Women’s basketball: CU Buffs move up to No. 3 in latest AP Top 25 rankings

Colorado women’s basketball keeps climbing.

On Monday, CU jumped two spots to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.

This is the best AP ranking for the Buffaloes (4-0) since finishing the 1994-95 regular season at No. 2. Prior to last week, CU had not been inside of the Top 10 since December of 1995.

Ranked No. 20 in the preseason, CU vaulted 15 spots last week, the largest one-week leap in poll history, according to the AP.

CU played just once last week, pulling away from SMU for an 84-69 win on the road on Saturday night. But, the Buffs moved up because two teams ahead of them lost.

Iowa, which was No. 2 last week, fell to No. 5 after a home loss to unranked Kansas State (the Wildcats vaulted to No. 16 on Monday). And Utah, which was No. 4 last week, fell to a tie for No. 10 after a loss at then-No. 21 Baylor, which is now at No. 14.

South Carolina remains at No. 1 and the Gamecocks received all 36 first-place votes this week. CU’s Pac-12 rivals, UCLA and Stanford are at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, with Iowa rounding out the top five.

Also from the Pac-12, USC moved up two spots to No. 8 and Washington State moved up one spot to No. 23.

CU will return to the court Thursday in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. The Buffs will play Cincinnati (2-1) on Thursday, Kentucky (2-2) on Friday and North Carolina State (4-0) on Saturday. NC State moved up four spots into a tie with Utah for No. 10 in this week’s AP poll.