South Carolina women's basketball sits near top of preseason AP poll

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has her team sitting near the top of the preseason AP top 25 poll. Four times in the previous five seasons, the Gamecocks owned preseason No. 1 distinction. However, USC is No. 2 in the 2025-2026 edition of the preseason rankings. The National Championship-winning UConn Huskies are No. 1. The Huskies beat the Gamecocks in the title game this spring.

This year marks just the second time in the past six preseason polls that USC was not No. 1. That year (2023-2024), the Gamecocks were No. 6 for one week before claiming the top spot. Then, they went on to an undefeated National Championship season.

You can check out the entire 2025-2026 preseason AP top 25 below (overall first-place votes in parentheses):

1. UConn Huskies (27)
2. South Carolina Gamecocks (4)
3. UCLA Bruins
4. Texas Longhorns
5. LSU Tigers
6. Oklahoma Sooners
7. Duke Blue Devils
8. Tennessee Lady Volunteers
9. NC State Wolfpack
10. Maryland Terrapins
11. North Carolina Tar Heels
12. Ole Miss Rebels
13. Michigan Wolverines
14. Iowa State Cyclones
15. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
16. Baylor Bears
17. TCU Horned Frogs
18. Southern Cal Trojans
19. Vanderbilt Commodores
20. Louisville Cardinals
21. Iowa Hawkeyes
22. Oklahoma State Cowboys
23. Michigan State Spartans
24. Kentucky Wildcats
25. Richmond Spiders

Also receiving votes: Washington Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, West Virginia Mountaineers, Princeton Tigers, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Kansas State Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Stanford Cardinal, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Illinois Fighting Illini, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Columbia Lions

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South Carolina has backed up their recent lofty preseason rankings with a Final Four appearance each of the last five years. They have also won a pair of NCAA Tournament National Championships in that time and have registered a 170-12 overall record.

It is worth noting that the majority of the AP’s votes likely came in before news broke regarding Chloe Kitts’ season-ending knee injury.

Losing Kitts is a major blow, especially when considering that the Gamecocks will be without Ashlyn Watkins in the frontcourt, too. Even so, Dawn Staley’s team will be among the best teams in the nation once again.

USC has just 10 healthy players on the 2025-2026 roster, but all of them were considered four-star or five-star prospects out of high school or out of the transfer portal.

Earlier this week, the SEC media selected South Carolina as the preseason pick to win the conference. They also put two players (forward Joyce Edwards and guard Ta’Niya Latson) on the preseason All-SEC team.

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The 2025-2026 South Carolina women’s basketball schedule will include games against 11 ranked opponents. The Gamecocks will take on the Southern Cal Trojans (No. 18), Duke Blue Devils (No. 7), Louisville Cardinals (No. 20), Texas Longhorns (No.4), Oklahoma Sooners (No. 6), Vanderbilt Commodores (No. 19), Tennessee Lady Volunteers (No. 8), LSU Tigers (No. 5), Ole Miss Rebels (No. 12), and Kentucky Wildcats (No. 24). The schedule also could include a game against the UCLA Bruins (No. 3) at the Players Era Championship. If not, USC will face the Texas Longhorns (No. 4) in that game.

The season begins for the Gamecocks on Monday, November 3rd, when Colonial Life Arena will host a matchup between Carolina and the Grand Canyon ‘Lopes for a 7:00 p.m. tip. The game will not be on traditional television, but SEC Network+ will stream the action.

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