Notre Dame moves up to No. 1 in AP women’s basketball poll, has busy week ahead

Notre Dame ascended to No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday, becoming the third team to reach that spot this season.

It’s the first time since the 2020-21 season that there have been that many teams to hold the top spot in one year. South Carolina was the preseason choice and UCLA held the No. 1 ranking for 12 weeks before losing its first game of the season last week to rival USC.

The Fighting Irish, who are No. 1 for the first time since 2019, topped Duke 64-49 on Monday night. They have a busy week ahead with games at Miami on Thursday and N.C. State on Sunday.

The Irish were fourth in the initial NCAA Top 16 reveal on Sunday which would send them out to the Spokane Regional instead of going to the Birmingham Regional. Heading to Alabama would be a bit more convenient for the Irish and their fans as it’s 1,200 miles closer.

Notre Dame has championship aspirations and the shorter trip from Alabama to Tampa for the Final Four also would be an advantage.

UCLA, South Carolina and Texas were the other No. 1 seeds. The reveal came out before the Gamecocks lost to UConn on Sunday.

Signature win

UConn’s win over South Carolina was the Huskies’ first over a top five team this season. They had lost to both USC and Notre Dame. The game against the Gamecocks was the Huskies’ last against a top team this season until potentially the NCAA Tournament.

According to ESPN, this was the 16th time that the Huskies have won by 20 or more points. That’s 13 more than any other school as Duke and Notre Dame each have three such victories.

Encore performance

Vanderbilt’s star freshman Mikayla Blakes had an NCAA Division I freshman record 55 points on Sunday in an overtime win over Auburn. It was her second 50-plus point effort of the season. The Commodores have a huge week ahead, playing at Oklahoma on Thursday before hosting South Carolina on Sunday.

NET ratings

The NCAA’s weekly NET rankings — one of the tools the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament bracket — UConn moved up to No. 1 after its rout of South Carolina on Sunday. The Gamecocks dropped to second. Texas, Notre Dame and UCLA round out the top five.

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