The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2019. They replaced UCLA after the Bruins suffered their first loss of the season against USC.
Texas was another candidate to move to the top spot after overcoming a slow start and knocking off LSU on Sunday. That was the Longhorns’ third consecutive win over a top-10 opponent. They moved up to No. 2 while receiving eight first-place votes. UCLA still received six first-place votes this week but dropped to No. 3.
The Bruins almost suffered a second loss when facing Michigan State on Sunday while leading scorer Lauren Betts sat out with a foot injury. However, a 3-pointer by Timea Gardiner with 44 seconds remaining gave the Bruins the lead and a narrow 75-69 win.
USC improved to No. 4 after taking down UCLA thanks to a historically dominant two-way performance from JuJu Watkins. The Trojans were less assertive against Washington on Sunday, but still managed to get a 69-64 win.
USC…
