Defending champion LSU is No. 1 in women's preseason AP Top 25 for first time. UConn, Iowa next

Defending champion LSU is ranked No. 1 in the women's preseason AP Top 25 college basketball poll for the first time in school history.

LSU, which won its first NCAA title last April behind star player Angel Reese and Co., received 35 first-place votes from a 36-member national media panel in the poll released Tuesday. UConn received the other top vote. The second-ranked Huskies have now been ranked in the AP poll for 565 consecutive weeks, tying Tennessee’s record.

Caitlin Clark and national runner-up Iowa was third. It’s the same spot the Hawkeyes held last year in the preseason poll. UCLA and Utah round out the top five.

The Tigers were ranked second in 1977 and third twice in 2004 and 2005 in the preseason poll, but never No. 1 until this year. There is a lot of optimism around LSU as they return a stellar group, including Reese, along with two talented transfers in Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow.