Welcome back to another episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball. Mitchell Northam joined host Missy Heidrick to talk about changes in the AP Poll after a wild week in women’s college basketball where the defending champions lost by double digits, USC won a heavyweight battle on the West Coast and Notre Dame moved into the No. 1 spot.
Northam started the conversation by breaking down the reasons he put the Irish at the top of his poll this week. It’s Notre Dame’s first time at No. 1 since 2019.
“With UCLA’s loss, South Carolina’s loss, you know, coupled with the fact that Notre Dame hasn’t lost since November, and those two losses came when they were out of the country and not at full strength,” Northam said. “Couple that with, you know, they’ve beaten Texas by double digits, they beat USC by double digits and they beat UConn by double digits and they have yet to lose a game in ACC play. I just think Notre Dame is far and away the best team right now.”
Texas moved into the No. 2 spot passing UCLA, who dropped to third. USC follows in fourth and UConn moved up to No. 5 after defeating South Carolina 87-58. Northam was on-site for the UConn-South Carolina game which took him by surprise.
“I think if you had me place a bet on it, I would have picked South Carolina to win by double digits, and you know, it went completely the other day where UConn almost won by 30,” Northam said. “I think for UConn the biggest takeaway was like, you got this awesome performance from Azzi Fudd and I think for a little while there in the season it was like, man, maybe we won’t see Azzi Fudd at her full potential and maybe we’re just gonna have to lean on Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong. Now you do really have this three-headed attack.”
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