South Carolina No. 1 in Top 25 women's preseason poll

Defending national champion South Carolina is No. 1 in the Top 25 preseason women's basketball poll, released Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks return four starters from last season's undefeated team and received 27 of the 30 first-place votes. South Carolina now has captured the top spot in the preseason poll in four of the past five seasons.

"We knew we'd have a target on our backs this season as the reigning champions and this preseason ranking just confirms that," Staley said, per the school's athletic department website. "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."

South Carolina tips off the regular season against Michigan on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas.

No. 2 UConn collected two first-place ballots and is ranked in the preseason top 10 for the 30th consecutive year. No. 3 Southern California received the other top vote, with Texas and UCLA also in the top five.

Notre Dame, LSU, Iowa State, North Carolina State and Oklahoma round out the top 10.

Iowa, which fell to the Gamecocks in the national title game last season, is not ranked following the departure of superstar Caitlin Clark to the WNBA. The Hawkeyes are first among the group of "others receiving votes."

Stanford, meanwhile, is unranked in the preseason for the first time since 1999 following the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer.

The Southeastern Conference leads with seven teams in the Top 25. The Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference each have six and the Big 12 has four.

The rest of the women's AP Top 25 preseason poll:

11. Duke

12. Baylor

13. Kansas State

14. Ohio State

15. North Carolina

16. West Virginia

17. Louisville

18. Maryland

19. Florida State

20. Ole Miss

21. Creighton

22. Kentucky

23. Nebraska

24. Alabama

25. Indiana

--Field Level Media