3/15 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings Release - Top 5 Profiles

California is at No. 1 for the second week in a row with Bears holding off No. 2 Ohio State by .37 points. North Carolina and Georgia swapped spots at No. 3 and No. 4 while Pepperdine rode the wave that was created by several of its best wins rising in the rankings.

South Carolina moved into the top 10 for the first time since 1983 after picking up wins last week over Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

Georgia Tech came up 15 spots from No. 34 to No. 19 after beating Wake Forest and Syracuse last week. Clemson was also a big riser coming up 21 spots from No. 42 to No. 21 after beating Syracuse and Florida State.

The following teams made double-digit increases versus the last rankings:
#5 Pepperdine (+12)
#19 Georgia Tech (+15)
#21 Clemson (+21)
#49 UT Arlington (+27 & then some)
#51 Utah (+12)
#54 Tennessee (+17)
#58 Washington State (+11)
#59 UNLV (+17 & then some)

The following teams made double-digit decreases versus the last rankings (still ranked):
#37 Ole Miss (-10)
#40 Syracuse (-10)
#42 NC State (-11)
#65 Washington (-16)
#66 Boston College (-12)
#67 TCU (-15)
#71 Old Dominion (-10)
#73 San Jose State (-15)

These 4 teams entered the rankings after being unranked and the reason why they moved up:
#49 UT Arlington - beat then #45 New Mexico and Penn
#59 UNLV - beat then #61 Old Dominion, BYU, and Boise State
#69 San Diego - beat St. Mary's CA plus previous win over Cal State Fullerton was elevated when CSF entered the rankings last week
#75 Penn - picked up a road win at then #55 Rice; lost at Texas and UT Arlington

These 4 teams dropped out of the rankings with last week's rankings in ( ):
Kansas State (65) - lost to Wichita State and Baylor
Cal State Fullerton (67) - lost at Nevada
Princeton (70) - was idle last week but previous win over Georgia State was downgraded after GSU fell 10 spots in the rankings.
Pitt (75) - previous win over West Virginia was downgraded when WVU dropped out of the rankings.

Here is the ITA's release which breaks it down by conference affiliation.


Below I'll breakdown the Top 5 looking at the 5 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins. I also listed the point totals gained from the best wins and losses to come up with the computer score.  

Women's Top 5

California is No. 1 for the second week in a row after having both its matches with USC and UCLA get rained out. 

• 5 Best Wins (399.7): #2 Ohio State, #3 North Carolina, #10 Virginia, #13 Florida, at #28 UCLA 
• Other Quality Wins: at #25 Arizona State, at #48 USC, #65 Washington, at #59 Arizona
• Losses (5.0): None
• Computer Score:  399.7/5.0 = 79.94 (was 79.50)
• What's Coming Up: #5 Pepperdine (3/19), #51 Utah (3/25), Colorado (3/26), 
• Comments: The Bears have a big match on Saturday when it welcomes in #5 Pepperdine then after that the only real test will be when it faces Stanford twice in a two-week window. 

Ohio State stays at No. 2 just .37 behind California. The Buckeyes best wins are better than Cal's but the difference is the one loss. 

• 5 Best Wins (405.8): #5 Pepperdine, at #6 Michigan, #7 Vanderbilt (2X), #24 Fresno State
• Other Quality Wins: #19 Georgia Tech, #25 Arizona State, at #52 Baylor, at #67 TCU
• Losses (5.1): #1 California
• Computer Score:  405.8/5.1 = 79.57 (was 78.90)
• What's Coming Up: at #12 Miami FL (3/16), at Wisconsin (3/18), Minnesota (3/20)
• Comments: The Buckeyes biggest remaining test will take place on Wednesday when it faces #12 Miami in Coral Gables. I don't see anyone else in the Big Ten that can challenge Ohio State except for Michigan in the conference tournament. 

North Carolina moves up one spot from No. 4 to No. 3 after picking up ranked wins over Wake Forest and Pitt. UNC has five wins over top 16 opponents while UGA's five best wins are over top 28 opponents. 

• 5 Best Wins (394.7): #4 Georgia, at #10 Virginia, #12 Miami, #14 Texas A&M, #18 LSU
• Other Quality Wins: #23 Tulsa, #29 Wake Forest, #43 Alabama
• Losses (5.3): #1 California, at #6 Michigan
• Computer Score:  394.7/5.4 = 74.47 (was 71.08)
• What's Coming Up: at #40 Syracuse (3/24), #38 Notre Dame (3/26), at #8 Duke (3/29)
• Comments: The Tar Heels toughest remaining matches are all on the road with Duke, Georgia Tech, and Clemson coming up in the next month.

Georgia falls one spot from No. 3 to No. 4 despite picking up ranked wins over Auburn and Alabama. Georgia's wins over Georgia Tech and Clemson will push the Ole Miss win off its best wins list for next week. 

• 5 Best Wins (367.9): #6 Michigan, #11 Texas Tech, #15 Auburn, at #22 Mississippi State, at #37 Ole Miss
• Other Quality Wins: at #19 Georgia Tech, #21 Clemson, #43 Alabama
• Losses (5.1): #3 North Carolina
• Computer Score:  367.9/5.1 = 72.14 (was 73.00)
• What's Coming Up: #10 Virginia (3/17), #54 Tennessee (3/19), at #26 Kentucky (3/24), at #7 Vanderbilt (3/26)
• Comments: The Dawgs take a break from a rugged SEC schedule by welcoming in #10 Virginia on Thursday. There are a slew of tough ones left on Georgia's schedule so they'll have no choice but to take them one at a time. 

Pepperdine makes the big move up from No. 17 to No. 5 after beating No. 31 NC State plus almost all its best wins made strong improvements. 

• 5 Best Wins (294.7): #15 Auburn, #25 Arizona State,  at #28 UCLA, #35 Texas, #42 NC State
• Other Quality Wins: at #48 USC
• Losses (5.1): #2 Ohio State 
• Computer Score:  294.7/5.1 = 57.78 (was 36.25)
• What's Coming Up: at #1 Cal (3/19), at #17 Stanford (3/21), Loyola Marymount (3/26)
• Comments: The Waves have its two biggest remaining matches coming up this weekend when it visits the Bay Area to face #1 Cal and #17 Stanford. 

3/15 Oracle/ITA Women's Rankings

Rank	Avg	School	Previous Rank
1	79.94	California	1
2	79.57	Ohio State University	2
3	74.47	North Carolina	4
4	72.14	University of Georgia	3
5	57.78	Pepperdine	17
6	56.56	University of Michigan	6
7	55.64	Vanderbilt University	5
8	54.91	Duke University	8
9	53.59	University of South Carolina	12
10	52.71	University of Virginia	10
11	52.55	Texas Tech University	7
12	50.44	University of Miami (Florida)	9
13	50.36	University of Florida	18
14	44.59	Texas A&M University	16
15	43.72	Auburn University	11
16	42.05	Oklahoma State University	13
17	38.86	Stanford	23
18	38.49	LSU	15
19	37.66	Georgia Tech	34
20	36.7	Wichita State University	14
21	35.55	Clemson University	42
22	33.63	Mississippi State University	28
23	30.65	University of Tulsa	21
24	28.95	Fresno State	20
25	28.51	Arizona State University	26
26	27.98	University of Kentucky	19
27	27.48	University of Kansas	24
28	26.56	UCLA	25
29	25.12	Wake Forest University	22
30	23.38	University of Oregon	36
31	22.39	University of Arkansas	33
32	22.25	Virginia Tech	29
33	21.83	College of William and Mary	37
34	21.81	University of Denver	35
35	21.37	University of Texas at Austin	32
36	20.25	Northwestern University	39
37	19.9	University of Mississippi	27
38	19.8	University of Notre Dame	40
39	18.8	University of South Alabama	41
40	18.42	Syracuse University	30
41	18.41	Columbia University	38
42	17.03	North Carolina State	31
43	17.01	University of Alabama	46
44	15.64	Dartmouth College	44
45	14.84	Georgia State University	53
46	13.35	Rice University	55
47	13.2	University of New Mexico	45
48	13.13	University of Southern California	43
49	12.88	University of Texas at Arlington	NR
50	11.85	University of Minnesota	48
51	11.22	University of Utah	63
52	10.89	Baylor University	51
53	9.88	Winthrop University	56
54	9.51	University of Tennessee	71
55	9.44	DePaul University	47
56	9.23	Indiana University-Bloomington	50
57	9.22	Florida International University (FIU)	57
58	9.08	Washington State University	69
59	8.76	UNLV	NR
60	8.7	Florida State University	66
61	8.66	Univ. of Missouri, Columbia	60
62	8.64	University of Illinois	68
63	8.63	Purdue University	62
64	8.22	University of Arizona	59
65	8.18	University of Washington	49
66	7.96	Boston College	54
67	7.86	TCU	52
68	7.72	Brown University	74
69	7.63	University of San Diego	NR
70	7.44	Xavier University	72
71	7.38	Old Dominion University	61
72	7.32	Santa Clara University	64
73	7.23	San Jose State University	58
74	6.75	Troy University	73
75	6.73	University of Pennsylvania	NR