win the 2025 NCAA National Championship at this point, and at least eight teams seem like they have a legitimate chance to take the title home.

Both UCLA and Notre Dame have been the AP's No. 1 ranked team in the country at some point this season. However, neither of those teams are playing their best basketball right now.

Two squads that appear to be peaking are the USC Trojans and the UConn Huskies. USC rode another elite performance from JuJu Watkins over the weekend to beat UCLA for the second time this year, while UConn is on a seven-game winning streak that includes them beating South Carolina in mid-February.

The final regular season AP rankings were released on Monday, March 3. And both USC and UConn saw their pre-postseason rankings rise.

The Texas Longhorns have remained as the country's No. 1 team (despite being the No. 2 seed in the SEC Conference tournament). From there, USC jumped up two spots to No. 2 (which is their best AP Poll ranking in 39 years) and UConn jumped two spots right behind them to No. 3.

The aforementioned UCLA Bruins slid to No. 4 after losing to USC while Notre Dame dropped three spots to No. 6, as they've now lost two of their past three games. Also of note is that Dawn Staley's South Carolina squad is now up to No. 5.

Next comes conference tournaments, which will surely bring even more excitement and unpredictable outcomes.

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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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