It is almost March and the competition is heating up. South Carolina and Ohio State held onto the top two spots in the CBS Sports women's college basketball power rankings, but mostly every other team moved around this week.
Dawn Staley's Gamecocks are just two games away from a second consecutive undefeated regular season. To achieve this, South Carolina has to get through Arkansas and Tennessee. The last team that won the national championship after a perfect record was Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies, who went 38-0 during the 2015-16 season.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are riding a 15-game winning streak and locked in the Big Ten regular-season title after their win against Michigan on Wednesday. Their last game before the conference tournament will be on the road against Iowa, a team they beat 100-92 in overtime on Jan. 21. It will be a big test on the road for the Buckeyes, as the Hawkeyes will have home-court advantage and Caitlin Clark will be chasing the overall NCAA scoring record currently held by former LSU men's basketball star Pete Maravich.
A team that didn't have a great week was NC State, as the Wolfpack went down six spots following losses to North Carolina and Duke. However, those weren't awful losses as North Carolina is under consideration to return to our power rankings, while Duke officially made it back this week. The Blue Devils have had their ups and downs all season, but have collected some solid wins against teams like Virginia Tech, Florida State and Syracuse, among others.
UNLV is also back in the power rankings after overcoming a shaky start Wednesday against Boise State to eventually win, 63-57. In the past week, the Lady Rebels clinched the Mountain West regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the third straight year.
West Virginia and Princeton left the power rankings this week. The Mountaineers lost three consecutive games, while Princeton suffered a tough 67-65 loss to Columbia on Saturday
Here are the official CBS Sports women's college basketball power rankings:
1 |
Gamecocks
|
Last week: 1 | |
2 |
Buckeyes
|
Last week: 2 | |
3 |
Hokies
|
Last week: 8 | |
4 |
Cardinal
|
Last week: 3 | |
5 |
Hawkeyes
|
Last week: 4 | |
6 |
Longhorns
|
Last week: 5 | |
7 |
Bruins
|
Last week: 12 | |
8 |
Trojans
|
Last week: 7 | |
9 |
Huskies
|
Last week: 11 | |
10 |
Lady Tigers
|
Last week: 14 | |
11 |
Hoosiers
|
Last week: 16 | |
12 |
Wolfpack
|
Last week: 6 | |
13 |
Beavers
|
Last week: 9 | |
14 |
Buffaloes
|
Last week: 10 | |
15 |
Bulldogs
|
Last week: 15 | |
16 |
Wildcats
|
Last week: 13 | |
17 |
Fighting Irish
|
Last week: 19 | |
18 |
Utes
|
Last week: 17 | |
19 |
Bluejays
|
Last week: 20 | |
20 |
Orange
|
Last week: 18 | |
21 |
Sooners
|
Last week: 25 | |
22 |
Bears
|
Last week: 23 | |
23 |
Cardinals
|
Last week: 21 | |
24 |
Lady Rebels
|
Last week: NR | |
25 |
Blue Devils
|
Last week: NR |
First five out: West Virginia, North Carolina, Princeton, Florida State, Fairfield