One Pac-12 team’s losses were another Pac-12 team’s wins. Arizona women’s basketball jumped to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll this week after previous-No. 9 Oregon dropped two games. The Wildcats leapfrogged the Louisville Cardinals, whom they defeated over a week ago.
Arizona played two games last week, easily defeating Texas Southern and Marist College in McKale Center. The Wildcats now stand at 4-0 on the season.
POLL ALERT: Maryland jumps to No. 2 behind South Carolina in women’s AP Top 25, UConn, Indiana and NC State round out top five.
Full poll: https://t.co/qhDCs4pvHa pic.twitter.com/kguWAwYOBH
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) November 23, 2021
This week, they head back out on the road to take on Vanderbilt, DePaul, and Rutgers in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Wildcats left early this morning to fly to St. Thomas and begin play on Thursday.
The Pac-12 still has five teams in the Top 25 and two in the Top 10. Stanford leads the way for the conference at No. 7.
Oregon dropped to No. 15 from No. 9 after losses to South Carolina and South Florida. The Monday game against South Florida was included in this week’s results because the AP delayed the poll this week.
The Ducks are now just ahead of in-state rival Oregon State, who fell one spot to No. 16 this week. UCLA moved up one spot to No. 19. Colorado and Washington State are also receiving votes.
The WBCA released its first in-season poll on Tuesday, as well. The Wildcats moved up from No. 15 in the preseason to No. 12.
For the second time in history, the AP delayed the women’s Top 25 because the No. 1 and No. 2 teams were playing on Monday. The change would have benefitted former No. 2 Connecticut if it had defeated No. 1 South Carolina by giving the Huskies an extra week at the top of the polls. Instead, the Gamecocks won the game by 16 points and retained their top position. The previous time the AP delayed the poll, it was also done so No. 2 UConn could assume the top position with a win over the No. 1 team (Tennessee).