Big Ten has 4 teams in the women's top 10 led by conference newcomers No. 1 UCLA and No. 4 USC

Published Dec. 31, 2024 5:21 a.m. ET

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Rutgers coach Coquese Washington has seen the Big Ten grow over the years, from her time leading Penn State to now being in charge of the Scarlet Knights.

Her team is going through a rough part of the conference schedule with three straight games against top-10 opponents, including games this week at No. 8 Maryland and home against fourth-ranked USC. Rutgers lost to No. 10 Ohio State on Sunday.

“This is the toughest year in terms of competitiveness in a conference that I've ever been associated with,” she said after the loss to the Buckeyes. “It's always been good, but it's on another level this year. When you talk about the teams that have come in, there's no night off.”

The Big Ten added No. 1 UCLA and USC this season, making a strong conference even better. There are currently four schools from the league ranked in the top 10, and seven in the Top 25. Having UCLA and USC as travel partners makes for a daunting week for everyone in the conference.

“I thought our conference was amazing to begin with, but then you take the teams that are now in our conference and the ability for our kids to come out here and play on the West Coast and showcase themselves, and the ability to add USC and UCLA to our conference just really makes us the best league in the country," Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said after Sunday's loss to USC.

The No. 24 Wolverines visit UCLA on Wednesday before returning home to play Ohio State on Jan. 8.

Maryland has won the regular-season crown six times since joining the conference in 2015. Coach Brenda Frese knows her team will have to play its best to try and win the title for the first time since 2021.

“It will be the hardest conference slate we’ve ever faced,” she said.

The Big Ten isn't the only tough conference this season. The SEC also has four teams in the top 10 with No. 2 South Carolina, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 LSU and ninth-ranked Oklahoma.

NET ratings

The NCAA’s weekly NET rankings — one of the tools the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament bracket — didn't have much movement this week with Texas still at No. 1 on Monday.

Games of the week

Oklahoma has a difficult week ahead with a home game against Texas on Thursday before traveling to No. 15 Tennessee on Sunday.

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AP Sports Writers Beth Harris and Noah Trister contributed to this story.

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

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