UConn tops women’s poll for 32nd week

Connecticut showed there’s still a huge gap between its program and the rest of the Top 25.

UConn beat second-ranked Stanford by 12 points recently in a game that wasn’t that close, keeping the Huskies as the top choice in The Associated Press poll for the 32nd straight week on Monday.

“They are definitely head and shoulders above us and play at a different pace,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer after the loss to UConn.

Stanford fell from being an unanimous No. 2, but still remained 19 points ahead of third-ranked Notre Dame. Tennessee and Baylor rounded out the top five.

UConn received all 40 first-place votes from the national media panel and moved within four of the all-time record of 36 consecutive weeks at No. 1 set by Louisiana Tech from 1980-82.

Despite the loss to UConn, the Cardinal still were No. 2 in the Top 25. It’s only the fifth time in the history of the poll that the second-ranked team remained in place after losing to the No. 1 team. The feat last occurred in 2007 when then-No. 1 Duke beat second-ranked North Carolina.

It’s never happened in the men’s Top 25 and only five times in the college football poll.

With most teams taking a break for the holidays, the only changes in the poll were a flip between Nebraska and Oklahoma for 13th and 14th and a switch at 18 and 19 between Vanderbilt and Arizona State. Eleven of the Top 25 teams had the week off and none of the schools that played had more than one game. The Stanford-UConn game last Wednesday was the only contest that involved two ranked teams.

Ohio State was sixth followed by North Carolina, Duke, Georgia and Texas A&M. It was only the sixth time since the poll was taken over by sports writers in 1994-95 that the top 10 remained constant for consecutive weeks.

LSU, Florida State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Xavier were the next five. The Musketeers host LSU on Wednesday. Michigan State was 16th followed by Texas, Vanderbilt, Arizona State and Pittsburgh.

Kansas, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Virginia, Georgia Tech and James Madison rounded out the Top 25. It was the second straight week that no team dropped out of the poll.