On the outside looking in: Kentucky falls out of the top 10 in AP poll
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky drops to No. 11 after split week; scoring inconsistency costs ranking.
- Coach Brooks relies on short rotation; bench production and Key’s injury limit depth.
- Iowa enters top-10; Stuelke and Heiden drive progress despite turnover issue.
Kentucky now sits outside the top 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 women’s college basketball rankings.
The Wildcats (17-3, 4-2 SEC) fell four spots to No. 11 in this week’s poll following another split week; Kenny Brooks and UK eked out a 94-89 win against Florida and fell 71-59 at Mississippi State.
If you’re at all plugged into the fan reactions or national conversations surrounding Brooks, you’ve likely heard criticism surrounding his tendency to avoid going too deep into his bench. Particularly while at Kentucky, Brooks hasn’t strayed too far from his six- or seven-player rotation, and sometimes — especially given forward Teonni Key’s current unavailability due to an elbow injury — it hurts his team.
For those interested in a comprehensive, data-based breakdown of Brooks’ history with team depth, you can find more information in a story I wrote in Jan. 2024 during his first season at Kentucky.
SEC play is long and hard and pits a program against teams that are not only expected to make the NCAA Tournament but also to string together multiple wins once the madness begins.
That said, it doesn’t really matter if junior center Clara Strack is considered by many to be one of the best players in the country and leads UK in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game, or if point guard Tonie Morgan draws comparisons to superheroes for her Herculean performances against top-five teams such as LSU on the road, or Oklahoma at home; nobody is immune to fatigue.
And when the Wildcats aren’t making their field goals or shooting well from beyond the arc, things can go south against teams they “should” beat.
Following the loss to Mississippi State, Brooks explained it through missing shots and a demand for production and toughness.
“When we were playing well, obviously, we were making shots,” Brooks said. “And then, when we weren’t, we just couldn’t hit anything. But there were some things. We need to be a little bit tougher in certain areas, we need a little more production from our bench. But when you don’t make shots, it does put you in a bind. And it definitely did that for us.”
When asked further about bench production, Brooks said he’s asking more of his bench in terms of “the little things — can you grab a rebound? Can you defend? Can you keep the scout?”
“They have to be better in their roles,” Brooks said. “Just like the starters have to be better in their roles. We as coaches have to be better in our roles. And it was one of those games where we just did not execute for big portions of the game.”
Nine teams remain ranked in this week’s poll, with No. 2 South Carolina (19-1), No. 4 Texas (19-2), No. 5 Vanderbilt (18-0) and No. 6 LSU (17-2) checking in at their same spots as last week.
Oklahoma (14-4) fell three places to No. 16 after a 91-72 loss to LSU in Norman. Tennessee (13-3) improved three spots to No. 17 thanks to a 70-59 ranked win over Alabama (17-3), which fell two spots to No. 23 with its loss to the Lady Vols, a 58-54 loss to Auburn and a 74-63 win over Missouri. Mississippi (16-4) dropped two spots to No. 18 after an 82-59 loss to Georgia.
Georgia received top 25 votes.
This week, Kentucky travels to Knoxville on Thursday for this year’s rivalry game against Tennessee and hosts Georgia Sunday.
Caroline Makauskas’ Team of the Week
It’s unrealistic to expect one’s team to go undefeated throughout a season; the most important thing is that each loss or mistake — even if the final result of a game is technically a win — results in a lesson learned.
Now more than a year removed from the Lisa Bluder-coached Caitlin Clark era, Jan Jensen’s Iowa Hawkeyes are coming into their own and establishing their identity as a new top-10 team. In fact, this week marks the first time Iowa is ranked in the top time since Clark’s graduation.
Iowa had the latest ranked game of the week, a home matchup against a challenging Michigan State group building one of the best starts in program history.
The Hawkeyes managed close wins over Baylor and Miami (Florida) early in nonconference play without guard Chit-Chat Wright but fell short at Iowa State — and were dominated by Connecticut in December. But their undefeated run through seven games of Big Ten play results in a shift in, at least my own, expectations.
Iowa stands tied with UCLA at the top of the Big Ten standings, and its tight-knit group led by veteran forward Hannah Stuelke — who should go down as another beloved, homegrown hero in Hawkeye history — is separating itself from much of the country in one of its stronger conferences.
Stuelke provides 14.2 points, a team-leading 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Iowa’s wins over Nebraska and at Indiana showed a lot about the team’s ability to hold strong in tight situations and the maturity the Hawkeyes have built in order to win in such games.
Jensen spoke after Iowa’s win against Michigan State Sunday about how her team has improved in the face of ball pressure and has progressed in terms of how it handles the way the game is called. Jensen’s Hawkeyes are disciplined and seemingly pretty good at bouncing back from their mistakes.
Wright, a Georgia Tech transfer, and freshman guard Addie Deal are wonderfully complementary for Iowa’s core. Wright adds 12.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals, while Deal contributes 6.1 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
Stuelke’s fellow post and Iowa’s leading scorer, sophomore Ava Heiden, is growing in her confidence, which is going to be necessary as Iowa gets deeper into its conference schedule, and in postseason play. Through 18 games, Heiden is averaging 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.1 blocks in 24.1 minutes per game.
And I’d be remiss not to mention senior guard Taylor McCabe, who is tied for fourth in the Big Ten in made 3-pointers per game at 2.5 and averages 8.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest.
The Hawkeyes’ biggest obstacle is their 15.1 turnovers per game, which puts them in the back half of the Big Ten.
It’ll be another tough week for Iowa with two ranked matchups; the Hawkeyes play at Maryland Thursday and against Ohio State Sunday.
Caroline Makauskas’ Top 25 ballot: No. 1 Connecticut, No. 2 South Carolina, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Louisville, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 10 Iowa, No. 11 Baylor, No. 12 TCU, No. 13 Mississippi, No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 17 Oklahoma, No. 18 Washington, No. 19 Duke, No. 20 Princeton, No. 21 Maryland, No. 22 Tennessee, No. 23 Nebraska, No. 24 Georgia, No. 25 Notre Dame.
