Women's college basketball rankings: JuJu Watkins has USC at No. 3 in AP Top 25, South Carolina begins on top

Watkins is back for the 2026-27 season, and the Trojans are behind only South Carolina and UConn in the preseason poll

Oct 20, 2026 at 12:50 pm ET • 2 min read

Just over six months after the UCLA Bruins routed South Carolina in the NCAA title game to win the national championship, the women's college basketball world is ready to start the madness all over again.

The teams at the top of the AP Top 25 preseason poll are familiar ones. For the fifth time in the past seven years, the South Carolina Gamecocks have the No. 1 spot before play begins. While Dawn Staley's team has some question marks at the point guard spot, the return of Tessa Johnson and Joyce Edwards, as well as the addition of Texas transfer Jordan Lee and the highly touted freshman Jerzy Robinson, has South Carolina looking formidable once again.

South Carolina received 23 out of 31 first-place votes from the national media panel, while UConn received six and USC got two. 

Fresh of the program's 25th Final Four appearance, UConn sits at No. 2 in the poll. The Huskies might have lost Azzi Fudd to the WNBA, but with the 2025-26 National Player of the Year, Sarah Strong, returning for her junior year, it looks like it could be another special year for Geno Auriemma's squad.

The biggest storyline of the year is the return of JuJu Watkins, who tore her ACL during the 2025 NCAA Tournament and missed all of last season. The USC superstar will join forces with the top-ranked recruits from the past two years in sophomore Jazzy Davidson and freshman Saniyah Hall, putting the Women of Troy firmly in contention for the program's first national championship since 1984.

Duke sits at No. 4, which is the program's highest preseason ranking since 2013, while Michigan rounds out the top five. This is the highest preseason ranking for Michigan in school history. Elsewhere, the defending champions UCLA sit at No. 11. After losing her entire starting five to the WNBA after lifting the trophy, head coach Cori Close was active in the transfer portal this offseason, and it will be interesting to see how quickly the new team gels.

Speaking of transfer portal, the biggest portal winner was Oklahoma State, who snagged the top two transfers in former Iowa State center Audi Crooks and former Florida forward guard Liv McGill. The Cowgirls sit at No. 22 in the preseason rankings.

The launch of the 2026-27 season will be an international affair -- the official tipoff will take place on Nov. 1 with Notre Dame and Villanova facing off in Rome, Italy at the Plaazzo dello Sport and on Nov. 2 there will be a pair of marquee showdowns at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France, as Maryland will face off against South Carolina and Oklahoma will battle North Carolina.

Here's how the rest of the AP Top 25 preseason poll shook out:

AP Women's Basketball Top 25 preseason poll

RANK	TEAM	POINTS
1	South Carolina	764 (23)
2	UConn	746 (6)
3	USC	668 (2)
4	Duke	647
5	Michigan	644
6	Texas	618
7	Louisville	557
8	Vanderbilt	536
9	LSU	512
10	Iowa	492
11	UCLA	442
12	North Carolina	396
13	Notre Dame	368
14	Kentucky	325
15	TCU	301
16	Washington	272
17	Minnesota	238
18	Ohio State	234
19	Ole Miss	223
20	Maryland	222
21	Oklahoma	206
22	Oklahoma State	202
23	Illinois	128
24	West Virginia	73
25	NC State	51

Others receiving votes: Nebraska (47), Arizona Staet (36), Baylor (31), Virginia (30), Michigan Staet (16), Kansas (12), Tennessee (9), Alabama (7), Syracuse (5), Villanova (5), Fairfield (2), Oregon (2), Rice (2), Georgia (2), Colorado (2), Virginia Tech (1), Clemson (1)