The Oklahoma women's basketball team hasn't even taken the court since the last time a new Associated Press Top 25 Poll was revealed, but voters still saw enough last week to bump the Sooners back inside the top 10.
OU on Monday jumped one spot to No. 10 in the latest AP Top 25 after a week-long break from action in the midst of its SEC schedule. The last time the Sooners played was actually a 78-70 loss to No. 4 Texas in the Red River Rivalry on Feb.1, which knocked OU from No. 10 to No. 11 in a reverse of this week.
Sooners back in top 10 ahead of loaded week of games
The main domino that fell to put the Sooners back in the top 10 was then-No. 10 Iowa losing to unranked Minnesota 91-85 on Thursday. That loss, which was Iowa's third in a row, dropped the Hawkeyes five spots to No. 15 in the most recent rankings. Iowa was the only top-10 team that fell outside of the tier this week.
The most recent AP Top 25 also included nine squads from the SEC, with four conference teams making up the top 10, including No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 6 LSU, No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 22 Tennessee and No. 23 Alabama.
The Sooners have already faced four of those nine ranked SEC teams and suffered three losses in a row to Ole Miss, Kentucky and LSU, respectively, in early January. That skid dropped OU as low as No. 16 in the AP Top 25 before the Sooners finally responded with a massive upset of then-No. 2 South Carolina in overtime at Lloyd Noble Center on Jan. 22. That upset combined with wins over Auburn and Texas A&M to finish out January catapulted OU back into top-10 consideration.
OU's recent break means an even fuller week of action now, including another chance at a top-5 upset with a trip to No. 5 Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. CT Monday on ESPN2. The Sooners will then host Florida on Thursday before heading to No. 23 Alabama on Sunday.