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Which AP voters ranked South Carolina women's basketball No. 1 and which voters put the Gamecocks lower in the preseason poll

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller10/15/25kevinmillerGC
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 Tuesday, the AP preseason top 25 dropped, and South Carolina women’s basketball sat in the No. 2 spot in the rankings. The Gamecocks were behind only the UConn Huskies, the team that knocked them off in the title game this spring.

In anticipation of another big year, all 31 voters included Dawn Staley’s team in their top four. All but seven put USC in the top two.

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

Four AP voters ranked South Carolina at the top of their preseason ballots. Six slotted the Gamecocks at No. 3 (UConn was No. 1 on all of those lists, with UCLA coming in at No. 2 on five of them and Texas earning the honor once). One voter picked USC as the No. 4 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 11 total voters who put the Gamecocks somewhere other than No. 2 in the preseason poll.

No. 1: Angel Gray (ESPN; Bristol, Connecticut)
No. 1: Joe Vozzelli (News-Gazette; Champagne, Illinois)
No. 1: Mitchell Northam (WUNC; Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
No. 1: Zach Smith (Waco Tribune; Waco, Texas)

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: Sam McKewon (Omaha World-Herald; Omaha, Nebraska)

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

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This season marks the fifth time in six years that Coach Staley and the Gamecocks find themselves in the top two of the preseason poll. However, this is just the second time in the last six preseasons in which the team was not ranked No. 1 ahead of the women’s college basketball season.

In the previous five seasons (all of which ended with a Final Four appearance), South Carolina was No. 1 in the AP poll by the end of week one. Two of those years (2021-2022 and 2023-2024), USC finished at No. 1 with a National Championship.

The 2025-2026 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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