UConn AP WBB Poll Domination Continues With Final Vote

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru @BlueStarMedia1

The final vote for 2015-16 has been tallied in The Associated Press Women's Poll and at the same time the book closes on a now complete 40-year history of the rankings dating back to November, 1976.

Tennessee missed that first vote but made every final poll until now, with its streak stopped at 39, the same number of preseason votes the Lady Vols made into the start of this season.

There are many items of interest in the database, which the Guru will be trotting out as he navigates this blog and on behalf of Blue Star Media throughout the NCAA tournament and where possible local advancement in the WNIT.

Meanwhile just as UConn has taken over the second longest poll appearance streak and the top current one since Tennessee dropped out last month, here are some quick notes while updating the database this afternoon.

UConn has now been ranked in the  final poll 13 times well ahead of the 5 by Tennessee and Louisiana Tech, and the Huskies have appeared 23 straight times in the  final poll in the top 10, snapping the previous record held by the Lady Vols.

While UConn has finished No. 1 three straight times, four is still the record held by Texas, which with this vote becomes the third program to reach 500 appearances behind Tennessee and Georgia.

Stanford should hit the number early next year.

Oregon State topped last year's debut in the Top 10 of the final poll finishing sixth this time around.

Six teams in the preseason poll not at the finish were Tennessee (4), Duke (14), Northwestern (19), George Washington (21), North Carolina (22) and Chattanooga (25), though GW (Atlantic 10) and Chattanooga (Southern) made the NCAAs through conference titles and the Lady Vols' top schedule helped gain an at-large spot, though the seventh seed is lowest in the history of the program.

Hopefully this cuts and pastes OK, so here is the complete 40-year index of Final Polls with total appearances overall, as well as in the Top 10 , Top 5 and No. 1.

The Top 5s and No 1s are underneath. As you see the names you will notice Tennessee is not alone in terms of schools with past poll success that ran into difficulty this year, though at least the Lady Vols made the field unlike others down the list.

AP 40-Year Women's Basketball Poll Final Vote Indexes

Ranked			Top 10
Tennessee	39		Tennessee	35
Stanford	26		Connecticut	23
Texas	25		Louisiana Tech	23
Louisiana Tech	25		Stanford	20
Georgia	24		Duke	17
Connecticut	24		Maryland	16
Penn St.	23		Texas	14
Maryland	22		Georgia	12
North Caro. St.	21		Penn St.	12
North Caro.	21		Rutgers	12
Ohio St.	20		Old Dominion	11
LSU	20		Baylor	10
Duke	20		Long Beach St.	10
Purdue	19		Notre Dame	10
Old Dominion	18		Ohio St.	10
Virginia	17		Auburn	9
Vanderbilt	17		LSU	9
Rutgers	17		Iowa	7
Iowa	16		North Caro.	7
Baylor	16		Purdue	7
Texas Tech	15		Texas Tech	7
Notre Dame	15		Virginia	7
Mississippi U.	14		Southern Cal	6
Long Beach St.	14		Cheyney	5
Auburn	14		North Caro. St.	5
Steph. F. Austin	13		Oklahoma	5
UCLA	12		Steph. F. Austin	5
Texas A&M	12		Texas A&M	5
Southern Cal	12		UCLA	5
South Carolina	12		Vanderbilt	5
Oklahoma	12		Colorado	4
Iowa St.	12		Louisville	4
Kentucky	11		Mississippi U.	4
Kansas St.	11		South Carolina	4
Colorado	11		Iowa St.	3
Michigan St.	10		Kansas St.	3
Western Ky.	9		Wayland Baptist	3
Kansas	9		Western Ky.	3
Florida	9		Alabama	2
Louisville	8		Arizona St.	2
Clemson	8		California	2
Arizona St.	8		Delta St.	2
Alabama	8		Kentucky	2
Washington	7		Miami	2
Geo. Wash.	7		Montclair St.	2
Wis.-Green Bay	6		Oregon St,	2
Oregon St.	6		West Virginia	2
Minnesota	6		Xavier	2
Florida St.	6		Arizona	1
Cheyney	6		Arkansas	1
Xavier	5		Cal-St. Fullerton	1
West Virginia	5		Clemson	1
UNLV	5		Colorado St.	1
Oregon	5		Delaware	1
Oklahoma St.	5		DePaul	1
Northwestern	5		Florida	1
Nebraska	5		Florida St.	1
Miami	5		Houston	1
DePaul	5		Immaculata	1
California	5		Kansas	1
Boston College	5		La.-Monroe	1
Villanova	4		Michigan St.	1
UC Santa Barb.	4		Missouri St.	1
St. Joseph's	4		Nebraska	1
Missouri	4		Queens	1
Florida Intl.	4		St. Joseph's	1
Bowling Green	4		Tennessee Tech	1
Arkansas	4		UC Santa Barb.	1
Wayland Baptist	3		UNLV	1
Utah	3		Valdosta St.	1
Tulane	3		Washington	1
Montclair St.	3		Wis.-Green Bay	1
James Madison	3
Hawaii	3
Gonzaga	3
Georgetown	3
Colorado St.	3
Arizona	3
Wisconsin	2
Virginia Tech	2
Vermont	2
Valdosta St.	2
Tennessee Tech	2
Temple	2
TCU	2
Syracuse	2
Southern Miss.	2
Southern Ill.	2
Southern Conn.	2
South Florida	2
San Diego St.	2
Providence	2
Princeton	2
Northern Ill.	2
Montana	2
Missouri St.	2
Mississippi St.	2
.
Middle Tenn.	2
Memphis	2
Marquette	2
Marist	2
La.-Monroe	2
La Salle	2
Illinois	2
Houston	2
Georgia Tech	2
Drake	2
Delta St.	2
Delaware	2
Chattanooga	2
BYU	2
UTEP	1
Toledo	1
St. John's	1
St. Bonaventure	1
Southeast La.	1
South Dakota St.	1
Seton Hall	1
San Francisco	1
Queens	1
Pittsburgh	1
New Mexico St.	1
New Mexico	1
Mississippi Coll.	1
Michigan	1
Mercer	1
Lamar	1
Jackson St.	1
Immaculata	1
Illinois St.	1
Hartford	1
Fordham	1
Fla. Gulf Coast	1
Dayton	1
Creighton	1
Cincinnati	1
Central Mo.	1
Cal-St. Fullerton	1
Boise St.	1

	Top 5			Top 1
	Tennessee	27		Connecticut	13
	Connecticut	20		Louisiana Tech	5
	Louisiana Tech	17		Tennessee	5
	Stanford	16		Texas	4
	Texas	10		Baylor	2
	Old Dominion	9		Duke	2
	Baylor	8		Old Dominion	2
	Maryland	8		Delta St.	1
	Duke	7		North Caro.	1
	Notre Dame	7		Penn St.	1
	Georgia	6		Purdue	1
	North Caro.	6		Stanford	1
	Southern Cal	4		Vanderbilt	1
	Auburn	3		Virginia	1
	Cheyney	3
	LSU	3
	Penn St.	3
	Purdue	3
	South Carolina	3
	Steph. F. Austin	3
	Colorado	2
	Iowa	2
	Long Beach St.	2
	Ohio St.	2
	Oklahoma	2
	Texas Tech	2
	Vanderbilt	2
	Virginia	2
	Xavier	2
	Cal-St. Fullerton	1
	Delta St.	1
	Immaculata	1
	La.-Monroe	1
	Louisville	1
	Mississippi U.	1
	Montclair St.	1
	Nebraska	1
	North Caro. St.	1
	Rutgers	1
	St. Joseph's	1
	UCLA	1
	UNLV	1
	Washington	1
	Wayland Baptist	1
	Western Ky.	1