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Ballot breakdown | Big Ten race heats up as Ohio State grabs outright lead

joe vozzelli, the news-gazette, champaign-urbana, ill.
·3 min read

Feb. 12—THE NEWS-GAZETTE'S TOP 25

Here's The News-Gazette's Top 25 ballot, as voted by women's college basketball and Illini beat writer Joe Vozzelli, with his previous rankings for each team also listed ahead of Monday's 11 a.m. release of the latest AP Top 25 poll:

1. South Carolina 1

2. Ohio State 5

3 North Carolina State 3

4. Iowa 2

5. Stanford 6

6. Colorado 4

7. UCLA 7

8. Texas 8

9. Kansas State 9

10. Southern California 10

11. Oregon State 16

12. Virginia Tech 18

13. Connecticut 11

14. Indiana 12

15. LSU 13

16. Gonzaga 19

17. Notre Dame 15

18. Syracuse 22

19. Louisville 17

20. Creighton 21

21. Oklahoma 24

22. Baylor 14

23. Utah 20

24. West Virginia 23

25 Princeton 25

Who's up

Ohio State. It's time to take the Buckeyes very seriously in the Big Ten regular-season title race. That might seem an odd thing to say with the fact Ohio State has the outright lead atop the standings. But Kevin McGuff and Co. have been lurking behind the large shadow cast by and Iowa. Not any longer. The Buckeyes have won 11 in a row and are a full game ahead of a second-place tie between Iowa and Indiana. Ohio State already has wins over both the Hawkeyes and Hoosiers with both victories coming at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes won't play Indiana again in the regular season, but a March 3 regular-season finale at Iowa could decide the Big Ten title with Ohio State also facing Nebraska (home), Penn State (away), Maryland (home) and Michigan (home) down the closing stretch.

Who's down

Baylor. Don't let Saturday's 65-58 home win against then-No. 22 West Virginia fool you, the Bears have been in free fall in the Big 12 for a few weeks now. Baylor, after all, has lost five of its last nine games with last Wednesday's 78-66 loss at BYU the most damaging with the Cougars 74th in the NET even after their six-point home upset of the Bears in Provo, Utah. What that means is Baylor is nominally in sixth in the Big 12 standings with a 7-5 league record, a full four games behind first-place Oklahoma. Nicki Collen and her Bears team will be in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday night to face the Big 12-leading Sooners.

Who to watch

South Carolina. On the same night Clark looks to surpass Kelsey Plum as the all-time leading scorer in the Division I women's basketball — Clark needs eight points to supplant Plum with Iowa hosting Michigan (7 p.m., Thursday, Peacock) — the Gamecocks will continue their own pursuit of history: another perfect regular season. Dawn Staley and Co. have six games left in the regular season, starting with an SEC showdown at Tennessee (6 p.m., Thursday, ESPN). South Carolina concludes the week with Sunday's noon SEC matchup against Georgia at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. on ABC. The sheer dominance of the Gamecocks (23-0) is evident by their nation-leading 35.0 point scoring margin through three-plus months. The Volunteers are 9-2 at home this season, meaning South Carolina's visit to Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., might be the best remaining chance for the Gamecocks to lose before the SEC tournament. With the key word in that sentence being might as South Carolina has looked unstoppable.