AP Top 25 Poll: One voter’s women’s college basketball preseason ballot

The start of the 2025-26 women’s college basketball season is less than a month away.

UConn, without Paige Bueckers but with Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, will aim to defend their title. South Carolina added a scoring punch with Florida State transfer Ta’Niya Latson and brought back veterans Raven Johnson and Chloe Kitts. LSU looks improved after combing the transfer portal for pieces to put around Flau’Jae Johnson. Tennessee hopes to take the next step under coach Kim Caldwell, while UCLA expects Lauren Betts to lead it back to the Final Four.

In the ACC, the title race is shaping up to run through North Carolina’s Research Triangle — where Duke, N.C. State and UNC all look like contenders — after Notre Dame lost four of five starters from last season. Just up I-85 from the Triangle, watch out for Richmond in the mid-major ranks.

While its roster was completely reshaped by the portal, TCU looks like the team to beat in the Big 12, but squads like Oklahoma State and Kansas State are looming. JuJu Watkins is out for the year, but USC still has a roster capable of contending for a Final Four berth under Lindsay Gottlieb. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Iowa should be improved and Maryland looks like a second-weekend March Madness team again.

These are some of the handful of conclusions I came to when evaluating players, coaches and storylines heading into this season while figuring out my preseason ballot for the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Here’s how I voted, heading into my sixth season as a voter:

Just missed: Ohio State, Washington, Michigan State, USF, Princeton

25. Kansas State

24. Iowa

23. Vanderbilt

22. Notre Dame

21. Louisville

20. Richmond

19. Iowa State

18. Baylor

17. Michigan

16. Ole Miss

15. Oklahoma State

14. Maryland

13. Kentucky

12. North Carolina

11. Texas

10. N.C. State

9. TCU

8. USC

7. Oklahoma

6. Duke

5. Tennessee

4. UCLA

3. LSU

2. UConn

1. South Carolina

I could be sold on any of those top four teams — UCLA, LSU, UConn and South Carolina — as the preseason No. 1, but the Gamecocks are the team I have the least questions about.

For UConn, who will be the bus driver of this team after the graduation of Bueckers? How will Serah Williams fit next to Strong? Can Fudd stay healthy for a whole season? What kind of impact will Caroline Ducharme have this season?

With UCLA, I wonder about the dynamic that Gianna Kneepkens adds and how effective Charlisse Leger-Walker will be coming off an injury. With LSU, how will MiLaysia Fulwiley, Mikaylah Williams and Johnson all play together? Is Kate Koval ready to be a full-time starting center in the SEC?

Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks haven’t missed a Final Four since 2019. We know what kind of steady hand that Raven Johnson brings to the backcourt, we know what kind of scorer Ta’Niya Latson can be, and we know how effective Kitts and Joyce Edwards can be in-tandem in the frontcourt. For now, with zero games played, South Carolina showing up in Phoenix in April feels like the safest bet.

But a lot can change in the opening week of the season. A handful of big-time matchups can quickly adjust our expectations. N.C. State, for example, faces Tennessee and USC — in Greensboro and Charlotte, North Carolina, respectively — in the span of six days. Elsewhere in the first few days of the season, Duke and Baylor clash in Paris, while UConn meets Louisville in Germany. Richmond vs. Texas, Cal vs. Vanderbilt, and Belmont vs. Oklahoma are amongst the other games that could be early indicators of how good some of these teams really are.