South Carolina ended 2022 the way in which it began: No. 1 in The Related Press Ladies’s Basketball High 25 ballot.
Whereas the top-ranked Gamecocks received their solely recreation final week, then no. four Indianano. 6 NC States and no. 7 Virginia Tech all misplaced as they struggled to exchange injured gamers.
There have been 22 losses to AP prime 10 groups this season earlier than January 1st. Probably the most was tied in 23 years earlier than January, matching the 2014-15 season, in accordance with ESPN. Seven of these losses got here to unranked groups, tied with 1999-2000 and 2004-05 for probably the most.
The New Yr didn’t begin higher for the highest groups, as then, No. 10 UCLA misplaced to Oregon State.
“Hardest week I’ve put the ballot collectively in my 12 years as a voter,” ESPN analyst Deb Antonelli mentioned after all of the losses to ranked groups final week. “I take a look at data, accidents, NETs and my skilled eye as a basketball analyst and it is tough. We needed equality and we achieved it! It is a fantastic measure of progress within the recreation.”
Stanford, Ohio State, Notre Dame and UConn spherical out the highest 5 groups within the ballot launched Monday. With the Hoosiers’ loss, that left simply 5 undefeated groups, together with the top-ranked Gamecocks, who had been as soon as once more a unanimous No. 1 choose.
No. Three Ohio State, No. 7 LSU, No. eight Utah and St. John’s, ranked No. 24, are the opposite undefeated groups heading into 2023. Utah makes its first look within the prime 10.
Indiana dropped to sixth, with Virginia Tech and North Carolina State rounding out the highest 10.
Duke was one of many groups to knock off a prime 10 group final week by beating the Wolfpack. The Blue Devils entered the ballot at No. 19. They’re off to a 13-1 begin, with the one loss coming towards UConn. Kara Lawson’s group is Three-Zero in convention play for the primary time since 2013-14 and is at its greatest in six years.
Arkansas fell out of the ballot.
Rising UTES:
Utah prolonged its season-opening profitable streak to 14 video games, the second-longest in class historical past and simply two wins shy of the group that went 16-Zero to start out the 1997-98 season.
Falling Tar Heels
North Carolina has misplaced three straight and dropped to No. 22 within the ballot after dropping contests to Florida State and Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels, who had been ranked sixth within the High 25 two weeks in the past, will look to finish the slide towards Miami on Thursday.
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AP Ladies’s School Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https:/ /twitter .com/AP_Top25