With the power conference tournaments in the books, the Top 25 teams in the USA TODAY Sports women’s college basketball poll will have a few days to wait before learning their NCAA Tournament matchups. As such, these rankings aren’t likely to change before the field is announced.
Big Ten tournament champ UCLA will enter the Big Dance as the No. 1 team, returning to the lofty perch it held for much of the campaign. The Bruins received 20 of 31 first-place votes after avenging a couple of regular-season defeats at the hands of crosstown rival Southern California in the Big Ten tournament championship game.
South Carolina is back up to No. 2 after claiming the SEC tourney title and knocking Texas from the No. 1 spot. The Gamecocks picked up eight No. 1 votes. The last three top nods went to Big East champ Connecticut, which will head into the NCAA tournament ranked third overall. USC and Texas round out the top five, followed by Big 12 champ TCU and ACC winner Duke. Notre Dame, North Carolina State and LSU complete the top 10.
With most of the conference tournaments holding to form, there was little change at the bottom of the rankings. Mississippi enters at No. 25 after Michigan State falls out of the poll.