South Carolina unanimous No. 1 in preseason Top 25

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

Head coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks received all 30 first-place ballots and enter the season in the top spot for the third consecutive campaign.

South Carolina went wire-to-wire at No. 1 and finished 35-2 last season, beating Connecticut 64-49 on April 3 to claim the program's second NCAA Tournament title (also 2017).

The Gamecocks open the 2022-23 regular season at home on Nov. 7 against East Tennessee State in Columbia, S.C.

Stanford, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee round out the top five. It is the highest ranking for the Hawkeyes since 1994.

UConn opens at No. 6, followed by Louisville, Iowa State, Notre Dame and North Carolina State.

The Big Ten leads the way with six ranked teams, with Iowa joined by No. 11 Indiana, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Maryland, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 25 Michigan.

No. 13 Virginia Tech holds its highest position since the final poll of 1999, while No. 23 South Dakota State and No. 24 Princeton both have their first preseason rankings.