South Carolina ranked No. 1 in women's AP Top 25 preseason poll with UConn, USC, Texas and UCLA next

South Carolina is starting the season where it finished off last year — ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 women's college basketball poll.

The Gamecocks received 27 of the 30 first-place votes in the preseason rankings from a national media panel Tuesday. South Carolina returns four starters from the national championship team that went undefeated last year, capping off the historic season over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the title game.

UConn is No. 2, USC is No. 3 and Texas and UCLA round out the top five.

South Carolina has been No. 1 in the preseason poll four of the past five years. Last season, they started sixth in the preseason before moving up to No. 1 for the remainder of the year.