Florida State and Vanderbilt entered the Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 on Monday with Seminoles at No. 25 and Vandy at No. 23.

Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt team is in the poll for the first time since Feb. 10, 2014, and has two wins over ranked teams for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The Commodores topped then-No. 19 Alabama on Sunday as the Crimson Tide were one of a dozen ranked teams to lose last week.

Vanderbilt LSU Basketball© Peter Forest

The top four teams remained the same as UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame and USC all avoided upsets last week. The Bruins received 31 first-place ballots from the 32-member national media panel after winning their three games on an eight-day East Coast trip. They beat then-No. 25 Baylor, Rutgers and formerly eighth-ranked Maryland.

UCLA, which picked up two first place votes this week, is the only undefeated team left in Division I basketball after then-No. 5 LSU lost to the Gamecocks. South Carolina garnered the other top vote.

Texas leapfrogged UConn to move up to fifth and the Huskies remained sixth. LSU dropped to seventh. Ohio State, which also beat Maryland, ,moved up four places to eighth. The Terrapins dropped to 14th after losing all three of their games last week.

UCLA Maryland Basketball© Nick Wass

TCU and Duke rounded out the top 10. The Horned Frogs split a pair of games with Oklahoma State and Baylor.

UCLA Maryland Basketball© Nick Wass

In and out

Oklahoma State and Florida State re-entered the rankings this week at No. 24 and 25, respectively. The Seminoles were ranked in the preseason poll and topped North Carolina on a buzzer-beater by last week’s AP Player of the Week Ta’Niya Latson. The Cowgirls have been in and out of the poll the last few weeks.

Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell gave birth to her first child a week ago and was returning for the 18th-ranked Lady Vols’ game against South Carolina on Monday night. Caldwell gave birth to Conor Scott a week earlier while dealing with the flu. She missed a single game, an 80-76 loss at No. 7 Texas on Thursday, as assistant Jenna Burdette filled in as acting coach.

Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference had eight teams ranked this week and ACC has seven. The Big Ten dropped to five teams with Michigan and Minnesota exiting the poll. The Big 12 has four ranked teams and the Big East one.

Games of the week

Columbia at Harvard, Friday. The undefeated Lions will visit the Crimson in a battle for first-place in the Ivy League. Columbia is undefeated while Harvard has one loss, a last-second defeat at Princeton.

No. 12 Kentucky at No. 13 Oklahoma, Sunday. The Wildcats will visit the SEC newcomer Sooners. Kentucky is currently in a tie for second in the conference standings at 6-1.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida has cleared men’s basketball coach Todd Golden following a four-month Title IX investigation into allegations of sexual exploitation, sexual harassment and stalking.

The school released a statement Monday saying no evidence was found and it ended its investigation. It comes amid No. 5 Florida’s best season in a decade, with the Gators winning 18 of their first 20 games.

“The University of Florida takes these matters seriously and works deliberately to ensure that due process is upheld for everyone,” university spokesman Steve Orlando said in a statement. “After a thorough investigation that included dozens of interviews over the past months, the University of Florida has found no evidence that Todd Golden violated Title IX. The Title IX office has closed its investigation.”

Golden previously sidestepped chances to deny the allegations “out of the respect to the process” and threatened legal action, presumably against his accusers, who weren’t publicly named. He also recently ripped proceedings that are supposed to be confidential.

“I am just frustrated and disappointed that a Title IX mechanism that is created to protect both sides during a situation like this — that confidentiality and privacy continues to be abused,” Golden said earlier this month after assistant coach Taurean Green was accused of sexual assault in another Title IX case

The complaint against Golden accused him of sending photos and videos of his genitalia, making unwanted sexual advances on Instagram and requesting sexual favors. The Independent Florida Alligator first reported the allegations in early November.

Golden’s attorney, William Shepherd, said the university’s conclusion “proves that the complaint was meritless.”

“Coach Golden and I have respected the process throughout while actively engaging with the university,” Shepherd said in a statement. “However, there were many who did not respect the investigative process. Instead, they sought to target Coach Golden and drive their agenda and this investigation for their own self-interest.

Advertisement

“Some leaked confidential material to the media; falsely posed as a UF lawyer in an effort to intimidate; harassed UF students and parents to try to generate a false narrative; and harassed my client, his family, and his friends.”

Shepherd added that Golden will consider legal options in the offseason.

The school’s University Athletic Association supported Golden throughout the investigation and backed his confidentiality comment following the case’s dismissal.

“Throughout this process, Coach Golden has demonstrated tremendous focus and professionalism, and we commend him for that,” the UAA said in a statement.

Title IX is designed to protect students from discrimination, including sexual harassment. Florida began outsourcing its Title IX investigations in 2023 to Grand River Solutions, a private firm based in California.

“The last several months have been a challenge for my family and me while this process dragged on,” Golden said in a statement posted on X. “We asked for the public to allow this process to work through to its conclusion and not rush to judgement based on allegations. The UAA and so many at the University have been tremendously supportive — my family and I are extremely grateful.

Advertisement

“And thank you to our fans for your incredible support for our players and our program. It has made a huge difference.”

The 39-year-old Golden signed a two-year contract extension last March that included a $1 million raise and brought his annual salary to $4 million. The deal runs through the 2029-30 season. He is 58-31 in three seasons.

His contract prohibits “romantic, amorous and/or sexual relationships between any coach or other employee of the Association and any student athlete or other person subject to the supervision, control and/or authority of such coach or other employee.”

It also says the university can take disciplinary action if the coach acts in a manner “that has an ‘adverse effect’ or causes an ‘adverse reflection,’ on the reputation, mission and/or interests” of the athletic department or the university.

The case against Green, meanwhile, is still ongoing. Green is accused of kissing an athletic department employee and trying to put his hand down her pants in March 2024, according to a complaint reviewed by ESPN.

The woman said she did not report the alleged incident at the time in part because of Green’s status. Green, who won NCAA championships as a player with the Gators in 2006 and 2007, joined the basketball staff in 2022 following a professional basketball career.

The woman told ESPN she came forward after Title IX investigators working on Golden’s case asked to interview her last fall about Golden’s interactions with female athletes. She said that inquiry made her realize there could be concerns about a pattern of behavior within the program.

It has been a good week for the 5th ranked Florida Gators and the cherry on top of the cake came on Saturday with a win over rival Georgia. Alijah Martin and Walter Clayton Jr. scored 17 points apiece, and No. 5 Florida dominated Georgia 89-59 on Saturday, extending the Gators’ winning streak in the series to 12.

It’s the longest streak by either team in the Southeastern Conference rivalry that began in 1923.

Meanwhile, other news from college basketball: Michigan State ascended to its highest ranking in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll this season on Monday with a move up one spot to No. 7 after another perfect week in Big Ten play. The Spartans went 2-0 on the week with wins over Illinois and Rutgers to improve to 8-0 in conference play. It is one of four remaining teams in the sport still unbeaten in league play along with Duke (ACC), Auburn (SEC) and Houston (Big 12).

The Spartans began the year unranked in the AP Top 25 poll but appeared in the rankings in Week 6 for the first time after an 8-2 start to the season which included wins over North Carolina, Minnesota and Nebraska at the time, and have steadily risen each of the last five weeks. They’ve yet to lose since Nov. 26 and own a 12-game winning streak in that span, tied for the second-longest active streak in college hoops. 

The team with the longest active winning streak, Duke, once again held steady at No. 2 in this week’s poll for a second consecutive week firmly entrenched still behind unanimous No. 1 Auburn. The Tigers earned all 62 available first-place votes for a second consecutive week, and the entire top-five remained unchanged behind the two as Iowa State, Alabama and Florida remained at Nos. 3-5.

AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking: