
AP College Basketball Poll 2023: Complete Preseason Women's Rankings Released
The reigning national champion LSU Tigers topped the Associated Press' preseason Top 25 poll ahead of the 2023-24 women's college basketball season.
They received all but one of the 36 first-place votes. UConn, Iowa, UCLA and Utah rounded out the top five.
Associated Press Top 25 Poll
1. LSU
2. UConn
3. Iowa
4. UCLA
5. Utah
6. South Carolina
7. Ohio State
8. Virginia Tech
9. Indiana
10. Notre Dame
11. Tennessee
12. Ole Miss
13. Texas
14. Maryland
15. Stanford
16. North Carolina
17. Louisville
18. Florida State
19. Baylor
20. Colorado
21. USC
22. Creighton
23. Illinois
24. Washington State
25. Mississippi State
LSU returns the 2023 NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player along with Flau'jae Johnson. Reese will be among the top candidates entering the season for the major individual awards after averaging 23.0 points, 15.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as a junior.
The Tigers added Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow through the transfer portal. Van Lith was a two-time first-team All-ACC guard at Louisville, while Morrow was a third-team All-American at DePaul last season.
UConn was the last school to successfully defend its national title when the Huskies capped off their four-peat in 2015-16. LSU has the talent to continue its reign atop the sport.
However, this could be the year Connecticut reclaims its place with Paige Bueckers back healthy. Bueckers' torn ACL cost her the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign, and head coach Geno Auriemma had to navigate around a series of other minor injuries.
Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy going down for the year due to an Achilles rupture is a foreboding sign in that regard, but fans are justifiably excited about what Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Aubrey Griffin can achieve together.
Caitlin Clark and Iowa will garner a ton of attention as well. The Hawkeyes' fanbase is obviously eager for the year to begin after packing 55,646 fans into Kinnick Stadium for an exhibition against DePaul.
McKenna Warnock and Monika Czinano combined to average 28 points and 12.4 boards per game, and their experience was vital to their team's national runner-up finish.
Clark will have a lot on her shoulders as she hopes to return to the Final Four.

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