Caitlin Clark and the Iowa women's basketball team have surged back to the No. 2 spot in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, inching closer to the NCAA career scoring record. This marks the second time in recent weeks that the Hawkeyes have occupied the second position, a spot that has been highly volatile in the past month.
Joining UCLA and Kansas State, Iowa has experienced the constant rotation at the No. 2 spot since January 8th. None of these teams were able to maintain this ranking for more than a week at a time. However, South Carolina has remained the undisputed No. 1 team, unanimously securing its position once again with a 21-0 record.
South Carolina, led by head coach Dawn Staley, faces upcoming games against Missouri and No. 11 UConn this week. Nevertheless, the Gamecocks will be without star center Kamilla Cardoso, who left to compete with the Brazilian national team at an Olympic qualifying tournament.
Iowa, having held the No. 2 spot twice already this season, including a week in January when they ultimately fell to Ohio State, is determined to make their stay this time around longer and more fruitful. Caitlin Clark, the standout guard for the Hawkeyes, is now just 66 points away from breaking the NCAA women's basketball career scoring record. She will lead her team against Penn State and Nebraska this week with her sights set on surpassing Kelsey Plum's record.
Following Iowa in the Top 25 poll are No. 3 North Carolina State, No. 4 Colorado, and No. 5 Ohio State. Notably, Ohio State is enjoying its highest ranking of the season thus far. However, Stanford has fallen two spots to sixth after suffering a loss to USC, where JuJu Watkins, the phenomenal freshman, scored an impressive 51 points.
Texas has catapulted up five places to seventh in the rankings following their victories over Baylor and the former No. 2 team, Kansas State. Unfortunately for Kansas State, their defeats led them to drop to eighth in the poll after losing to Oklahoma, who enters the rankings at No. 24. UCLA holds the ninth spot, and USC made a significant climb of five spots to round out the top ten.
Interestingly, the No. 2 spot in the AP Top 25 poll has been quite unstable in recent years, with only Stanford in the 2009-10 season managing to hold onto it throughout the entire season. In the 2018-19 season, the No. 2 position changed hands 10 times, the most within that period. This season has already seen seven different teams occupy the second position.
Furthermore, UConn coach Geno Auriemma is on the verge of joining a select club of Division I coaches with 1,200 victories. With a chance to achieve this milestone in their upcoming game against Seton Hall, Auriemma will join the esteemed company of Tara VanDerveer (1,206 wins) and Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins).
In other news, the North Carolina women's basketball team fell out of the rankings this week, despite their close losses to N.C. State and Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels have had a challenging season with eight losses, five of which were against currently ranked teams such as South Carolina, Kansas State, UConn, Virginia Tech, and N.C. State. Impressively, all their losses to Top 25 teams have been within a 12-point margin. Additionally, the Tar Heels have claimed victories against four current Top 25 teams: Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Louisville.
As the season progresses, basketball fans can expect more excitement and intense competition among the top-ranked teams in women's college basketball. Stay tuned for updates and alerts regarding the AP Top 25 poll throughout the season.
