Women's AP Top 25 Round-Up: Pac-12 Parity Causes Rankings Upheaval
Women's AP Top 25 Round-Up: Pac-12 Parity Causes Rankings Upheaval
With a pair of Top 25 wins, Oregon State remained perfect at home while adding a dash of chaos to the Pac-12 Conference race and AP Top 25 Poll.
No team in women's college basketball this season has had a better 80 minutes than Oregon State put together on the final weekend of January.
"We talk about each weekend being 80 minutes," Beavers head coach Scott Rueck said following their 91-66 rout of then-No. 16 ranked Utah on Jan. 28. "It's never 40-and-40; it's 80. There's not one [game] that's more important than another and that's just competitively, what I think is the best mindset.
"And this team competed like crazy for 80 minutes this weekend against two excellent teams," he added.
With its romp against the Utes, Oregon State completed a sweep of the Pac-12 Conference's Rocky Mountain schools. Sunday's win came on the heels of a 68-62 win last Friday over then-No. 3 ranked Colorado.
Freshman Donovyn Hunter picked an ideal 80 minutes for the two best games of her young career. She followed up a personal-best 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting against the Buffs with a 7-of-9 shooting performance for 17 points with 10 assists for her first career double-double against Utah. It also marked the program's first points-and-assists double-double in 30 years.
And the first Oregon State freshman with a points-assists double-double since 1994 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BxCSJHDaMo
— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) January 29, 2024
The landmark weekend continued Oregon State's undefeated play at Gill Coliseum, where the Beavers improved to 14-0. Oregon State also made the biggest jump of any team in the Jan. 29 Associated Press Top 25 Poll, climbing from No. 25 to No. 18.
The Beavers are fifth among the six Top 25 Pac-12 teams, but now sit third in a tight league championship race. Fourth-ranked Stanford at 8-1 leads the Pac-12, while No. 6 Colorado sits a game back following its loss to Oregon State.
Six ranked teams give the Pac-12 the most in the final Top 25 of January. The ACC boasts five, led by Notre Dame after its impressive, 82-67 win over UConn. The Fighting Irish moved to No. 14, just ahead of conference counterparts Louisville at No. 16 and Virginia Tech at No. 17.
Rounding out the ACC's ranked teams are No. 21 Syracuse and No. 24 North Carolina. The Big 12 is next with four ranked teams, three of which check in at No. 13 or better.
Baylor holds steady at No. 13 while Texas dipped to No. 12 this week. West Virginia is No. 23 after scoring a win against previously ranked Iowa State, and Kansas State leads the conference — and the entire poll outside of No. 1 South Carolina — with its best mark in program history.
K-State jumped to No. 2 after winning a pair of one-possession decisions, the first a 58-55 defeat of Baylor on Jan. 22.
With their victory over the Bears, the Wildcats picked up their third decision against a team currently in the Top 25 — all of which have been away from home. Kansas State beat Iowa on the road in November before scoring a win against North Carolina at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Other leagues with multiple teams ranked this week include the SEC with top-ranked South Carolina, the nation's only remaining undefeated squad after it handed fellow Top 10 team LSU a loss last week.
The reigning national champion Tigers have hit a rough patch of late, opening this week with another setback on the road against Mississippi State.
The BIG EAST continues to represent with two in the Top 25, led by UConn. Creighton faces a stiff test to its No. 22 standing this week in a rematch with Marquette.
Marquette, which sits just outside the Top 25 this week, handed the Bluejays a 76-70 loss in their first meeting on Dec. 13.
Liza Karlen's 25 points paced the Golden Eagles in a fourth-quarter rally, and they successfully weathered a 29-point performance from Creighton's Emma Ronsiek. The rematch in Omaha promises to have significant impact on the jockeying for BIG EAST Tournament positioning.
Here is the complete Top 25 for the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4:
Jan. 29 Women's AP Top 25
1. South Carolina
Record: 19-0
Previous; No. 1
2. Kansas State
Record: 20-1
Previous: No. 4
3. Iowa
Record: 19-2
Previous: No. 5
4. Stanford
Record: 19-2
Previous: No. 6
5. North Carolina State
Record: 18-2
Previous: No. 7
6. Colorado
Record: 17-3
Previous: No. 3
7. UCLA
Record: 16-3
Previous: No. 2
8. Ohio State
Record: 17-3
Previous: No. 12
9. LSU
Record: 18-4 (played Monday after the release of the poll, lost at Mississippi State 77-73)
Previous: No. 9
10. Indiana
Record: 17-2
Previous: No. 14
11. UConn
Record: 17-4
Previous: No. 8
12. Texas
Record: 19-3
Previous: No. 10
13. Baylor
Record: 16-3
Previous: No. 13
14. Notre Dame
Record: 15-4
Previous: No. 15
15. USC
Record: 14-4
Previous: No. 11
16. Louisville
Record: 18-3
Previous: No. 18
17. Virginia Tech
Record: 16-4
Previous: No. 19
18. Oregon State
Record: 17-3
Previous: No. 25
19. Gonzaga
Record: 20-2
Previous: No. 17
20. Utah
Record: 15-6
Previous: No. 16
21. Syracuse
Record: 17-3
Previous: No. 22
22. Creighton
Record: 16-3
Previous: No. 21
23. West Virginia
Record: 17-2
Previous: No. 24
24. North Carolina
Record: 15-6
Previous: No. 20
25. Princeton
Record: 15-3
Previous: Not Ranked