How Lady Vols writer Cora Hall voted in the AP Top 25: Why Tennessee jumped to No. 5

There were a number of great matchups this week across the board, but I am going to start with the biggest move in my rankings this week: Tennessee.

I put Tennessee at No. 5 on my ballot this week. The Lady Vols have slowly climbed my rankings in the beginning of the season, but after this week, they made it into my top five. I've been wanting to see more offensive depth against a quality opponent, and I got it with the 64-58 win over Virginia Tech Sunday.

Jordan Walker and Sara Puckett leading the scoring against a really good Virginia Tech team, along with Tamari Key's consistency, is what Tennessee needs. They can't put all their hopes on Jordan Horston scoring over 20 points a game – it's not sustainable for any player. But Tennessee has shown a very balanced offense and now has wins over Texas, South Florida and Virginia Tech.

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At 8-0, Tennessee has a better record and more ranked wins than Maryland, Indiana, Baylor and Louisville. So, to No. 5 they go.

The rest of my top five was undefeated this week (except Stanford, who did not play). Maryland went 2-0 and are at No. 6 for me.

Iowa dropped a few spots with a 79-64 loss to unranked Duke – speaking of the Blue Devils, a great win for them and at 8-0, they're in my ballot this week at No. 20. I have been keeping my eye on former Lady Vol Kara Lawson's team, and with a high-ranked upset, Duke makes its first appearance on my ballot.

But also, before we are done with Iowa – Caitlin Clark recorded her third triple-double against Michigan State Sunday. She's only the second player in Iowa history to do so, and Lisa Bluder won her 800th game.

Texas continues to impress, going 2-0 this week with a solid 76-60 win over Texas A&M – the Longhorns only loss remains to Tennessee.

Another newcomer to my ballot this week – Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers. At 6-1, LSU's only loss is to Florida Gulf Coast (who's been ranked or just outside the AP Top 25 all season). With the 69-60 upset over No. 14 Iowa State this week, LSU makes an appearance at No. 23.

Oregon fell out of my ballot this week after dropping to 4-3. I didn't see this start coming for the Ducks, who have lost both their ranked matchups and got upset by unranked UC Davis this week. Granted one of Oregon's ranked losses was to South Carolina, but the only other three-loss team I have in my Top 25 is South Florida – who has single-digit losses to UConn and Tennessee.

The last piece of news I want to mention is in UConn's 73-54 win over Notre Dame Sunday, Paige Bueckers went down in the last minute of the game from what the staff is hoping is just a hyperextended knee. UConn was up by 19 with 38 seconds to go when she got injured, so there have been many well-deserved questions about why Geno Auriemma kept her in. His full answer is in the tweet below.

With that, here is my AP Top 25 ballot:

1. South Carolina

2. NC State

3. UConn

4. Stanford

5. Tennessee

6. Maryland

7. Indiana

8. Baylor

9. Louisville

10. Arizona

11. Iowa

12. Texas

13. Michigan

14. South Florida

15. Kentucky

16. BYU

17. Ohio State

18. Iowa State

19. Georgia

20. Duke

21. Texas A&M

22. Notre Dame

23. LSU

24. Georgia Tech

25. Florida Gulf Coast

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women's athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee is at No. 5 in Lady Vols writer Cora Hall's AP Top 25