Syracuse women’s basketball: ACC Rankings and AP Poll Update for November 25th

Nov 25, 2022 - 5:00 PM

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We’re only a handful of games into the 2022-2023 season, and there’s already been tons of craziness across NCAA women’s basketball.

With most teams having between 3-6 games under their belts, it’s time to take our second glance across the women’s college basketball landscape.

Per usual, we’ll be looking at where the Syracuse Orange women’s basketball team stacks up compared to the rest of the ACC, as well as analyzing the latest AP poll of the week. Additionally, moving forward from here on out, we’ll also look at how the Orange performed this week and what’s up next on the docket for Syracuse in the next seven days.

Let’s cut right to the chase and take a look at the latest headlines in women’s college basketball.

ACC power rankings and a look around the conference

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Thursday, November 24.

Similar to last week, not much has changed in the current ACC standings, at least at the top of the leaderboard. With conference play still not fully kicked off yet, all of the ACC teams will continue to play non-conference opponents for the next couple of weeks.

Here are the current ACC standings, as of Thursday night.

The undefeated dominos began to fall this week. Just six teams in the conference remain undefeated after 12 remained unbeaten last week.

By far and away, Louisville's slow start is the biggest narrative coming out of the conference so far. After being voted to win the ACC in a conference preseason poll, Louisville sits at 4-2 on the season with losses to Gonzaga and South Dakota State. Even the Cardinals' lone ranked win of the season came against a Texas team that sits at 1-3 and plummeted the most in the latest AP poll.

Wake Forest is another notable team struggling out of the gate in the conference, with back-to-back losses to Missouri and Alabama. The Demon Deacons trounced Elon and Mercer, but lost by 20 points to Virginia and barely defeated East Carolina.

The top of the conference, especially the five teams ranked in the AP top 25, continue to perform.

Looking ahead to the weekend, here are some notable games to watch for among the ACC teams:

• Florida State (5-1) @ Purdue (5-0) on Friday
• #13 NC State (5-1) @ West Virginia (4-0) on Friday
• #3 UConn (3-0) @ Duke (5-1) on Friday
• #7 Notre Dame (5-0) @ Arizona State (4-0) on Saturday
• #14 Maryland (4-1) @ Pittsburgh (4-0) on Sunday

Latest changes in the AP poll

Note: AP top-25 poll information includes games from up to Monday, November 21.

We’re only three weeks into the season, and there’s already been tons of movement in the AP standings compared to the 2022-2023 AP preseason poll.

Here are the current standings, per the latest AP top-25 poll:

There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s start with the ACC. Notre Dame and North Carolina each jumped up a few spots into the top 10. In particular, UNC is hot right now, having recently just come off a six-point win Thursday against Oregon. Ditto for Notre Dame, who now has won its first five games by double-figures. Virginia Tech. also jumped three spots and are currently ranked 11th, coming off back-to-back wins against Kentucky and Missouri. NC State and Louisville each fell down a few spots, but with all that said, the ACC still has five teams ranked inside the AP top 15 as of Monday.

Utah made the biggest jump so far this season, moving to 18th in the country after being 25th last week and unranked two weeks ago. Texas (ranked 3rd in the preseason) and Tennesee (11th) have made the biggest falls from grace so far, sitting at 19th and 23rd, respectively.

Honorable mention candidates for the week include Oklahoma (69 points), Marquette (65 points), and Gonzaga (33 points). Outside of the five ACC teams ranked in the top 25, Duke (8 points) is the only other team in the conference that received consideration.

The Orange this week and next week

Note: All team records include games from up to and including Thursday, November 24.

As of Thursday night, Syracuse (4-1) had just one game on its schedule since our last weekly look at NCAA women’s basketball. The Orange fell short 82-69 against the Penn State Lady Lions (5-0) in its first game against Power Five competition.

Looking ahead to this week, Syracuse will take on the Bucknell Bisons (2-3) Friday night at home before heading on the road to take on the Purdue Boilermakers (5-0) Wednesday evening.