UConn went to California and blew out USC to keep its undefeated season intact and maintain its hold on the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll released Monday.
The Huskies received 24 first-place votes from a 32-member national media panel. UConn has now been ranked 646 weeks in the poll to tie Stanford for third most in the 50-year history of the poll, trailing only Tennessee (801 appearances) and Texas (649).
The second-ranked Longhorns garnered the other eight first-place ballots. South Carolina, UCLA and LSU remained the next three teams in the poll.
Michigan was sixth with Maryland seventh. Oklahoma flipped places with TCU to move up to eighth after beating rival Oklahoma State last week. Iowa State rounded out the top 10. The Cyclones beat in-state rival Iowa 74-69 last week. The Hawkeyes remained 11th.
Louisville made the biggest jump this week, climbing six spots to No. 16 after an overtime victory over then-No. 12 North Carolina on Sunday. The Tar Heels fell six places to 18th.
In and out
Princeton moved in to the poll at No. 25 as the Tigers earned a ranking at least once in four of the past five seasons. Carla Berube’s squad has only lost once this season (Maryland). The Tigers replaced Oklahoma State, which fell out.
Conference supremacy
The Big Ten once again had nine teams in the poll while the Southeastern Conference was next with eight. The Big 12 and ACC each had three. The Big East and Ivy each have one ranked team.
Games of the week
The second annual women’s Champions Classic will take place in New York on Saturday with No. 17 Tennessee playing No. 16 Louisville in the opener and top-ranked UConn facing No. 11 Iowa in the second game of the doubleheader. The women’s doubleheader started last season. These two games are the only ones between ranked teams this week.
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