What do we make of NC State's loss to unranked Rhode Island on Sunday? The Rams are 6-1 and certainly look like a good team, but the Wolfpack still shouldn't be losing games like that if the team wants to be taken as a serious contender, right?
Luckily for NC State, the team likely stays in the rankings this week because most of the teams that just missed being ranked last week had rough times this week. The first team out last week, Duke, had its own loss to an unranked team, continuing a rough start for the Blue Devils.
Here's my projection of what Monday's AP Top 25 poll will look like after a week that featured a few high-profile games, including a big UConn/Michigan showdown.
Projected AP Top 25 women's college basketball rankings
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Maryland
8. Michigan
9. TCU
10. Iowa State
11. Ole Miss
12. North Carolina
13. Tennessee
14. Iowa
15. Baylor
16. Vanderbilt
17. Kentucky
18. Notre Dame
19. USC
20. Michigan State
21. West Virginia
22. Washington
23. Louisville
24. NC State
25. Oklahoma
Baylor has some things to work on
Even before Thursday's loss to Iowa, there were signs that No. 7 Iowa wasn't a top-10 team. Its marquee win was over Duke, but the Blue Devils have really struggled since that game, making the win not feel quite as monumental for the Bears. After that game, the team had two close game that shouldn't have been so close: a 13-point win over Lindenwood and an eight-point win over UNLV.
Then came the 57-52 loss to Iowa, which meant that Baylor was held under 60 points by both power conference teams that it has faced. The Bears followed that up by needing overtime to beat Davidson by two.
Sure, the team is 5-1, but something feels off. The offense just isn't firing on all cylinders, with Baylor's 96.3 offensive rating ranking just 146th in the nation. The team is 164th in field goal percentage, and there just really hasn't been much consistent offense outside of Taliah Scott. Maybe the team needs to draw up more scoring attempts for players like Kiersten Johnson and Kyla Abraham? Or maybe Jana Van Gytenbeek and Bella Fontleroy just need to play through their current shooting slumps and things will look better?
Michigan might be as good as any team in the nation
Yes, the Wolverines suffered their first loss this week, but they also may have come closer to taking down No. 1 UConn than anyone else will this year, falling 72-69 in what was essentially a road game at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, about 30 miles from the UConn campus.
Syla Swords put up 29 points. Olivia Olson had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The defense shut down most of the Huskies' players, but the inability to stop Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong ultimately prevented the upset bid.
Still, we learned a lot about Michigan and how good this team is. The team followed that loss up by just absolutely throttling Syracuse, winning 81-55.
Notre Dame/USC was a fun one, but what did it mean?
It was impossible not to get caught up in the Notre Dame/USC game. The two played a thriller on Friday evening, with Hannah Hidalgo hitting a game-winner with just 1.9 seconds on the clock.
It was a win Notre Dame really needed, because the team's previous game had been a nightmare 93-54 loss to Michigan. Beating No. 11 USC is a good way to get back on track.
But is No. 11 USC actually that good of a team? The Trojans rank 165th in scoring offense and 114th in scoring defense, which are certainly not numbers you expect to see of a top team, and they sit at 3-2 on the year and could be 2-3 after beating NC State by one point.
Not having JuJu Watkins has really hurt the Trojans, and not having most of last year's team has really hurt Notre Dame. This was an exciting game, but I'm not convinced either of these teams should be ranked in the top 20 at this point. They will be, but I don't think that lasts forever.