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Where AP voters ranked South Carolina women's basketball after first week of 2025-2026 season

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller5 hours agokevinmillerGC
South Carolina Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson (25) dribbles up the court against the Texas Longhorns during the second quarter in a semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
South Carolina Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson (25) dribbles up the court against the Texas Longhorns during the second quarter in a semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On Monday, the AP top 25 dropped. South Carolina women’s basketball sat in the No. 2 spot in the rankings. Just as they were in the preseason poll, the Gamecocks were behind only the UConn Huskies, the team that also knocked them off in the title game this spring. However, USC lost two of its preseason No. 1 votes to UConn, leaving them with just two remaining.

All 31 AP voters included Dawn Staley’s team in their top four. 30 of them listed Carolina among the top three overall teams. All but eight put USC in the top two. Two voters placed the Gamecocks below the Texas Longhorns, indicating a lower spot for South Carolina in the SEC hierarchy.

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21 voters listed South Carolina at No. 2, and all of them had them behind UConn.

Two AP voters ranked the Gamecocks at the top of their ballots. Both put UConn at No. 2.

Seven slotted the team at No. 3 (UConn was No. 1 on all of those lists, with UCLA coming in at No. 2 on six of them and Texas earning the honor once). One voter picked USC as the No. 4 overall team in the country, putting UConn at No. 1, Texas at No. 2, and UCLA at No. 3.

Below are the South Carolina votes from the 10 total voters who put the Gamecocks somewhere other than No. 2.

No. 1: Joe Vozzelli (News-Gazette; Champagne, Illinois)
No. 1: Mitchell Northam (WUNC; Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

No. 3: Ben Pickman (The Athletic; New York City, New York)
No. 3: Carl Adamec (The Journal Inquirer; Manchester, Connecticut)
No. 3: Eden Laase (HoopsHQ; Los Angeles, California)
No. 3: Jeff Linder (Cedar Rapids-Gazette; Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
No. 3: Percy Allen (Seattle Times; Seattle, Washington)
No. 3: Sabreena Merchant (The Athletic; New York City, New York)
No. 3: Sam McKewon (Omaha World-Herald; Omaha, Nebraska)

No. 4: Robert Cessna (Bryan-College Station Eagle; College Station, Texas)

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Despite Chloe Kitts’ ACL injury coming just before the AP preseason poll (meaning that many votes came in before the announcement), the Gamecocks did not move down in the updated Associated Press top 25. They did lose two first-place votes from ESPN’s Angel Gray and Waco Tribune writer Zach Smith.

In an incredible statistical and voting oddity, this is the first time since the 2019-2020 season that South Carolina is not the No. 1 team in the country after the first week of the season.

The 2025-2026 season continues for the Gamecocks on Tuesday, November 11th. The Gamecocks will host this year’s edition of the Palmetto State’s biggest rivalry, as the Clemson Tigers will travel to Columbia for a 6:00 p.m. contest. ESPN2 will broadcast the rivalry showdown, while the ESPN app streams the on-court action.

Last year, the Gamecocks won, 77-45, in Clemson. It was the last of the program-record 43 straight wins for the garnet and black. USC hasn’t lost to Clemson since 2009

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