The No. 2 spot in ESPN’s women’s college basketball Power Rankings has been hard to hold on to since the calendar turned to 2024. Once again this week, a different team sits behind undefeated South Carolina.
Ohio State, winner of 11 in a row and now leading the Big Ten at 12-1, replace Iowa in the No. 2 slot after the Hawkeyes’ loss at Nebraska. Iowa started at No. 2 in the first Power Rankings back in November. Then UCLA took over and held it through the first week of January.
But since Jan. 15, five different teams — Colorado, UCLA, Iowa, Kansas State and now Ohio State — have taken that spot. All the changeover shows how challenging conference play is for most teams, even if that hasn’t been the case for the Gamecocks, who nailed down a big nonconference win against UConn on Sunday.
Ohio State had decisive road victories this past week at Minnesota and Michigan State and has just one currently ranked team remaining on the regular-season schedule: at Iowa in the finale on March 3.
Ohio State beat Iowa in overtime on Jan. 21 in Columbus. If the…
