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Women's Basketball Returns to Top 25
11/29/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Associated Press
Duke, which returned just two starters from its 1999 Final Four team, lost in the second round of the preseason NIT. The Blue Devils then came back with victories over Vanderbilt, Florida A&M and then-No. 9 Penn State, the latter two in the Duke Classic. The Blue Devils dominated Penn State, winning 63-49.
Duke returned at No. 22 after being out for a week and no one dropped out. The poll has 26 teams because Virginia Tech tied Wisconsin for the final spot.
Connecticut, which has led the poll from the start, received a season-high 40 first-place votes and held a 47-point lead over No. 2 Georgia.
Georgia received three first-place votes from the national media panel, with No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Louisiana Tech each getting one. Connecticut had 1,116 points, Georgia 1,069, Tennessee 1,040 and Louisiana Tech 927.
Connecticut (4-0) looked to be in midseason form when it capped a stretch of three games in five days with a 101-58 rout of Pepperdine, its 100th victory in the last 102 games at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies had defeated then-No. 14 Old Dominion 109-66 two days earlier.
Losses by 10 ranked teams -- all to other members of the Top 25 -- triggered a realignment in the poll. Only Connecticut and No. 25 Wisconsin remained in the same spot they held last week.
Georgia (6-0), which beat Stephen F. Austin and Maine in a tournament at Maine after winning the preseason NIT, replaced Louisiana Tech at No. 2. Louisiana Tech, which slipped to fourth, was upset by Mississippi State but bounced back with lopsided wins over Southeast Missouri State and Weber State in Las Vegas.
Tennessee (3-1) climbed two spots to third after a West Coast trip that produced victories over Stanford and UCLA. UCLA, which started the week with an overtime victory over Texas, slipped one place to fifth.
North Carolina State (5-0) climbed from seventh to sixth after winning two games in Cancun, Mexico. It's the Wolfpack's highest ranking since they were sixth on Feb. 4, 1991. North Carolina State has moved up every week after starting the season at 20th.
Rutgers, Auburn, North Carolina and Illinois completed the Top 10.
Notre Dame fell five places to 11th after losing to Illinois. Then it was Iowa State, Oregon, Penn State and UC Santa Barbara, followed by Texas Tech, Purdue, Kansas, Old Dominion and Stanford.
Arizona was 21st, LSU 23rd and Boston College 24th.
Illinois made the biggest jump, going from 15th to 10th. The Illini beat Boston College 73-42 in the consolation game of the NIT, then knocked off Duquesne and Notre Dame. They have a big challenge coming up Tuesday night at Connecticut.
Losses in the final two rounds of the NIT sent Boston College from 18th to 24th, the biggest drop in the poll.
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