Old Dominion Moves Up In Poll

Feb. 18, 2002

By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer

Connecticut held its familiar place as the unanimous No. 1 and Cincinnatimade it as the only newcomer Monday in the AP women's basketball poll.

Oklahoma returned to the No. 3 spot it held earlier in the season, which hadbeen the highest the Sooners had ever been ranked. Tennessee slipped onespot to fourth losing at home to Texas.

Connecticut (27-0), closing in on its eighth 30-win season in the last nineyears, received all 44 first-place votes from a national media panel toremain unanimous at No. 1 for the seventh straight week.

The Huskies, who beat Syracuse 85-55 in their only game last week, have ledthe poll all season. They have three regular-season games left.

Cincinnati (21-4), which has won eight straight, replaced Wisconsin at No.25 and is looking for a longer stay than the last time it was ranked.

The Bearcats started 11-0 and joined the poll at No. 25 on Dec. 31. But theylost their next two games and fell out the following week.

Connecticut had 1,100 points in the voting, Stanford (26-1) remained secondwith 1,044 and Oklahoma (22-2) was next with 1,014. The Sooners have woneight in a row since a Jan. 15 loss at Iowa State and have clinched at leasta share of their third straight Big 12 title.

Tennessee (22-3) dropped to fourth after a difficult week that had the LadyVols playing three games in five days. They lost to Texas by three, won bytwo at Mississippi State, then avenged an earlier loss by beating No. 6Vanderbilt.

Duke stayed at No. 5 and Vanderbilt, which beat LSU before losing toTennessee, remained sixth. Louisiana Tech climbed one spot to seventh andwas followed by Purdue, Baylor and South Carolina.

Colorado climbed two places to 11th and Kansas State held at No. 12. Then itwas Iowa State, Minnesota, Texas and Florida, followed by Texas Tech, OldDominion, North Carolina and Colorado State.

Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati held thefinal five spots.

Wisconsin (17-8), which had been ranked since the second poll of the season,dropped out after splitting two games. The Badgers beat Northwestern tobreak a six-game losing streak, then lost to Texas Tech 78-62.

There was only minor movement within the poll.

Texas lost to Baylor after beating Tennessee, but still went from 18th to15th for the biggest jump. Baylor also beat Texas A&M and climbed from 11thto ninth.

Iowa State and Colorado State both lost to unranked teams on the road anddropped three places. Iowa State lost 64-63 to Oklahoma State on a shot with3.8 seconds left. Colorado State lost to UNLV 71-59.

Oklahoma State also upset Texas Tech last week. The two victories came afterthe university announced it would not keep Dick Halterman as coach nextseason.

The Women's Top Twenty Five

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll,with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 17, total pointsbased on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-placevote and previous ranking

Others receiving votes: Arizona St. 47, George Washington 37, TCU 37,Penn St. 32, LSU 31, UNLV 30, Fla. International 29, Mississippi St. 24,Wisconsin 22, New Mexico 8, Washington 8, Arkansas 7, Iowa 6, Creighton 1,Drake 1, Toledo 1.