For the first time in 21 years, Texas basketball is the No. 1 team in the nation, with the AP Poll minting the Longhorns as the fourth top-ranked NCAA team of the season on Monday.

"I'm so happy for my kids, they’ve earned where they are today," Texas head coach Vic Schaefer told the AP ahead of his team’s resounding 57-26 win over unranked Georgia on Monday. "There's so much parity in the game right now."

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The Longhorns’ leap comes after then-No. 1 Notre Dame’s double-overtime loss to NC State on Sunday, a result that sent the Irish falling to No. 3 in the rankings. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, earned one of the week's biggest boosts due to the marquee win, jumping four spots to No. 9.

After spending 12 weeks at No. 1 before now-No. 4 USC snapped a school-record 23-game unbeaten streak earlier this month, UCLA also benefitted from Notre Dame’s slip-up, rising one spot to sit at No. 2.

Along with reigning champion No. 6 South Carolina, who began the 2024/25 NCAA season as the No. 1 team, there have now been four squads atop this season's AP Polls. There have never been more than four to reach that summit in the survey’s history.

Small shifts litter Monday's AP Top 25

Similar to the minor changes in the Top 3, the Poll’s remaining 22 teams saw mostly incremental shifts as the final 2024/25 NCAA regular-season weekend looms.

ACC standouts No. 24 Florida State and No. 25 Louisville re-entered the rankings this week after snagging upset victories over then-No. 20 Georgia Tech and then-No. 11 Duke, respectively. As a result, the now-unranked Yellow Jackets joined Illinois in exiting this week's poll.

The Blue Devils saw the biggest drop after their loss to the Cardinals, falling five spots to No. 16, while last week's upset loss to unranked Indiana sent Ohio State down four spots this week to No. 12.

How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball games this week

With most major regular-season conference titles boiling down to this final week of play, some of the fiercest matchups are on deck this week.

The top two teams in three major conferences will fight for trophies and postseason seeding this week, with the Big East's No. 5 UConn hosting No. 22 Creighton at 7 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on CBS Sports Network.

Then on Saturday, a No. 4 USC vs. No. 2 UCLA rematch will decide the Big Ten at 9 PM ET, with live coverage on Fox.

Sunday will see the Big 12 crown their season champion after No. 17 Baylor battles No. 10 TCU for the honor at 6:30 PM ET, airing live on FS1.

AP College Basketball Top 25: Week 17

1. Texas (27-2, SEC)
2. UCLA (26-1, Big Ten)
3. Notre Dame (24-3, ACC)
4. USC (25-2, Big Ten)
5. UConn (26-3, Big East)
6. South Carolina (25-3, SEC)
7. LSU (27-2, SEC)
8. North Carolina (25-4, ACC)
9. NC State (22-5, ACC)
10. TCU (26-3, Big 12)
11. Tennessee (21-6, SEC)
12. Ohio State (23-4, Big Ten)
13. Oklahoma (21-6, SEC)
14. Kansas State (25-5, Big 12)
15. Kentucky (21-5, SEC)
16. Duke (21-7, ACC)
17. Baylor (25-5, Big 12)
18. West Virginia (21-6, Big 12)
19. Maryland (21-6, Big Ten)
20. Alabama (22-6, SEC)
21. Oklahoma State (22-5, Big 12)
22. Creighton (23-4, Big East)
23. Michigan State (20-7, Big Ten)
24. Florida State (22-6, ACC)
25. Louisville (19-8, ACC)

The first matchday of the 2025 UEFA Nations League tournament saw a few regional heavy-hitters shaking off the dust on Friday, with reigning Euros champs England settling for a 1-1 draw against Portugal while perennial contenders Germany similarly split points with the Netherlands after a 2-2 result.

Snagging an early lead for the Lionesses was forward Alessia Russo, who slotted in a ball from right-back Lucy Bronze in the match's 15th minute.

Unfortunately for England, however, Portugal extended their undefeated streak to 11 games after attacking midfielder Kika Nazareth scored a top-corner equalizer at the 75th minute mark to clinch the draw.

Germany and the Netherlands, who claimed third- and fourth-place, respectively, in the tournament's inaugural 2023/24 edition, opened their 2025 campaigns with a back-and-forth battle on Friday.

After Dutch star Lineth Beerensteyn opened scoring by nutmegging German net-minder and 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year Ann-Katrin Berger in the 13th minute, Germany closed out the first half with an extra-time header from Lea Schüller to level the score.

The second half saw the Germans pull ahead thanks to a 50th-minute strike from Sjoeke Nüsken, before Beerensteyn again broke through with the match's final goal in the 66th minute.

After the match, new head coach Christian Wück, who took over the German team last March, told reporters, "We need to learn to maintain our focus, especially after taking the lead. It’s frustrating to draw after putting in such strong efforts."

Reigning champion Spain rallies for late comeback victory

Draws aside, defending Nations League winners Spain earned perhaps the wildest victory of the opening matchday, surging back from a 2-0 deficit against Belgium to claim all three points in a 3-2 finish.

The 2023 World Cup champions fell behind early after striker Mariam Toloba gave Belgium the edge in the game's 18th minute. Forward Tessa Wullaert doubled that lead in the 72nd minute, seemingly putting an emphatic end to Spain's hopes of a victory.

Clàudia Pina clawed one back for La Roja just five minutes later, but it took a pair of stoppage-time goals from Lucía García and late call-up Cristina Martín-Prieto to secure the literal last-second win.

Nations League to set up UEFA's 2027 World Cup qualifying

Established in 2022, the Women’s Nations League is now the continent’s qualifying tournament for the Euros, World Cup, and Olympics.

With records wiped following last year’s rollercoaster Olympic qualifiers, early Nations League matches now serve as a key window into the fast-approaching 2025 Euros — in addition to a heated competition in their own right.

On top of that, the outcome of this second-ever edition of the contest will determine teams' positioning for the 2026 European qualifiers for World Cup. Put simply, the finishing spots teams snag after 2025 Nations League play will determine their league paths to claiming one of UEFA's 11 available spots in the 2027 World Cup.

While there's a lot on the line, there's also a significant amount of action still to come. With four teams in each League A group, squads will play three round-robin home-and-away fixtures to determine their final group-play standings — meaning each of Friday's games have a rematch on the calendar before the stage ends on June 3rd.

The winners of the four League A groups will ultimately meet in the two-leg Nations League semifinals in October, with the two-leg third-place play-off and a final set for November and December.

WNBA roster transactions have officially revved back up, with the Washington Mystics sending two-time All-Star guard Ariel Atkins to the Chicago Sky over the weekend. In exchange, the Mystics will receive the No. 3 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft — putting Washington in control of the April 14th Draft's third, fourth, and sixth picks.

Even more, the Mystics snagged both a 2027 second-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick swap while Chicago immediately rosters the Mystic’s last-remaining 2019 title-winner.

Atkins, who has spent her entire seven-year WNBA career with Washington, exits as the Mystics all-time three-point shooter with 397 shots drained from beyond the arc. She also ranks in the franchise's Top 5 for career steals, points, assists, field goals, free throws, and minutes played.

"Ariel has made a tremendous impact on this league since her rookie year," Chicago GM Jeff Pagliocca said in a team statement.

"As one of the league’s top defensive specialists and a consistent scorer, she is a threat on both ends of the floor who will help us build a playoff-contending team in Chicago."

WNBA trades showcase veteran vs. rookie roster decisions

With headline-making trades dominating the WNBA's news cycle and a game-changing CBA on the horizon, teams across the league have been weighing the potential upside of a high draft pick with speeding up postseason ambitions via a more experienced roster.

Chicago's move to acquire Atkins lends itself toward the latter, with the Sky seemingly aiming to pair the productive guard with the return of star Angel Reese to the lineup.

Washington, on the other hand, has racked up significant power in both this year's draft and future draws from the collegiate and international talent pools, perhaps signaling a more long-term development strategy.

Some squads, however, are attempting to do both. Seattle, for example, currently owns the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, yet the Storm still beefed up their roster by signing veteran forward Katie Lou Samuelson last week, after she mutually parted ways with the Indiana Fever.

Teams shooting for deep 2025 runs are now facing a key decision: Are they building toward the future, or is the future now?

For the second straight week, NCAA basketball saw its No. 1 team humbled, as top-ranked Notre Dame fell to No. 13 NC State in Sunday's 104-95 double-overtime thriller.

NC State’s guards led the pack, with sophomore Zoe Brooks topping the scoresheet with a 33-point, 10-rebound double-double. Wolfpack seniors backed her up with Aziaha James contributing 20 points and star Saniya Rivers posting a near triple-double.

"We just kept fighting. We wanted to win this game really bad, and we did everything we could to win," Brooks told reporters after the game.

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NC State breaks 19-game Notre Dame winning streak

As for the Irish, senior guard Sonia Citron played hero at the end of regulation, draining a clutch three-pointer to force the first overtime period.

Unfortunately, however, Notre Dame couldn’t execute at the end to hold off the Wolfpack’s upset campaign. Despite sophomore star Hannah Hidalgo finishing the game with a team-leading 26 points, she began to fade down the stretch, eventually fouling out without a single overtime score contribution.

The loss snapped Notre Dame's 19-game winning streak, and will likely cost the Irish their No. 1 spot in this week’s AP Poll as a result — setting the stage for a possible fourth top-ranked team this season.

Parity takes the spotlight as NCAA basketball season wraps up

The last time four different DI women's basketball teams laid claim to the No. 1 spot in a single season was during the 2020/21 NCAA campaign. That's when South Carolina, Louisville, UConn, and eventual champions Stanford each spent time atop the AP Poll.

No season has featured more than four total No. 1 teams since the 1976 inception of the AP Top 25.

That said, the NCAA’s biggest defining factor this season has undoubtedly been parity, making each game — and poll spot — anyone's to grab.

With the win-or-go-home reality of March fast approaching, a number of talented teams are able to pull off upsets at any given time. Therefore, there's almost zero room for error left for title contenders, as a single mishap will send even top squads packing once the Madness tips off.

The USWNT remains unbeaten in 2025 after holding off Australia 2-1 to secure their second SheBelieves Cup win on Sunday.

Veteran forward Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams) opened scoring less than one minute into the match, giving the relatively inexperienced US starting roster an early edge. Sealing the win was second-half substitute Michelle Cooper, who notched her first-ever international goal in just her second USWNT cap.

However, the US weathered continuous pressure from the Matildas, with late sub Michelle Heyman exploiting a defensive hole in transition to head in an 80th-minute goal — Australia's only shot on target all match.

"We played a high quality team, a very experienced team, so for our players to produce a result like that is a really healthy indicator of our program and the talent pool that we have available to us," USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said after the game.

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11 fresh USWNT faces tapped for SheBelieves matchup

The US swapped out their entire starting XI from Thursday’s opening win over Colombia in Sunday's match — the first time the team has rotated all 11 players between games since 2000.

As the team’s new-look roster continues to take shape, 19-year-old midfielder Claire Hutton earned her first USWNT cap and start in the victory. Meanwhile, fellow 19-year-old Gisele Thompson, who snagged her first senior team minutes as a late substitute last Thursday, banked her first USWNT start.

Hutton is now the 15th player to make her USWNT debut since Hayes was handed the squad's reins in May 2024, putting the manager's commitment to developing roster depth on full display. To that end, Sunday's initial lineup also boasted six starters with less than five senior team caps.

How to watch USWNT vs. Japan in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup final

The 10th edition of the SheBelieves Cup will wrap up on Wednesday, when the world No. 1 USWNT will take on No. 8 Japan in a winner-take-all final.

With the Nadeshiko's explosive offense giving them a significant advantage over the US in goal differential, the USWNT must defeat Japan to lift their eighth all-time SheBelieves Cup — a draw would grant Japan a first-ever trophy in the annual tournament.

Wednesday's final will kick off at San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium at 10:30 PM ET, with live coverage across TBS, Max, and Peacock.