How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Another USC enters the rankings
It took until the end of January, but another undefeated team has fallen.
And it fell badly. No. 2 Ohio State took its first loss of the season to No. 10 Iowa on Jan. 23. Then it fell to No. 6 Indiana, which isn't a bad loss. But the Buckeyes couldn't stop the bleeding and got upset by Purdue, making it three losses in one week. Ohio State is faltering with Jacy Sheldon's continued absence, and it needs to right the ship sooner rather than later. The Buckeyes fell five spots to No. 7.
The Pac-12 was responsible for the most upsets this week, so we'll go there next. UCLA fell out of my top 10 for the first time since it broke into the top 10 in week 4. The Bruins lost to both No. 25 Colorado in overtime and No. 9 Utah by two points. They were close losses, but they are ones UCLA has to win to be a top 10 team. The Bruins fall to No. 11.
WEEK 11: How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: South Carolina proves gap with LSU
WEEK 10: How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Why I'm voting for Tennessee again
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Utah notched two important wins this week, taking down UCLA and Southern California. The Utes are on a three-game win streak since falling to Stanford and moved up to No. 5.
USC earned my vote this week at No. 24. The Trojans lost a close one to Utah, but they rebounded with a 17-point win over No. 25 Colorado. USC has only lost games to ranked Pac-12 opponents and Texas in nonconference play – and its two losses to UCLA were by a combined margin of four points. The Trojans are on the rise as the only team to beat Stanford this season and earned my vote at No. 24 this week.
Stanford fell one spot to No. 4 for a few reasons. One is the near-loss to Oregon State. The other two are UConn and Indiana. The Huskies dominated Tennessee in a rivalry matchup in Knoxville, and followed it with a gritty win over Villanova Sunday. UConn rises to No. 2 at 20-2 and continues to notch quality wins despite its depleted roster.
Indiana was the complete opposite of Ohio State this week, adding three wins in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers took down No. 13 Michigan, No. 2 Ohio State and Rutgers. Grace Berger's return from injury has kept Indiana on an upward trajectory and at 20-1, they earned the No. 3 spot on my ballot.
Maryland moved up two spots to No. 8 after a win over No. 13 Michigan, and Iowa jumped to No. 10 after beating Ohio State and Nebraska.
Michigan only fell to No. 12 after two losses to ranked Big Ten opponents by fewer than 10 points. Illinois fell four spots to No. 18 after taking another unranked loss this week to Purdue.
South Carolina remains at the No. 1 spot, and it doesn't look like anyone will dethrone the Gamecocks in the regular season. LSU notched another SEC win and will play a significant game Monday against Tennessee. LSU is at No. 9 and the Lady Vols fell to No. 22 after Thursday's showing against UConn.
ACC teams are all beating each other, making it somewhat difficult to rank. But there wasn't significant movement for the ACC teams on my ballot, because most of the ranked teams that lost also won a significant matchup as well.
Cora Hall's AP Top 25 ballot for Week 12
South Carolina
UConn
Indiana
Stanford
Utah
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Maryland
LSU
Iowa
UCLA
Michigan
Florida State
Duke
Villanova
North Carolina
NC State
Illinois
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Gonzaga
Tennessee
Oklahoma
USC
Colorado
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted for USC Trojans in her AP Top 25
