The Big 12 tied for the national lead with four of the top 16 teams in the Associated Press Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Preseason Poll. It marks the first time since 2008 that the league has had four teams inside the top 16 of the preseason poll and just the third time ever for the Conference in the AP’s preseason poll history.
Iowa State led the way at No. 8, marking the second time in the last three seasons that the Cyclones have started the season ranked eighth. It is also the third time in the previous four years that ISU has opened in the top 12. The ranking matches ISU’s second-highest preseason national mark in program history.
Baylor is No. 12, the 20th-straight season the Bears have been ranked to start the year. BU finished with 26 wins in 2023-24 while advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.
K-State, the league’s preseason favorite, is No. 13 in the poll. It’s the Wildcats’ fourth time in program history that they’ve appeared in the preseason AP poll and first since the 2004-05 season. It also marks K-State’s highest preseason AP ranking since opening the 2003-04 season at No. 5.
West Virginia enters the season at No. 16, which is the first time that the Mountaineers have opened a season inside the AP Top 25 since the 2017-18 season. It’s the sixth time in program history that WVU has been named in the preseason poll and is the Mountaineers’ third-highest ranking to open a season.
TCU and Utah each received votes.
The 2024-25 season tips off Monday, Nov. 4 with league action set to commence Saturday, Dec. 21 as this year marks the Conference’s first with 16 members. The regular season will be followed by the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship, which will take place in KansasCity’s T-Mobile Center for the second consecutive season.
Over the last four years, the Big 12 has had an average of 55% of the league make the NCAA Tournament field each season, the highest of any league. The current Conference members combined to go 8-0 in their first game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament while 15 of the 16 teams finished the 2023-24 season in the top 101 of the NET rankings.
