South Carolina women No. 1 for 37th straight week, Iowa now No. 2

South Carolina stands alone with the second-longest streak atopThe Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll as theGamecocks remained No. 1 for a 37th consecutive week.

The Gamecocks (32-0) won the Southeastern Conference Tournamentover the weekend to remain undefeated heading into the NCAAtourney. South Carolina, which received all 28 first-place votesfrom a national media panel Monday, broke a tie with Louisiana Techfor most consecutive weeks at No. 1. The defending nationalchampions now trail only UConn’s run of 51 straight weeks atop theTop 25.

With the final poll of the season set to come out next week, theGamecocks are poised to go wire-to-wire at No. 1 this year ahead ofthe NCAA Tournament.

Iowa moved up five spots to No. 2 after running through the BigTen Tournament. The Hawkeyes routed Ohio State by 33 points in thetitle game Sunday behind another strong effort from Caitlin Clark,who had the third triple-double in conference tournamenthistory.

It is the Hawkeyes’ best ranking since they had an eight-weekrun at No. 2 in 1994.

Indiana dropped one place to third with Virginia Tech moving upfour places to No. 4. The Hokies, who won the ACC Tournament forthe first time, have their highest ranking ever.

Stanford and Maryland were the next two. UConn moved up toseventh with Utah and LSU next. The Utes and Tigers each droppedfive spots after losing in their conference tournaments.

Villanova finished out the top 10. It’s the Wildcats bestranking ever and it came as they faced UConn for the Big East titlelate Monday.

Tennessee jumped back into the poll at No. 24 after making a runto the SEC Tournament final. South Florida and Iowa State droppedout of the Top 25. The Cyclones had been ranked for 36 consecutiveweeks before falling out.

MAKING HISTORY

Washington State made history becoming the first seven-seed towin the Pac-12 Tournament after the Cougars beat California, Utah,Colorado and UCLA. The 20th-ranked Cougars entered the Top 25 foronly the second time in school history after a one-week stint atNo. 25 in 2021.

CONFERENCE BRAGGING RIGHTS

The Pac-12 has six teams in the Top 25 with Washington Statejumping in this week. The Big Ten is next with five teams and theACC has four. The SEC has three with the Big East and Big 12 eachhaving two. Gonzaga, Middle Tennessee and UNLV represent threemid-major conferences.