South Carolina women ranked No. 1 in AP’s preseason basketball Top 25

South Carolina is starting the season where it finished last year — ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 women’s college basketball poll.

The Gamecocks received 27 of the 30 first-place votes in the preseason rankings from a national media panel Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from the national championship team that went undefeated last season and capped the historic campaign with a win over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game.

UConn is No. 2, Southern Cal is No. 3, and Texas and UCLA round out the top five. Notre Dame, featuring South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo, is No. 6. Hidalgo also was named the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason player of the year, and the Fighting Irish were picked to win the conference.

South Carolina has been No. 1 in the preseason poll four of the last five years. Last season, it started sixth in the preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year.

“We knew we’d have a target on our backs this season as the reigning champions, and this preseason ranking just confirms that,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. “We appreciate the recognition, but I know our coaching staff and our team are more focused on what we see in the gym every day. And that’s every player working extremely hard to get better individually and as a team.”

UConn received two first-place votes. The Huskies have been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll for 30 straight years now. Norristown-bred Geno Auriemma’s team went through major injury issues last year, but the Huskies look to be healthy for the most part to start this season.

Third-ranked USC is led by sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and the team added two talented transfers in Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen. The Trojans, who received the other first-place vote, have their highest ranking in the preseason since the 1982 and 1983 squads were No. 1 in the opening poll both years.

» READ MORE: From South Jersey to Notre Dame, Hannah Hidalgo’s fast-rising star reaches its first NCAA Tournament

Texas welcomes back Rori Harmon, who was sidelined for most of last season with an ACL injury. She and Madison Booker give the Longhorns a solid one-two punch on offense. UCLA added its own solid group of transfers to a strong team with Charlisse Leger-Walker and Timea Gardiner joining Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.

Notre Dame, LSU, Iowa State, North Carolina State, and Oklahoma rounded out the first 10 teams in the poll. It’s the second time in three seasons that the Cyclones have started this high in the preseason poll. The Sooners haven’t been ranked this high in the inaugural poll of the season since 2010, when they also were 10th.

No. 24 Alabama is making its first appearance in the rankings since the final poll of 1999. The Crimson Tide haven’t been in the preseason poll since 1998 (No. 9). The team has appeared in consecutive NCAA Tournaments behind stars Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye.

“We’re very thankful for the mention, but want to take care of each day,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “We are excited this season about the group and the way we finished last season.”

Stanford is unranked in the preseason for the first time since 1999. Hall of Fame Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer retired in April and was replaced by longtime assistant Kate Paye. It had been the second-longest active preseason streak behind only UConn.

New conference additions Texas and Oklahoma give the SEC seven teams in the Top 25. Joining them are South Carolina, LSU, No. 20 Mississippi, No. 22 Kentucky, and Alabama. The ACC and Big Ten each have six ranked teams, while the Big 12 has four. UConn and Creighton give the Big East two teams.