South Carolina is starting the season where it finished off last year — ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason women’s college basketball poll.
The Gamecocks received 27 of the 30 first-place votes in the preseason rankings from a national media panel Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from the national championship team that went undefeated last year, capping off the historic season over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game.
UConn is No. 2, followed by USC, Texas and UCLA in the top five.
South Carolina has been No. 1 in the preseason poll four of the past five years. Last season, the Gamecocks started sixth in the preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year.
“We knew we’d have a target on our backs this season as the reigning champions and this preseason ranking just confirms that,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. “We appreciate the recognition, but I know our coaching staff and our team are more focused on what we see in the gym every day. And that’s every player working extremely hard to get better individually and as a team.”
UConn received two first-place votes. The Huskies have been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll for 30 straight years now. Geno Auriemma’s…
