Listen to this articleIllinois women’s basketball beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Joe Vozzelli Jr. weighs in on his latest ballot:
The Associated Press Top 25
Rk., Team Rec. Pts. Prev.
1. South Carolina (17) 29-2 735 1
2. Stanford (11) 28-3 729 2
3. N.C. State (2) 29-3 696 3
4. Baylor 25-5 654 5
5. Louisville 25-4 608 4
6. Connecticut 25-5 601 7
7. Texas 23-6 540 9
8. Iowa 23-7 537 12
9. LSU 25-5 512 6
10. Iowa State 25-5 484 8
11. Indiana 22-8 457 14
12. Michigan 22-6 405 10
13. Maryland 21-8 379 11
14. Ohio State 23-6 335 13
15. BYU 26-2 282 17
16. Kentucky 19-11 231 NR
17. Virginia Tech 23-9 229 21
18. North Carolina 23-6 227 16
19. Tennessee 23-8 215 18
20. Arizona 20-7 214 14
21. Oklahoma 23-7 167 19
22. Notre Dame 22-8 164 20
23. Florida Gulf Coast 27-2 130 22
24. Princeton 22-4 44 NR
25. UCF 22-3 42 NR
Others receiving votes: Villanova 32, Miami (FL) 24, Mississippi 22, Colorado 12, Georgia Tech 9, Georgia 7, Florida 7, Toledo 7, Nebraska 4, Kansas 3, Oregon 3, Utah 2, IUPUI 1.
Joe Vozzelli Jr.’s Top 25
Rk., Team Prev.
1. Stanford 2
2. South Carolina 1
3. North Carolina State 3
4. Baylor 4
5. Connecticut 6
6. Louisville 5
7. Iowa 13
8. LSU 7
9. Texas 9
10. Michigan 8
11. Iowa State 10
12. Indiana 16
13. Maryland 12
14. Ohio State 14
15. Arizona 11
16. Tennessee 15
17. Notre Dame 17
18. North Carolina 18
19. BYU 19
20. Florida Gulf Coast 21
21. Virginia Tech 22
22. Kentucky NR
23. Oklahoma 20
24. Princeton NR
25. UCF NR
Who’s up
Dre’una Edwards’ game-winning three-pointer with 4.2 seconds remaining punctuated a miracle run for Kentucky. That it capped off an 11-0 run that helped the Wildcats overcome a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit to win the SEC tournament was apropos given Kentucky’s underdog status throughout their time in Nashville, Tenn. The Wildcats knocked off three top-25 teams to claim their first title since 1982, defeating then-No. 6 LSU in the quarterfinals before knocking off then-No. 18 Tennessee in the semifinals and lastly top-ranked South Carolina in Sunday’s title game. Those three wins — part of a current 10-game winning streak for Kyra Elzy’s team — saw Kentucky jump from outside the Associated Press Top 25 to No. 16 in Monday’s final regular-season poll.
Who’s down
On Feb. 8, Arizona was ranked sixth in the AP Top 25 after a 17-3 start to the season. Four weeks later, the Wildcats — who are 20-7 ahead of the NCAA tournament — sit at No. 20 after dropping six spots in Monday’s latest rankings. Adia Barnes’ Arizona team has lost four of its past seven games, including an ugly 45-43 defeat to Colorado on Thursday in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals in Las Vegas.
Who to watch
The Big 12 has a spotlight all to its own. At least among the Power Five conferences. The ACC (North Carolina State), SEC (Kentucky), Big Ten (Iowa) and Pac-12 (Stanford) all crowned their tournament champions on Sunday. The Big 12 didn’t wrap up its regular season until Sunday, with Baylor wrapping up that title with an 82-57 win at home to Texas Tech. The Bears will, therefore, have the top seed for the four-day conference tournament, which begins Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. The other top-four seeds after Baylor are Iowa State (2), Texas (3) and Oklahoma (4).
