Ballot breakdown | Kansas State moves ahead of Iowa
Jan. 23—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:
1. South Carolina 1
2. UCLA 5
3. Kansas State 7
4. Iowa 2
5. Colorado 3
6. Stanford 8
7. North Carolina State 4
8. Connecticut 12
9. LSU 9
10. Baylor 10
11. Southern California 6
12. Texas 13
13. Indiana 15
14. Ohio State 19
15. Gonzaga 17
16. Virginia Tech 11
17. Utah 20
18. Notre Dame 18
19. North Carolina 21
20. Louisville 16
21. Creighton 23
22. Florida State 14
23. West Virginia 24
24. Syracuse NR
25. Oregon State NR
Who's up
Kansas State. The Wildcats have been on a steady rise, although the last two weeks that has been more pronounced. Kansas State moved up five spots to No. 7 in last week's poll and received another rankings bump in Monday's poll to No. 4, its highest ranking in 21 years. The Wildcats have arguably the most impressive nonconference win of the 2023-24 season, a 65-58 victory against Caitlin Clark and Iowa on Nov. 16 in Iowa City. Ayoka Lee, who is playing her way into consideration as a First Team All-American, has averaged 19.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks through 18 games for the Wildcats. That the 6-foot-6 center Lee has reached that level is impressive considering she hadn't played a game in nearly 20 months after knee surgery before returning to the court for the team's season opener in early November.
Who's down
Marquette. The Golden Eagles have been on and off my ballot the past month. That's the nature of existing as a borderline top-25 team. A 76-70 home Big East win against Creighton on Dec. 13 is the best thing going for Megan Duffy's team. But Marquette also already has three Big East losses. Getting blown out by Connecticut is somewhat excusable given how dominant Geno Auriemma's program has been in league play. But losing to a current 11-8 St. John's team on Jan. 3 in Queens, N.Y., and last Wednesday's 63-66 loss at Villanova warranted dropping Marquette entirely from the Top 25 even if the Golden Eagles' NET ranking is holding at a respectable top 30.
Who to watch
South Carolina has looked unstoppable during its run to a 17-0 start. The Gamecocks, after all, have won their games by an average margin of 38.9 points, an NCAA best. Which team is No. 2 in scoring margin? That would be defending champion LSU (30.2 points). The two rivals face off this week — for the first and only time in the regular season — with LSU hosting South Carolina at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. (7 p.m., Thursday, ESPN). The Tigers shook off an 88-64 loss to the Gamecocks last season in Columbia, S.C., to join Dawn Staley's team in the Final Four in Dallas and ultimately cut down the nets with Angel Reese leading LSU to the title. But Reese, Kim Mulkey and Co. will still want to put right last year's lopsided loss.
