Ohio State women’s basketball will start the season ranked No. 24 in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll.
Connecticut begins the year No. 1. The defending champion Huskies were voted first by 28 of 31 panelists and are the top-ranked preseason for the first time since 2017. Ohio State will play UConn on the road on Nov. 16.
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South Carolina opens at No. 2, claiming the remaining three first-place nods. No. 3 Texas and No. 5 LSU give the SEC three of the top five spots to tip off the campaign.
TOP 25: Complete USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball poll
PREVIEWS: How each Top 25 team stacks up entering the season
There are two others from the conference in the top 10 with Oklahoma opening at No. 7 and Tennessee at No. 9. No. 4 UCLA fills out the top five, and No. 6 Duke and No. 8 North Carolina State head the projected ACC contenders. No. 10 Maryland gives the Big Ten a second top-10 representative.
In all, the SEC has eight teams in the initial top 25. The Big Ten is next with six overall, with the ACC and Big 12 landing five teams each in the preseason poll.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Women’s college basketball preseason poll has Ohio State No. 24
