Women’s basketball AP poll, takeaways: Injury clouds loom over UConn, South Carolina

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And then there were five.

The last remaining undefeated teams are the Big Ten’s UCLA (15-0), Maryland (14-0) and Ohio State (14-0); SEC’s LSU (17-0); and ACC’s Georgia Tech (15-0). Tennessee and Buffalo took their first losses of the season last week.

Maryland (vs. USC), Ohio State (at Michigan) and LSU (at Tennessee, vs. Vanderbilt) won’t have an easy time staying in the group this week with ranked teams on the schedule. Georgia Tech’s games aren’t gimmes, either, with Virginia Tech on Thursday and then a trip to Louisville on Sunday.

UCLA could be the only one left as its Big Ten season continues with a trip to Purdue on Tuesday and hosting Northwestern on Sunday.

UConn, South Carolina await injury news

While UCLA, Southern Cal, Notre Dame and Ohio State all recently returned key players, Connecticut and South Carolina are now facing the potential of playing without stars.

UConn’s injury cloud doesn’t seem to have fully dissipated. After returning Azzi Fudd to the lineup following her minor knee sprain, Paige Bueckers exited the third quarter of a blowout win in Villanova after colliding with a defender and twisting her left leg. It’s the same knee she injured as a sophomore and sustained an ACL tear in August 2022.

Head coach Geno Auriemma said on SNY he was “optimistic. Let’s put it that way.” He told reporters that, like Fudd’s injury earlier in the season, “It’s not the worst thing that we can imagine.”

UConn (13-2, 4-0 Big East) hosts Xavier on Wednesday. The Big East schedule is forgiving enough that Bueckers can miss some games without the Huskies taking a major hit, but if it is closer to the worst thing than the best, it sinks UConn’s chances of a championship during Bueckers’ tenure.

South Carolina forward Ashlyn Watkins left in the second quarter of the Gamecocks’ win over Mississippi State. She appeared to injure her left leg going for a layup and needed help off the court. Head coach Dawn Staley said there was no update on her…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/womens-basketball-ap-poll-takeaways-injury-clouds-loom-over-uconn-south-carolina-193526430.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-06 19:35:00

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