Geno Auriemma broke a tie with Tara VanDerveer for most appearances by a coach on the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Top 25 on Monday when UConn was once again unanimously No. 1.
Auriemma earned the Huskies’ rankings for the 655th time. UConn was at the top of all 31 NIC ballots. The Huskies (29-0) are the last undefeated team in Division I basketball and have won 45 straight games dating back to last season.
The top five teams remained unchanged in the seedings this week, with UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Vanderbilt trailing the Huskies.
The rest of the top 10 changed hands as Michigan, Louisville, Duke and Ohio State all lost games last week.
LSU moved up one spot to No. 6 with the Oklahoma Sooners jumping four spots to No. 7. Michigan fell two spots to eighth and Iowa to ninth. The Hawkeyes moved up four spots after beating the Wolverines on Sunday. Louisville was 10th.
Duke, which ended its 17-game winning streak on Sunday with a loss to Clemson, fell to 12th place, and Ohio State ranked 13th.
Landing Lady Vols
Tennessee dropped out of the ballot for the first time this season after losing last week to Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. The Lady Vols dropped seven of nine games for the first time in school history. Tennessee is ranked in the last 31 polls.
“We’ve been through a really tough stretch,” coach Kim Caldwell said after Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma. “You just have to be honest with your team, and they can handle it or they can’t. And sometimes honesty isn’t good and sometimes honesty is good.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Vols with regular season games remaining against LSU and Vanderbilt.
Welcome back
Princeton re-entered the poll this week at No. 25. The Tigers (21-3) fell last week after losing to Columbia on Feb. 13. The Lions have beaten the Tigers twice this season, with Princeton’s other loss coming to No. 14 Maryland.
Mr. Conference
The SEC remained the No. 1 conference with nine teams in the poll. The Big Ten is next with seven. The Big 12 has four teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference has three teams, and the Ivy League and Big East each have one team.
Games of the week
No. 8 Michigan at No. 13 Ohio State, Wednesday. The two rivals meet with Big Ten Conference seeding on the line. The Wolverines lost their final game, falling to then-No. 13 Iowa on Sunday. The Buckeyes have lost two of their last three games.
No. 12 Duke at No. 21 North Carolina, Sunday. The Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels in the first meeting earlier this month and will look to wrap up the ACC regular season title with another victory.
