Connecticut's AP Women's Poll Dominance Also Marked in 30-Year Era of Huskies Coach Geno Auriemma

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

HARTFORD, Conn. -- On Monday night following another wipeout courtesy of top-ranked Connecticut, this one over Kansas State in a nonconference game here in the XL Center, the Huskies' off-campus primary home court, there was time for some more reflection with the occasion also being the 30th anniversary of Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma's first game as head coach of the women's basketball dominant power..

While much of the focus continues to be on the 10 NCAA championships that has Auriemma tops in the women's game and tied overall with the late John Wooden at UCLA, another item that is remarkable is how in those three decades UConn has managed to catch up and move ahead of almost every team that has appeared in the Associated Press women's poll, which got its start 13 years earlier at the outset of the 1976-77 season.

Here first is a look at the schools that had made the most appearances prior to Connecticut's first ranking, which occurred on Feb. 14, 1990.

UConn became the 100th team to enter the poll that week so here is a look at total appearances through the week by the heavy hitters of the day among those 99 teams prior to the Huskies' arrival when their number was still zero in all categories.

Incidentally, the Huskies are also now the only team to be in the top five and top ten categories in all 111 weeks of the current decade through Monday's poll, which in year 40 was the 694th vote.

AP Total Appearances Prior to UConn's Arrival

1 - 214 Texas

2 - 209 Tennessee

3 - 203 Louisiana Tech

4 - 198 Long Beach State

5 - 182 North Carolina State

6 - 179 Maryland

7 - 165 Old Dominion

8 - 159 Rutgers

9 - 145 Georgia

10 - 142 Mississippi

11 - 135 Southern Cal

12 - 131 Auburn

13 - 126 Penn State

14 - 117 Stephen F. Austin

15 - 113 Virginia

16 - 110 LSU

17 - 102 Cheyney

18 - 88 Ohio State

19 - 87 Kentucky

20 - 85 UCLA

21 - 78 Iowa

22 - 67 Kansas State

23 - 64 Kansas

24 - 58 Iowa

25 - 46 Stanford

And the All-Time Appearance List As it Appears Right Now

Tennessee	680
Georgia	522
Texas	484
Stanford	479
Connecticut	448
Louisiana Tech	447
Maryland	421
North Caro.	413
Duke	407
Penn St.	405
Rutgers	369
LSU	368
Purdue	363
Vanderbilt	351
North Caro. St.	337
Virginia	328
Auburn	319
Notre Dame	296
Ohio St.	296
Old Dominion	294
Texas Tech	278
Baylor	265
Oklahoma	247
Iowa	242
Mississippi U.	226
Long Beach St.	222
Southern Cal	203
Kentucky	201
Steph. F. Austin	198
Kansas	194
Texas A&M	196
South Carolina	191
Colorado	183
UCLA	179
Western Ky.	178
Kansas St.	158
Iowa St.	153
DePaul	149
Clemson	145
Michigan St.	144
Washington	136
Alabama	133
Arizona St.	133
Florida	132
Nebraska	122
Louisville	121
California	120
Geo. Wash.	119
Oklahoma St.	117
UNLV	115
Arkansas	110
Cheyney	102
Florida St.	97
Minnesota	96
Boston College	87
Wisconsin	85
Oregon	84
West Virginia	78
Northwestern	73
Mississippi St.	68
Arizona	65
Wis.-Green Bay	65
Xavier	65
Illinois	63
Miami	62
Missouri	61
Oregon St.	58
St. Joseph's	57
UC Santa Barb.	54
Missouri St.	53
Utah	52
Georgetown	50
Hawaii	47
Virginia Tech	45
Delta St.	44
Villanova	44
James Madison	43
Memphis	43
Wayland Baptist	43
Syracuse	42
San Diego St.	41
Gonzaga	40
TCU	38
Colorado St.	36
Georgia Tech	36
St. John's	36
Tennessee Tech	36
Tulane	35
Montclair St.	34
Pittsburgh	34
Florida Intl.	33
Houston	33
La.-Monroe	31
New Mexico	29
Southern Miss.	27
Valdosta St.	27
Delaware	26
Queens	26
Temple	26
Marquette	25
Providence	25
Seton Hall	24
Montana	23
Bowling Green	22
Dayton	22
BYU	21
Southern Conn.	20
Immaculata	18
Middle Tenn.	18
Detroit	17
Northern Ill.	17
Southern Ill.	17
Michigan	15
Chattanooga	14
Mercer	14
Vermont	14
Marist	13
San Francisco	13
Wyoming	13
Princeton	12
Cal-St. Fullerton	11
Drake	11
South Dakota St.	11
Boise St.	10
Cincinnati	10
Mississippi Coll.	10
La Salle	9
Illinois St.	8
Lamar	7
New Mexico St.	6
St. Bonaventure	6
UTEP	6
William Penn	6
Cal Poly, Pomona	5
East Carolina	5
South Florida	5
St. Peter's	5
Toledo	5
Wake Forest	5
Fla. Gulf Coast	4

And Here Were The Top 10 Teams (58) Before UConn's 1st  on Dec. 14, 1993. 1 - 222 Tennessee 2 - 209 Louisiana Tech 3 - 166 Long Beach St. 4 - 129 Georgia 4 - 129 Old Dominion 6 - 181 Texas 7 - 119 Maryland 8 - 108 Auburn 8 - 108 Rutgers 10 - 105 Virginia 11 - 104 N.C. State 12 - 97 Southern Cal 13 - 89 Stanford 14 - 85 Iowa 15 - 79 Steph. F. Austin 16 - 73 Cheyney 17 - 69 Penn State 18 - 59 LSU 19 - 48 UCLA 20 - 45 Ohio State 21 - 42 Purdue And Here Are Today's All-Time Top 10 Tennessee 604 Connecticut 400 Stanford 377 Louisiana Tech 373 Duke 273 Georgia 269 Maryland 251 Texas 236 North Caro. 204 Baylor 190 Rutgers 190 Notre Dame 187 Old Dominion 180 Penn St. 171 LSU 167 Long Beach St. 166 Virginia 154 Purdue 147 Texas Tech 135 North Caro. St. 134 Ohio St. 134 Auburn 133 Southern Cal 110 Vanderbilt 110 Iowa 108 Mississippi U. 94 Kentucky 81 Steph. F. Austin 79 UCLA 79 Oklahoma 78 Cheyney 73 Texas A&M 67 South Carolina 66 Louisville 64 Kansas St. 55 Colorado 54 California 43 Iowa St. 42 Wayland Baptist 37 Western Ky. 37 Alabama 35 Kansas 34 Delta St. 31 Xavier 31 UNLV 29 Arkansas 24 La.-Monroe 24 Miami 23 Washington 23 Montclair St. 22 West Virginia 20 Arizona St. 19 Florida 19 Michigan St. 19 Florida St. 15 Minnesota 14 Oregon St. 14 Arizona 13 Colorado St. 12 Immaculata 12 Queens 12 St. Joseph's 12 Geo. Wash. 11 Illinois 11 Cal-St. Fullerton 9 Nebraska 9 Oregon 9 Tennessee Tech 9 DePaul 7 Missouri 7 Wisconsin 7 Delaware 5 Mississippi Coll. 5 Missouri St. 4 UC Santa Barb. 4 Wis.-Green Bay 4 Clemson 3 Mississippi St. 3 Northwestern 3 Memphis 2 Oklahoma St. 2 San Diego St. 2 Virginia Tech 2 William Penn 2 Georgetown 1 Houston 1 Mercer 1 Southern Conn. 1 Valdosta St. 1 Here Are The Best of 40 All-Time Top 5 Prior to UConn on Dec. 21, 1993 1 - 179 Louisiana Tech 2 - 168 Tennessee 3 - 128 Texas 4 - 96 Old Dominion 5 - 78 Georgia 6 - 72 Southern Cal 7 - 65 Auburn 8 - 60 Long Beach St. 9 - 52 Virginia 10 - 50 Stanford 11 - 47 Iowa 12 - 43 Maryland 13 - 42 Steph. F. Austin 14 - 33 Rutgers 15 - 28 N.C. State 16 - 25 Cheyney 17 - 23 Vanderbilt 18 - 20 Penn State 19 - 19 Mississippi And Here Are Today's Top 5 All-Time Tennessee 464 Connecticut 356 Louisiana Tech 279 Stanford 236 Duke 168 Texas 167 Georgia 145 Old Dominion 131 Notre Dame 118 North Caro. 110 Maryland 104 Baylor 96 Southern Cal 74 LSU 73 Auburn 69 Long Beach St. 60 Virginia 57 Iowa 54 Rutgers 50 Vanderbilt 45 Penn St. 43 Oklahoma 42 Steph. F. Austin 42 Purdue 38 South Carolina 38 Ohio St. 36 North Caro. St. 34 Cheyney 25 Wayland Baptist 23 Colorado 22 Delta St. 22 Texas Tech 22 Louisville 19 Mississippi U. 19 Texas A&M 17 La.-Monroe 16 UCLA 16 Kansas St. 15 Xavier 14 UNLV 13 Kansas 11 Immaculata 10 Kentucky 10 Western Ky. 10 Iowa St. 9 Alabama 8 Cal-St. Fullerton 7 Nebraska 7 California 5 Colorado St. 5 Washington 5 Montclair St. 3 Wisconsin 2 Florida 1 Illinois 1 Miami 1 St. Joseph's 1 Tennessee Tech 1 West Virginia 1 Finally, The 16 No. 1s before UConn on Jan. 17, 1995 1 - 69 Louisiana Tech 2 - 63 Tennessee 3 - 45 Texas 4 - 34 Old Dominion 5 - 24 Virginia 6 - 16 Southern Cal 7 - 12 Auburn 8 - 9 Wayland Baptist 9 - 8 Iowa 10 - 6 Penn State 10 - 6 Vanderbilt 12 - 5 Delta State 13 - 4 LSU 13 - 4 Maryland 15 - 2 Georgia 16 - 1 Stanford And Today's AP All-Time No. 1s. Connecticut 187 Tennessee 112 Louisiana Tech 83 Texas 47 Baylor 39 Duke 34 Old Dominion 34 Virginia 24 Southern Cal 16 LSU 15 Stanford 15 Maryland 14 South Carolina 12 Auburn 11 Wayland Baptist 9 Iowa 8 Penn St. 6 Vanderbilt 6 Delta St. 5 Georgia 5 North Caro. 5 Notre Dame 5 Purdue 4
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