Women's AP Top 25 Round-Up: 2024 Starts With A Bang
Women's AP Top 25 Round-Up: 2024 Starts With A Bang
The first Associated Press Top 25 Poll of 2024 produced some tone-setting matchups for ranked teams to usher in the new year.
Just six unbeaten teams remained at the release of the first Associated Press Top 25 Poll of 2024, but it took just a few days to become five.
Baylor opened 2024 in the same fashion it closed 2023, knocking a Big 12 Conference counterpart from the perch of the unbeaten. The Bears' 85-79 defeat of Texas on Dec. 30 ended the Longhorns' perfect start and sent UT from No. 5 in the AP Top 25 to No. 10.
For an encore, Baylor tipped off the new year with a 71-50 rout of previously undefeated TCU.
Highlights from our opener at Foster! ?#SicEm | #GreaterThan pic.twitter.com/oXsRtQ6ena
— Baylor Women's Basketball (@BaylorWBB) January 4, 2024
The sixth-ranked Bears tipped off 2024 as one of three undefeated teams remaining in the Big 12. That trio is down to two, with the other facing a stiff test on Saturday.
West Virginia, which debuted in the AP Poll on Christmas Day, hosts Texas in the Mountaineers' biggest game of the season to date. West Virginia won 11 of its 13 games by double-digits heading into its showdown with the Longhorns.
Between Baylor, Texas, TCU and West Virginia, along with Kansas State, the Big 12 began the year with five teams in the Top 25 to match the Pac-12. Four of the Pac-12's ranked teams occupy the top 10 despite USC sliding from No. 6 after sustaining its first loss of the season against crosstown rival UCLA.
The ACC features six with the arrival of Syracuse at No. 25, marking the first time the Orange have been ranked since 2021.
Three Big Ten teams check in, led by No. 4 Iowa. It's a new year, but it isn't a new Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark: She's still making the same kind of jaw-dropping plays that have defined her as a must-see hooper for as long as she's been at Iowa.
⬆️ Buzzer-beater in 2023 finale
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 3, 2024
⬇️ Buzzer-beater last night
Caitlin Clark is ridiculous. ? pic.twitter.com/wP24eUTs6V
The BIG EAST also rang in 2024 with a trio of ranked teams, with UConn, Marquette and Creighton holding steady. BIG EAST basketball has perhaps never been as collectively strong at the top as it is this season, which No. 19 Marquette discovered in its Jan. 3 matchup with St. John's.
The 57-56 St. John's win marked the second time an unranked BIG EAST team knocked off a ranked opponent in recent weeks after Seton Hall's rout of UNLV last month.
Ten of the conference's teams have at least eight wins as of Jan. 4, including surprising Georgetown. The Hoyas are 12-2 with a chance to score a landmark win on Jan. 7 when they face UConn.
Jan. 1 Women's AP Top 25
1. South Carolina
Record: 12-0
Previous: No. 1
2. UCLA
Record: 12-0
Previous: No. 2
3. North Carolina State
Record: 13-0
Previous: No. 3
4. Iowa
Record: 13-1
Previous: No. 4
5. Colorado
Record: 11-1
Previous: No. 8
6. Baylor
Record: 12-0
Previous: No. 10
7. LSU
Record: 13-1
Previous: No. 7
8. Stanford
Record: 12-1
Previous: No. 9
9. USC
Record: 10-1
Previous: No. 6
10. Texas
Record: 13-1
Previous: No. 5
11. Kansas State
Record: 13-1
Previous: No. 11
12. UConn
Record: 10-3
Previous: No. 15
13. Virginia Tech
Record: 10-2
Previous: No. 14
14. Indiana
Record: 11-1
Previous: No. 15
15. Utah
Record: 10-3
Previous: No. 12
16. Notre Dame
Record: 9-2
Previous: No. 13
17. Louisville
Record: 12-2
Previous: No. 19
18. Gonzaga
Record: 13-2
Previous: No. 20
19. Marquette
Record: 11-2
Previous: No. 18
20. Ohio State
Record: 10-3
Previous: No. 17
21. Creighton
Record: 10-2
Previous: No. 21
22. Florida State
Previous: No. 22
23. TCU
Record: 14-0
Previous: No. 23
25. Syracuse
Record: 11-1
Previous: Not Ranked