The Ap top 25 womens college basketball poll Notre Dame moved to No1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll on Monday, becoming the third team to reach that spot this season.
It’s the first time since the 2020-21 season that there have been that many teams to hold the top spot in one year. South Carolina was the preseason choice and UCLA held the No.1 ranking for 12 weeks before losing its first game of the season last week to rival USC.
The Fighting Irish, who are No 1 for the first since 2019 topped Duke 64- 49 on Monday night. They have a busy week ahead with games at Miami on Thursday and N.C. State on Sunday.
The Irish were fourth in the initial NCCA top16 reveal on Sunday which would send them out to the Spokane Regional instead of going to the Birmingham Regional. Heading to Alabama would be a bit more convenient for the Irish and their fans as it’s 1,200 miles.
Notre Dame has championship aspirations and the shorter trip from Alabama to Tampa for the Final Four also would be an advantage.
UCLA, South Carolina and Texas were the other No. 1 seeds. The reveal came out before the Gamecocks lost to UConn on Sunday.