Sunday capped off an eventful week in women's college basketball, with three top-five teams taking on fellow ranked opponents. All three won, including a 30-point win by UConn against No. 15 Tennessee. It definitely seems like the top of the field is continuing to separate from the pack while the rest of the teams are all part of a fairly flattened midfield.
Here's what this week's AP Top 25 poll should look like when it's released on Monday. After a chaotic week, you might expect widespread changes, but the week was so wild that the poll probably won't look too different.
Projected AP Top 25 women's college basketball rankings
- UConn
- UCLA
- South Carolina
- Texas
- LSU
- Louisville
- Michigan
- Vanderbilt
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
- Iowa
- Michigan State
- Ole Miss
- TCU
- Kentucky
- Baylor
- Duke
- Texas Tech
- West Virginia
- Tennessee
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- Princeton
- Alabama
- Washington
The top teams continue to separate from the field
It was a chaotic week for the AP Top 25 as 13 ranked teams lost over the past seven days. That includes three top 10 teams as Vanderbilt, Iowa and Oklahoma all suffered losses. More on the Iowa loss below, but first I just want to talk about all these defeats as a whole.
There are a handful of elite teams in the nation. This week proved that Vanderbilt probably isn't in that tier, but LSU, led in part by an elite freshman duo, definitely is. The Tigers will almost certainly move up to No. 5 this week, and there's little reason to expect much shake-up at this point.
Sunday's Results | |
|---|---|
No. 1 UConn 96 | No. 15 Tennessee 66 |
No. 2 UCLA 88 | No. 8 Iowa 65 |
No. 4 Texas 78 | No. 10 Oklahoma 70 |
No. 6 LSU 103 | No. 24 Alabama 63 |
Three dominant wins plus Texas beating an Oklahoma team that recently took down South Carolina.
Meanwhile, of the 15 teams ranked between 11th and 25th, 11 suffered at least one loss this week. The only teams that did not were Ohio State, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Duke. This suggests a kind of flattening after the top tier of teams, a world where almost anyone can beat anyone.
And you know what? That's a lot of fun to watch! It's great that seven unranked teams picked up wins over ranked teams. We want to see competitive games. It just so happens that the cost of that is we also have to watch a small handful of teams pull away from the rest of the field.
Michigan continues to show it's a contender
I wrote last month about Michigan looking like a legitimate contender, but I really wanted to see them against Michigan State on Sunday before officially declaring them to be in that tier.
Well, Sunday has passed, and Michigan just picked up its biggest win of the season. It took overtime, but the Wolverines prevailed over rival Michigan State 94-91, a thrilling game that showcased just how good this offense can be. Mila Holloway led the way with 26 points while the leading scorer on the season, Olivia Olson, added 23 points.
Sure, it wasn't a great showing for Michigan's defense, but Michigan is now 2-0 when giving up 87 or more points, which really speaks to the upside of this offense. The Wolverines are one of just four teams this season to win multiple games while allowing that many points.
Iowa and Tennessee show major weaknesses
It wasn't a great week for the Hawkeyes and Volunteers. Both lost big to top-five opponents, and both also dropped a game to an unranked foe as well.
Iowa's back-to-back losses showcased something that's been a concern at times: defensive issues. The Hawkeyes are just 147th in the nation in defensive rating, but the offense has largely played well enough to negate those concerns. But with this loss, Iowa moves to 0-3 when allowing 80 or more points and to 4-4 when failing to hit 70 points. This is still a good basketball team, but it lacks the gear it needs to consistently compete against elite opponents.
The Tennessee situation is similar. Offense has been good. Defense has struggled, though not quite to the level of Iowa. Something seems up with the defense lately, though, as the Volunteers have scored below 70 points in three consecutive contests, something they'd only done three total times before this stretch. The team is 1-5 when giving up 70-plus points and 3-3 when scoring under 70.
The same general issues here. Both teams are capable of beating most teams in the nation, but their issues become magnified against elite opponents. Both lack the go-to scoring threats needed to win a shootout against a team like UConn, so the defensive woes stand out even more in those match ups.