Source: Joe Robbins/NCAA Photos / Getty
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.–Both the Indiana and Notre Dame women’s basketball teams are in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll.
Indiana is ranked 9th and Notre Dame is 10th. For Indiana, it is the fifth straight time that they have been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll. It’s the second straight year that Notre Dame has been a Top 10 team in the poll.
Notre Dame is coming off a 27-6 season (15-3 ACC) during which they won the ACC regular season title and made a second consecutive Sweet 16 despite losing starters Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey during the regular season. Indiana went 28-4 overall and 16-2 in the Big Ten. They also won the Big Ten regular season championship outright for the first time in 40 years and got a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing in the second round to Miami.
“We’ve been able to bring in really skilled players into our program. The only way that you win is by having great players. You can have the strategies and the X’s and O’s, but two things have to happen. You have to bring in skilled players and you have to have a great culture,” said Indiana Hoosier women’s basketball coach Teri Moren at Big Ten Media Day earlier this month.
The defending champion LSU Tigers are ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history. UCONN is ranked 2nd followed by the national runner-up Iowa who is 3rd.
The SEC, Big Ten and ACC each have five schools ranked. The Big East and Big 12 each have two teams in the poll.
