Women’s CBK AP Top 25: The Final Pre-Tournament Poll

UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina were the top four teams in the final regular-season Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 released Monday, matching the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament that begins this week. The No. 1 Huskies were the overall top seed in the NCAA bracket announced Sunday night. The team that was No. 1 in the poll heading into March Madness has won the NCAA championship 17 times out of 43 early March polls dating to 1982, the first year of the women’s tournament. The AP has done a final poll after the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons so there is one more poll this season on April 6. [Women’s NCAA Tournament Bracket Picks: Expert Predictions and Analysis] The No. 2 Bruins picked up one more first place vote this week, giving them three from the 31-member national media panel. UConn received the other 28. With so few games last week that involved ranked teams — only UConn and Princeton played and both won — the Top 25 didn’t change much from the week before. LSU, Vanderbilt, Iowa and Duke followed No. 3 Texas and No. 4 South Carolina. Michigan and West Virginia rounded out the top 10 teams. All will host NCAA Tournament games this weekend. West Virginia flipped places with Ohio State, moving up to No. 11. In addition to the 25 teams in the poll, nine others received votes. Alabama led the way with 44, while MAAC champion Fairfield received 41. Villanova, Big East runner-up, secured 27 votes, while Rhode Island, winner of the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid, had 11 votes. South Dakota State (6), Oregon (6), Illinois (3) and North Dakota State (1) rounded out the field, with North Dakota State being the only one of these teams to not be participating in March Madness. [NCAA TOURNAMENT: 1 Thing to Know About Every Women’s Team] Here is the full list of 25: 25. Texas Tech, 25-7, Big 1224. Georgia, 22-9, SEC23. Princeton, 26-3, Ivy League22. Notre Dame, 22-10, ACC21. Baylor, 24-8, Big 1220. Michigan State, 22-8, Big Ten19. Ole Miss, 23-11, SEC18. Minnesota, 22-8, Big Ten17. Maryland, 23-8, Big Ten16. Kentucky, 23-10, SEC15. UNC, 26-7, ACC14. TCU, 29-5, Big 1213. Louisville, 27-7, ACC12. Ohio State, 26-7, Big Ten11. West Virginia, 27-6, Big 1210. Oklahoma, 24-7, SEC9. Michigan, 25-6, Big Ten8. Duke, 24-8, ACC7. Iowa, 26-6, Big Ten6. Vanderbilt, 27-4, SEC5. LSU, 27-5, SEC4. South Carolina, 31-3, SEC3. Texas, 31-3, SEC2. UCLA, 31-1, Big Ten1. UConn, 34-0, Big East Conference supremacy The SEC has the most teams in the Top 25 with eight. The Big Ten is next with seven. The Big 12 and ACC each have four. The Ivy League and Big East each have one. Games of the week The NCAA Tournament opens with First Four games taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the round of 64 takes place on Friday and Saturday. The Associated Press contributed to this report.