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Welcome to our weekly series analyzing the women’s college basketball AP Top 25 poll. Every week, we will look at the voters’ individual ballots and break down each team’s vote distribution.
(Check out Her Hoop Stat’s own top 25.)
In this week’s poll, Stanford continues to have a secure hold on the top spot. Voters are most unsure about where West Virginia fits; the No. 22 Mountaineers received votes as high as No. 15 but were also left off of three ballots.
A Deeper Dive
At first glance, not much has changed from last week's poll. Digging into the raw point totals (25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, and so on) shows that the perceived movement in the poll is the result of very minimal changes.
No. 6 Louisville and No. 7 Baylor swapped places from last week. In both weeks' polls, they are separated by a single point. So while Baylor received the same point total, Louisville's two-point gain was enough to rise in the poll. At the final spot in the rankings, previous No. 25 Miami lost 14 points, just enough to fall out of the poll and make room for South Dakota (who actually lost one point).
While the visible movement reflects little change in the ballots, the biggest voter differences can't be seen in the top-line numbers. The team with the largest point change was Kentucky, who, after falling to Louisville, lost 25 points but remained ranked at No. 14. The biggest riser by point total was DePaul, who gained 12 points but remained at No. 16.
Fun Fact
With South Dakota debuting at No. 25, this is just the second time since the 2000-01 season that the first seven weeks have seen seven different No. 25 teams.
Historical data from acrossthetimeline.com.
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