The top of the women's college basketball AP poll should look basically the same this week as it did last week. That's because the top 10 teams all won this past week. The first loss? No. 11 Iowa, which fell to top-ranked UConn.
In fact, it was a relatively tame week for everyone. Only four ranked teams lost, though two of those lost to teams that were unranked, something that will lead to a bit of shuffling for at least those teams in this week's poll.
Here's my projection of what Monday's AP Top 25 poll will look like after a week that was relatively light on upsets. And remember: this isn't what my ballot would look like, but a projection of what I expect the AP poll itself to look like.
Projected AP Top 25 women's college basketball rankings
- UConn
- Texas
- South Carolina
- UCLA
- LSU
- Michigan
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- TCU
- Iowa State
- Kentucky
- Vanderbilt
- Louisville
- Ole Miss
- Iowa
- North Carolina
- Notre Dame
- USC
- Ohio State
- Nebraska
- Tennessee
- Texas Tech
- Baylor
- Michigan State
- Princeton
UConn continues its dominance
When the No. 1 and the No. 11 team meet, you expect the No. 1 team to win, but you probably also expect the No. 11 team to be competitive.
That wasn't the case when UConn faced Iowa this past weekend. The Huskies won every single quarter in a 90-64 victory, forcing 26 turnovers and shooting 44.8 percent from 3-point range in a game where the Hawkeyes never stood a chance.
With the win, the Huskies are up to seventh in the nation in net rating despite a schedule that has already featured five ranked opponents. Every game brings us closer and closer to the reality that UConn just isn't going to lose a game this season.
It's time to take Texas Tech seriously
It was easy to dismiss Texas Tech's undefeated non-conference record as simply a product of a weak schedule. We've seen this before from this program, and once Big 12 play arrives, the Red Raiders fall off. Just look at last season: Texas Tech was 11-2 to open conference play. After beating Houston to open Big 12 play, the team dropped its next five contests.
The Red Raiders went 13-0 this time around, but had just one win over a team with a top 100 Her Hoop Stats rating, so a road game against Baylor to open Big 12 play seemed like an obvious spot for the team to suffer its first loss of the season.
Instead, the team held Baylor to just 11 first-quarter points, then weathered the Baylor comeback attempt. Bailey Maupin was fouled with three seconds to play and sank both free throws, giving Texas Tech its biggest win in a long time. The Red Raiders haven't been ranked since 2012, but there's a very good chance that changes this week.
Now, the question becomes "when will Texas Tech lose its first game?" Jan. 6 on the road against West Virginia is most likely, but that's the only "good" team that the Red Raiders play over the next five games.
Tennessee loses big to Louisville
We need to have a conversation about Tennessee.
The Volunteers have played just three teams with a Her Hoop Stats rating in the top 35, and they've lost all three. The first — a season-opening loss to NC State — was close. The last two haven't been, including Saturday's 89-65 loss to Louisville.
After a close first quarter, the Tennessee defense just stopped getting stops while the offense sputtered. Louisville shot 49.3 percent from the field, while Tennessee shot just 34.2 percent. Janiah Barker and Mia Pauldo both struggled to score, going a combined 6-for-24.
Overall, this team has struggled with efficiency, ranking 150th in the nation in field goal percentage. It's also one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the nation, ranking 300th in that stat. If it weren't for the team's strong offensive rebounding, things might look a lot worse, as wins over Stanford, Belmont and UT Martin were all relatively close.