And then there was one. The consensus best team in the country is finally the lone unbeaten after South Carolina thrashed LSU in the marquee matchup of the week. In the process, Aliyah Boston firmly cemented her candidacy for SEC player of the year over Angel Reese and reaffirmed that she belongs ahead of Reese in the conversation for national player of the year, even though there may still be a debate with a certain Big Ten star for that particular award.
As I’ve said, the Gamecocks have made the first part of this ranking exercise easy all year long. At this point, South Carolina’s main competitors aren’t even current teams, but rather the Texas, UConn, Tennessee and Baylor programs that have completed perfect seasons in the past. The Gamecocks are chasing history to become the 10th women’s team to end the year with no losses.
There was another marquee game this week, where two top-five teams took the court in Bloomington, Ind. We’ll start this week’s power rankings discussion there.
Almost famous: Middle Tennessee, USC, South Florida, South Dakota State
Dropped out: South Florida
Notes on the votes
• Indiana took down then-No. 2 Ohio State on its home court a few weeks ago and gave a similarly unfriendly welcome to another top-five opponent at Assembly Hall when…
