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LSU women's basketball start year top five in preseason AP Poll

On3 imageby: Matthew Brune10/14/25MatthewBrune_
NCAA Womens Basketball: NCAA Tournament Spokane Regional-UCLA Bruins vs LSU Lady Tigers
Mar 30, 2025; Spokane, WA, USA; LSU Lady Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey reacts after a play against the UCLA Bruins during the first half of a Elite 8 NCAA Tournament basketball game at Spokane Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images

LSU enters the season as a top five team in the country once again under head coach Kim Mulkey as the Tigers are the No. 5 team in America to start the year according to the AP Poll. The first edition of the rankings were announced on Tuesday morning, including five SEC teams in the top eight, further speaking to the talent in the conference.

Kim Mulkey and her staff reloaded the roster with eight new players to join the key core of Mikaylah Williams, Flau’Jae Johnson, and others. Now, the Tigers hope that the new additions in the frontcourt and the No. 1 freshman class for 2025 will help get them back to the Final Four and in the national title picture.

Here’s the full AP Top 25 to start the 2025-26 season.

  1. UConn
  2. South Carolina
  3. UCLA
  4. Texas
  5. LSU
  6. Oklahoma
  7. Duke
  8. Tennessee
  9. North Carolina State
  10. Maryland
  11. North Carolina
  12. Ole Miss
  13. Michigan
  14. Iowa State
  15. Notre Dame
  16. Baylor
  17. TCU
  18. USC
  19. Vanderbilt
  20. Louisville
  21. Iowa
  22. Oklahoma State
  23. Michigan State
  24. Kentucky
  25. Richmond

Others receiving votes:

Washington 79, Ohio St. 46, West Virginia 17, Princeton 17, Minnesota 15, Kansas St 15, Kansas 7, Stanford 3, South Dakota St. 3, Illinois 2, Nebraska 2, Columbia 2.

Kim Mulkey previews three new transfers

MiLaysia Fulwiley

“She has beaten me too many times for me not to take her into this program. She’s a big-shot, big-steal, spectacular-move kind of player. I’m going to challenge her to learn the point guard position, but I won’t take away her ability to play the off-guard. How much she plays point depends on how quickly she learns, and also on Jada’s and Divine’s development.

“She’s fitting in well. Ballers want to play with ballers, and she’s going to be fun to watch. I think fans already know how good she is, and now they get to cheer for her instead of booing her.”

Kate Koval

“Yes, we recruited her out of high school. Her brother is here at LSU, and she rooms with him. She chose Notre Dame first, but when she entered the portal, we knew we had a good chance and got her. She brings good size. She reminds me of a mother hen, helping younger, but she also demands the basketball. She’s confident, involves her teammates, and she’s already made suggestions in practice. I like that about her.”

Amiya Joyner

“She’s a very good basketball player. I think we got a steal from the portal. She played at East Carolina, and I’m impressed. She has a great personality. When she messes up, she laughs at herself. She’s a good player and I’m glad we have her.”

More on the new-look frontcourt

“We’re pretty big. If you look at Kate and you look at Amiya, those girls are big. We’ve got some size, we’ve got athleticism. What we don’t have is a returning starter. You’ve got five players all going to be learning at the same time. Some have experience on the college level, but not here, not at LSU. So we’ve got a mixture of size, strength, and athleticism. It’ll be fun to watch them devel