South Carolina is starting the season where it finished off last year — ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 women's college basketball poll.
The Gamecocks received 27 of the 30 first-place votes in the preseason rankings from a national media panel Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from the national championship team that went undefeated last year, capping off the historic season over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game.
UConn is No. 2, USC is No. 3 and Texas and UCLA round out the top five.
South Carolina has been No. 1 in the preseason poll four of the past five years. Last season, they started sixth in the preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year.
"We knew we'd have a target on our backs this season as the reigning champions and this preseason ranking just confirms that," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. "We appreciate the recognition, but I know our coaching staff and our team are more focused on what we see in the gym every day. And that's every player working extremely hard to get better individually and as a team."
UConn received two first-place votes. The Huskies have been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll for 30 straight years now. Geno Auriemma's team went through major injury issues last year but the Huskies look to be healthy for the most part to start this season.
Third-ranked USC is led by phenomenal sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and the team added two talented transfers in Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen. The Trojans, who received the other first place vote, have their highest ranking in the preseason since the 1982 and 1983 squads were No. 1 in the opening poll both years.
Texas welcomes back Rori Harmon, who was sidelined for most of last season with an ACL injury. She and Madison Booker give the Longhorns a solid 1-2 punch on offense. UCLA added its own solid group of transfers to a strong team with Charlisse Leger-Walker and Timea Gardiner joining Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.
Notre Dame, LSU, Iowa State, North Carolina State and Oklahoma rounded out the first 10 teams in the poll. It's the second time in three seasons that the Cyclones have started this high in the preseason poll. The Sooners haven't been ranked this high in the inaugural poll of the season since 2010 when they were also 10th.
1. South Carolina
2. UConn
3. USC
4. Texas
5. UCLA
6. Notre Dame
7. LSU
8. Iowa State
9. NC State
10. Oklahoma
11. Duke
12. Baylor
13. Kansas State
14. Ohio State
15. UNC
16. West Virginia
17. Louisville
18. Maryland
19. Florida State
20. Ole Miss
21. Creighton
22. Kentucky
23. Nebraska
24. Alabama
25. Indiana
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Reporting by The Associated Press.
