UCLA Women's Basketball: Where Bruins Stand In Last AP Poll Before March Madness Seeding

A well-deserved ranking!

In the final Associated Press poll prior to the announcement of NCAA Tournament seeding, your UCLA Bruins took a leap! It was one spot, but still.

The AP poll ranks the top 25 women's college basketball teams in the nation. UCLA has climbed to sixth place in the latest list. With a 25-6 on the year, the Bruins are behind only, in order, the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks (32-0), Caitlin Clark and the rest of the 29-4 Iowa Hawkeyes, the 26-5 USC Trojans (who needed double overtime to vanquish the Bruins during the Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals on Friday), the 28-5 Stanford Cardinal, and the 28-4 Texas Longhorns. 

The Bruins have had an excellent run thus far this season, led by their triumvirate of All-Pac-12 honorees in sophomore center Lauren Betts, grad student shooting guard Charisma Osborne and sophomore point guard Kiki Rice.

UCLA did fall, 80-70, in a grind-it-out, defense-first double overtime thriller for the ages against the third-ranked USC Trojans on Friday, during a Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal matchup. But that was anyone’s game, and some generous free throw calls were sent USC’s way (the Trojans led that department with a 37-17 edge in foul shots). Now, the Bruins must regroup and gear up for the Big Dance. They could easily go further than last year’s vintage of the team, which reached the Sweet Sixteen.