South Carolina, Dawn Staley ranked No. 1 in USA TODAY preseason poll for fifth time

Lulu Kesin, Greenville NewsTue, October 20, 2026 at 4:10 PM UTC

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COLUMBIA — South Carolina women's basketball is No. 1 in the 2026-27 USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 women's basketball poll released Oct. 20.

Coach Dawn Staley's team finished last year ranked No. 2 in the poll, one spot behind UCLA after losing to the Bruins in the national championship game.

South Carolina is also No. 1 in the poll.

The Gamecocks have an exhibition game against Benedict on Oct. 23 (7 p.m.) in Colonial Life Arena before the season opener against Maryland in Paris on Nov. 2 (noon ET, ESPN).

It's the first time since the start of the 2024-25 season and fifth time overall that South Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll. Last year, UConn held the top spot after beating the Gamecocks in the 2025 national championship.

The Huskies maintained the spot in the polls all of last season, until the final rankings, when South Carolina got revenge and beat them in the Final Four.

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South Carolina was also No. 1 in the 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 preseason USA TODAY polls. South Carolina won the 2022 national championship and lost in the 2021 and 2023 Final Fours.

USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 women's basketball poll

Team's records from last year are in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th and first-place votes received.

South Carolina (36-4): 792 points, 26 first place votes

UConn (38-1): 772 points, six first place votes

Southern Cal (18-14): 686 points, 0 first place votes

Duke (27-9): 664 points

Michigan (28-7): 652 points

Texas (35-4): 632 points

Louisville (29-8): 578 points

LSU (29-6): 572 points

Vanderbilt (29-5): 521 points

Iowa (27-7): 476 points

North Carolina (28-8): 432 points

UCLA (37-1): 422 points

Notre Dame (25-11): 403 points

Kentucky (25-11): 352 points

Washington (22-11): 319 points

TCU (32-6): 270 points

Maryland (24-9): 267 points

Minnesota (24-9): 252 points

Oklahoma State (24-10): 239 points

Ohio State (27-8): 233 points

Oklahoma (26-8): 211 points

Illinois (22-12): 163 points

Mississippi (24-12): 95 points

West Virginia (28-7): 92 points

NC state (21-11): 67 points

Dropped out: No. 20 Michigan State (23-9); No. 21 Baylor (25-9); No. 23 Texas Tech (26-8); No. 24 Virginia (23-10); No. 25 Princeton (26-4).

Others receiving votes: Baylor (25-9) 44; Arizona State (24-11) 42; Nebraska (19-13) 40; Tennessee (16-14) 20; Michigan State (23-9) 18; Gonzaga (24-10) 15; South Dakota State (27-7) 11; Oregon (23-13) 9; Oregon State (23-12) 8; Rice (29-6) 5; Villanova (25-8) 5; Princeton (26-4) 4; Florida (18-15) 3; James Madison (26-9) 3; Texas Tech (26-8) 3; Clemson (21-12) 2; Fairfield (28-5); Kansas (22-14) 2; Virginia (22-12) 2.

The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The board for the 2026-27 season: Kim Barnes Arico, Michigan; Ashleen Bracey, Illinois-Chicago; Jen Brown, Queens; Dan Burt, Duquesne; Jeff Cammon, Saint Mary’s; Fred Chmiel, Bowling Green; Denise Dillon, Villanova; Carrie Eighmey, South Dakota; Heather Ezell, Wyoming; Bill Fennelly, Iowa State; Aqua Franklin, Lamar; Juli Fulks, Marshall; Corry Irvin, Chicago State; Renee Jimenez, UC Santa Barbara; Chris Kielsmeier, Texas State; Mike Lane, NJIT; Monique LeBlanc, Brown; Amy Mallon, Drexel; Kristen Mattio, Northern Colorado; Mike McGuire, Radford; Kim McNeill, East Carolina; Shawn Poppie, Clemson; Terry Primm, Siena; Samantha Quigley Smith, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville; Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt; Kyle Rechlicz, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Margaret Richards, Jackson State; Alexis Sherard, Liberty; Jonathan Tsipis, Western Carolina; Trevor Woodruff, Bucknell; Jermain Woods, Norfolk State; Shereke Wright, Texas-Arlington.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky ‪@bylulukesin.bsky.social‬

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina, Dawn Staley ranked No. 1 in USA TODAY preseason poll for fifth time

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