How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Louisville joins preseason top 10 graveyard
Between the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and the Jimmy V Classic, there was no shortage of great wmen's basketball games this week.
After dropping Tennessee and Texas from my ballot last week, Louisville joins the graveyard of preseason top 10 teams to fall out of my top 25. I wasn't confident in ranking them No. 8 preseason and lost faith in the Cardinals after the first week when they nearly lost to Belmont.
The blowout loss to Ohio State was enough for me to stop ranking Louisville – which I had at No. 23 last week – but its loss to Middle Tennessee this week sealed it.
WEEK 3:How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Is Tennessee still ranked?
WEEK 2:How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Tennessee, Texas tumble after losses
WEEK 1:How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Did Tennessee drop out of top 10?
Other voters kept Texas in the poll, which I understand because Rori Harmon did not play in the losses. But this week, Harmon was very present in a loss to South Florida. The Bulls had 24 turnovers against Texas and still won – that's quite a stat. With the win, USF is in my ballot at No. 23 and Texas is out with a 4-4 record.
Tennessee looked a lot like last year's team in a three-point loss to No. 9 Virginia Tech on Sunday. Three of the Lady Vols' transfers sat out – two due to injury and Rickea Jackson is out indefinitely due to coach's decision. But shorthanded Tennessee looked better than it has all season and had its chances to secure its first ranked win of the season.
It will be interesting to see if and how Kellie Harper, Vic Schaefer and Jeff Walz can turn around their seasons.
To highlight a few significant results:
UCLA almost took down No. 1 South Carolina. The Bruins were just as close, if not closer, to beating the Gamecocks as Stanford. But UCLA almost did it on the road and, if it had a little more experience, I think they would have pulled it off. The showing earned them a No. 7 ranking from me this week.
Indiana blew out No. 6 North Carolina by 24 points – without Grace Berger. The Hoosiers have more than proven themselves, and they're the team to beat in the Big Ten right now. Indiana gets the No. 3 spot this week after UConn's loss.
Speaking of the Huskies, they lost 74-60 to Notre Dame. I only dropped them one spot because they have three top-10 wins and Azzi Fudd didn't play the second half as a precaution. Fudd playing the whole game would have impacted the result, plus Notre Dame lost to Maryland this week, too. But the Irish still jump to No. 5 for the rivalry win.
Ohio State notched another win over a struggling ranked team this week, taking down Louisville 96-77. The Buckeyes had three players score 20-plus points in the win: Taylor Mikesell (26), Jacy Sheldon (22) and Rebeka Mikulášiková (21). They dropped one spot to No. 6 as a result of Notre Dame's big win.
NC State jumped two spots to No. 8 after beating Iowa 94-81. Diamond Johnson and Saniya Rivers both scored 22 points to lead the Wolfpack to a much-needed ranked win. Iowa's defense is concerning, which is nothing new. But the Hawkeyes gave up 46 points in the paint and NC State's leading scorers were guards. Iowa dropped to No. 16 this week.
The middle of the pack gets a bit murky with some teams still untested – like LSU, which struggled to beat Tulane. But there's another newcomer on my ballot besides South Florida: Arkansas.
The Razorbacks are 10-0 and have a solid win over Kansas State, who was ranked No. 25 at the time. I toyed with voting for Virginia (10-0) and St. John's (8-0), but Arkansas has played a better schedule. Samara Spencer, the 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year, and redshirt senior Erynn Barnum are leading Arkansas to a hot start.
AP Top 25 Week 4
South Carolina
Stanford
Indiana
UConn
Notre Dame
Ohio State
UCLA
NC State
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Creighton
Michigan
Utah
Maryland
Iowa
Arizona
LSU
Oregon
Baylor
Gonzaga
Marquette
South Florida
Arkansas
Villanova
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Week 4 upsets shook up Lady Vols writer Cora Hall's AP Top 25
