South Carolina is No. 1 in women's preseason AP Top 25, followed by UConn and USC

Dawn Staley has South Carolina in a familiar place, sitting at No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 women's basketball poll.The Gamecocks received 23 first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel Tuesday. UConn, USC, Duke and Michigan round out the top five.It is the fifth time in the past seven years that Staley's team has been ranked No. 1 in the preseason.“It's a gift and curse,” Staley said. “I tend to not look at the number, but our players do. They look at it and feel like there’s a sense of respect to being No. 1. They also know that it’s pressure packed with the type of non-conference shcedule we have, we’re going to be challenged. If we stand there at No. 1 at the end of our non-conference season that’s something to be truly to be proud of.”South Carolina will face five ranked teams in the first month of the season, including UConn, USC and Duke.“It’s a doozy of a schedule. something we have to do for us to actually keep having the roster we have,” Staley s