AP Top 25 women's basketball poll: Undefeated teams take some hits
The group of undefeated teams started the week seven strong but now stands at three. No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 Baylor remain unscathed heading into Week 9.
Those three held strong, but others moved around as conference play is underway. Here are the three biggest impacts on my Associated Press Top 25 ballot.
NC State loses River Baldwin, drops first game of season
NC State entered the week with the toughest schedule of any Top 25 team, hosting then-No. 22 Florida State and traveling to then-No. 13 Virginia Tech in ACC action.
The test of their No. 3 ranking and undefeated status became even tougher when 6-5 graduate center River Baldwin exited the game against the Seminoles late in the third quarter with an ankle injury. She had 21 points, which remained a team-high despite the team needing overtime in an 88-80 victory.
Baldwin is one of six Wolfpack players averaging at least double-digits. She also leads the team in rebounds (7.8 per game) and blocks (1.6). She does all of the things that won’t show up in a stat sheet, like the key charges she took against the Seminoles. Baldwin was on the bench in a boot Sunday when NC State lost, 63-62, on a last-second bucket by 2023 Naismith finalist Elizabeth Kitley.
It was a great play call by head coach Kenny Brooks, fantastic pass by Cayla King and exquisite screen by point guard Georgia Amoore to tie up the Wolfpack in the paint. But NC State was hampered without the size and skill of Baldwin, who was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman guard Zoe Brooks. Mimi Collins, a 6-3 forward, and Aziaha James, their leading scorer, dealt with foul trouble.
Ultimately, I didn’t drop NC State in my ballot, where the Wolfpack are No. 4, because it was an impressive loss on the heels of losing Baldwin. The Wolfpack are still a dangerous group with one of the best backcourts in the nation and are poised to be even better in the long term if Baldwin returns after two or three weeks, as NC State head coach Wes Moore anticipates.
UConn rising after rare bumpy non-conference start
UConn steadily climbed from No. 17, its lowest ranking in 30 years, to 15 in Week 8 and 12 in Week 9. I dropped them only as low as No. 15, but have also brought them up as the Huskies have found themselves in recent weeks with a smaller lineup.
I moved them up two spots to No. 10 this week because of their 93-50 win over No. 21 Creighton. It came four days after they crushed then-No. 18 Marquette, 95-64. The two are likely to be the Huskies’ top challengers in the Big East and the victories were statements by the Huskies. Marquette, which lost to St. John’s, dropped entirely out of my ballot.
UConn looked lost offensively in the early slate and averaged an uncharacteristic 15.8 assists over their first eight games. Only once, in the season opener over Dayton, did the Huskies have more than 20 assists. In the last six games, they’ve had fewer than 20 only once and are averaging 22 a game. UConn teams haven’t averaged fewer than 18 assists per game in at least the last 15 years.
Freshmen Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold moved into the starting lineup and are consistently reaching double digit scoring to boost Paige Bueckers (19.9 ppg) and Aaliyah Edwards (16.4 ppg).
Though UConn looks more like itself, depth and health remain a constant concern. Graduate student Aubrey Griffin, a guard/forward and top reserve, sustained a non-contact knee injury during the game at Creighton and was on the bench with crutches in a win over Georgetown. Initial testing showed her knee was unstable, and she will be assessed by doctors later this week when UConn returns home.
The injury leaves UConn with nine available players, only three of which are forwards. UConn postponed a game around this time last year when it did not have the necessary seven healthy scholarship players to compete. If she is out long term, UConn will need even more from Bueckers and Edwards — who are each already doing a lot of heavy lifting — and more contributions from freshmen.
What to do about Arizona and Utah
The Pac-12 should be one of the most competitive conferences in the country and the first full weekend of action showed it, prompting questions about where teams should land in the rankings.
Arizona, which was not one of the seven Pac-12 teams to receive votes in the poll last week, upset No. 15 Utah in overtime Sunday, 71-70. The Utes were dealing with a team-wide food-poisoning issue. The Wildcats nearly had another upset against No. 5 Colorado on Friday, losing 75-74.
Is Arizona putting it all together, or is it a case of knowing conference opponents well enough to pull off a big win? The Wildcats have played six opponents ranked in the top 45 of Her Hoop Stats ratings, including Utah and Colorado. The others are losses to Texas by 13, Gonzaga by 12, UNLV by 19 and Ole Miss by nine.
Compare that to a team like No. 19 Marquette. The Golden Eagles were blown out by UConn (HHS 1) and lost by six to Creighton (HHS 23), both Big East opponents and their only two opponents ranked 45 or higher by HHS.
It’s a similar case for No. 23 TCU, which started the week undefeated but was blown out by then-No. 6 Baylor (HHS 12) and fell to Oklahoma State (HHS 49) with center Sedona Prince out. The Horned Frogs’ biggest win is 88-81 over Nebraska (HHS 37).
I slid Arizona into the final spot of my ballot largely because there were some losses at the bottom and I dropped out two teams. Arizona will travel to play Oregon and Oregon State this upcoming weekend. Cal (12-3, 2-1), which won both games of its Washington trip, is also on the radar and plays at Colorado and Utah this upcoming week.
Colorado held at No. 9, where I have them lower than the composite ranking, and Utah dropped a few spots from No. 11 to No. 14.
AP ballot
South Carolina (14-0, 2-0 SEC)
UCLA (14-0, 3-0 Pac-12)
Iowa (15-1, 4-0 Big Ten)
NC State (14-1, 2-1 ACC)
Stanford (14-1, 3-0 Pac-12)
Baylor (14-0, 3-0 Big 12)
Texas (15-1, 2-1 Big 12)
USC (12-1, 2-1 Pac-12)
Colorado (13-1, 3-0 Pac-12)
UConn (12-3, 4-0 Big East)
LSU (15-1, 2-0 SEC)
Virginia Tech (12-2, 3-0 ACC)
Kansas State (15-1, 3-0 Big 12)
Utah (11-4, 1-2 Pac-12)
Indiana (13-1, 4-0 Big Ten)
Louisville (13-2, 2-0 ACC)
Ohio State (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten)
Notre Dame (10-3, 1-2 ACC)
Gonzaga (14-2, 1-0 WCC)
Creighton (11-3, 2-2 Big East)
Florida State (12-4, 3-1 ACC)
North Carolina (11-4, 3-0 ACC)
West Virginia (13-1, 2-1 Big 12)
Michigan St. (11-3, 1-2 Big Ten)
Arizona (10-5, 2-1 Pac-12)
