South Carolina, UConn and Southern Cal top the AP women's basketball preseason Top 25 poll

The 2024-25 AP Women's College Basketball Preseason Top 25 Rankings are here. South Carolina is in first place as the Gamecocks look to defend their title. UConn, Southern Cal, Texas and UCLA round out the top five.

Here's the full AP Top 25, as well as some early reactions and stats from the rankings:

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Iowa 37, TCU 30, Utah 24, Illinois 23, Stanford 17, Michigan St. 16, Gonzaga 16, Vanderbilt 12, South Dakota St. 7, Miami 4, Tennessee 3, Fairfield 3, Middle Tennessee 3, Georgia Tech 2, Syracuse 1, Princeton 1.

South Carolina back to No. 1

For the fourth time in five years, Dawn Staley's team took first place in the preseason. The Gamecocks return four starters from last year's undefeated national championship team – the first undefeated team since UConn in 2016. South Carolina opens the season against Michigan in Las Vegas as the Gamecocks aim for another title game.

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Three Final Four teams in the top 10

UConn took second place and received two first-place finishes in the preseason poll. Geno Auriemma enters his 40th season at the helm of the Huskies and returns as Player of the Year candidate Paige Bueckers as UConn seeks its first title since 2016.

After failing to finish in the top 25 in the preseason poll last year, NC State finished 9th after a Final Four run last season. It was the Wolfpack's first Final Four since 1998. Wes Moore's team returns leading scorer Aziaha James for her senior season as the Wolfpack looks to make another run at the NCAA Tournament.

Finally, Iowathe runner-up in each of the last two seasons is not listed in the preseason survey. The Hawkeyes received the most votes outside of the top 25 (37 – nine behind No. 25 Indiana), but they lost arguably the greatest college basketball player of all time in Caitlin Clark. New head coach Jan Jensen's squad will have to prove it can survive without the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year and former coach Lisa Bluder, who retired after 24 seasons as the Hawkeyes' coach and 528 wins at the helm of the program can.

Rankings by conference

The SEC leads the way with seven teams in the top 25, joined by No. 4 Texas and No. 10 Oklahoma. The ACC And Big Ten Six teams follow right behind, as the Big Ten added No. 3 Southern Cal and No. 5 UCLA in the preseason.

Fun facts

Southern Californiawhich received one first-place vote, achieved its highest preseason ranking since being voted No. 1 in the 1982 and 1983 seasons. The Trojans are led by Player of the Year candidate JuJu Watkins, who had a phenomenal freshman season. season and averaged 27.1 points per game.

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On the other hand, Stanford is out of the preseason poll for the first time since 1999. Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer retired in April and standout Cameron Brink moved to the WNBA after graduating.

That marks UConn 30th consecutive season in the preseason top 10. The Huskies also haven't finished the season outside the top 10 since 1993.