We're one week into the women's college basketball season and things aren't going great for the ACC. More on that in a little bit, though — first, let's talk about the projected AP poll rankings this week.
There are some changes! Not at the top, though, as the top six teams all won. While Texas got a win over No. 25 Richmond, I don't think that's enough to move the Longhorns past their current No. 4 ranking in the eyes of AP voters, though it's possible the dominance the Horns showed in that one will matter. Again, more on that below as well.
Here's my projection of what Monday's AP Top 25 poll will look like after a fun opening week.
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. North Carolina
9. Ole Miss
10. NC State
11. Tennessee
12. Baylor
13. Duke
14. Michigan
15. USC
16. Iowa State
17. Notre Dame
18. TCU
19. Vanderbilt
20. Iowa
21. Oklahoma State
22. Michigan State
23. Kentucky
24. Louisville
25. Washington
The ACC's weird first week
There were five losses this week by ranked teams. Three of those losses were from ACC teams, headlined by No. 8 Duke losing a close one to Baylor. NC State got a big win over Tennessee, but lost to No. 18 USC, while Louisville ran into the buzzsaw that is No. 1 UConn.
What happened? Well, part of it was about matchups: playing good teams makes you more likely to lose to good teams, and with just five ranked vs. ranked games this week and the ACC involved in four of them, of course it was more likely that we saw ACC teams lose than other conferences.
Still, there's been a weird vibe around the ACC this year. A lot of talent graduated this past spring, and it hasn't been clear if the conference really has a true title contender. Duke's offense felt bogged down against Baylor, and NC State might have picked up a big win over Tennessee, but it also dropped a close one to a USC team that I thought was overranked at No. 18.
Down goes Richmond
In a huge blow to the hopes of a mid-major sticking in the AP Top 25, the Richmond Spiders were blown out by Texas this week, with the Horns winning 85-56.
It wasn't pretty. The Spiders turned the ball over 24 times, and Richmond star Maggie Doogan was basically the only Richmond player to do anything. She scored 22 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor, but she also turned the ball over seven times.
Two things about how this impacts the rankings. First, Richmond obviously is dropping out. The No. 25 team in the country can't get blown out in the first week and stay ranked. This is also probably going to mean this is the last time for awhile we see a ranked mid-major. Richmond has chances to get big wins still, including a future meeting with TCU, but it's going to be a long road back.
Second is how it impacts Texas, and the answer is...it doesn't? I think the voters are going to just say "well, Texas blew out a mid-major," which happens a lot in the first few weeks of the season and won't be enough for the team to pass the three teams ranked ahead of it.
UConn remains No. 1
The Huskies opened the season with a win over Louisville. Yes, one of my bold predictions for the season was that the Huskies would struggle to gel quickly post-Paige Bueckers and would lose that game, but it appears I was wrong.
UConn has played two ACC teams — Louisville and Florida State — and won both convincingly, especially the FSU game, which the Huskies took 99-67.
Playing two power conference teams and ending the first week with the 54th-best net rating in the country is a big win, considering how many teams were facing very easy schedules. UConn is once again showing that it's unafraid of playing big games, and the duo of Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong is combining for 42.5 points per game already. Serah Williams has been a great addition for her offensive rebounding prowess and USC transfer Kayleigh Heckel looks like a great scoring sparkplug off the Huskies' bench.
I'm worried about Tennessee
Tennessee has a talented roster, but I sit here after a week thinking that the Lady Vols need to figure some things out.
The season began with an 80-77 loss to NC State. Whatever, right? Close loss to another ranked team, fueled by the team scoring just six fastbreak points as the Wolfpack were able to slow the Vols down.
Then came a blowout win over ETSU, but Sunday was the game that really got me worried, as Tennessee struggled against UT Martin, trailing by as many as eight points before pulling away late. This was against a team that lost to North Alabama in its opener.
I'm not saying Tennessee is, like, done or anything. But Zee Spearman is struggling from the floor, turnovers have been an issue and players are committing too many fouls. Keep an eye out for how Tennessee tries to address these potential flaws.