Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Guru’s AP WBB Poll Triva: Historic Highs and Lows in Preseason Vote

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The Associated Press Women’s Basketball Poll launching the 2019-20 season and released at noon Wednesday from the organization’s New York headquarters can be called one of the more significant ones of the entire 769 weekly rankings dating to November, 1976.

 

That’s when the first one was birthed out of The Philadelphia Inquirer in the nation’s bicentennial city that year initially as a Top 20 list until the rankings expanded in the early 1990s to a Top 25.

 

 Coaches made up the voting panel through 1993-94 and then It became determined by a media representative panel.

 

The 28 members who have produced the 44th preseason rankings have made it historical as a new breed has broken through to reach the top while several traditional powers have been removed from what  have been the loftiest of heights.

 

For the first time ever in both the preseason and overall voting Oregon is No. 1 coming a year after starting third which was the first time the Ducks had ever landed inside the penthouse district of the Top 5.

 

Oregon is the third Pac-12 team to reach No. 1 behind Stanford and Southern Cal, though the Trojans in the Cheryl Miller era of the 1980s played in another conference prior to what was then the Pac-10 opening up competition for women several years after the NCAA began women’s championship events in 1981-82. 

 

Meanwhile, Tennessee, which missed the very first poll, had not been absent from any preseason tally in the ensuing 42 since then until Wednesday. The Lady Vols were in the 11th spot a year ago.

 

Another giant that toppled from the heights though still hanging on is Notre Dame which claimed the No. 1 spot 12 months ago on the heels of the Irish’s second national title

 

 However, after barely missing a chance to take Baylor into overtime to continue to attenpt to add a second straight trophy, Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw lost all five starters to graduation and the WNBA draft.

 

Ranked 16th following the previous launch position makes it the deepest plunge any team has taken between the two preseason rankings.

 

As for Connecticut, the record 11-time NCAA champs who own almost all the AP Poll glamor achievements, including a dominant total of 242 No. 1 rankings to Tennessee’s runner-up total of 112, find themselves in a spot that would thrill almost anyone else.

 

But not necessarily the Huskies, who are still in the Top 5 but in the last berth of that group at fifth, the lowest start since being ranked eighth at the outset of the 2006-07 season. 

 

In the 13 initial voting totals since then UConn was fourth in the 2011-12 preseason poll and no lower than third through the new preseason ranking.

 

Starting fifth is precarious from a stat standpoint in that the Huskies with what are now 186 straight appearances in a subset are the only team to be no lower than fifth the entire decade, which also makes then perfect in Top 10 totals.

 

The only other time since well into the previous decade the Huskies hit fifth was near the end of last season. There are eight more polls until January when the first rollout of the new 2020 decade balloting begins.

 

This is Connecticut’s 490th straight ranking.

 

Notre Dame’s plunge from an overall perspective snaps a streak of 163 straight Top 10 rankings dating to holding 11thon January 17th 2011.

 

Other teams in the upper slots held onto their profiles with veterans returning.

 

Baylor, whose Lauren Cox is a leading national player of the year candidate along with Oregon’s triple double diva Sabrina Ionescu, is ranked second picking up three first place ballots behind Oregon’s other 25.

 

Stanford and Maryland with loaded rosters are fourth and fifth.

 

Texas A& M, picked by the SEC  coaches to win the conference, is in the high ground again at sixth while Oregon State, the geographical and conference rival to Oregon is seventh.

 

 A strong recruiting class made 2017 NCAA champion South Carolina the conference choice of the SEC media and Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are also back with the poll elite while ACC-favorite Louisville is ninth and Mississippi State, which spent more time previously in the top five, is 10th.

 

The next five are UCLA, Florida State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, and Texas.

 

Notre Dame at the aforementioned 16th spot followed by Michigan State, Big East favorite DePaul, Miami and Arizona State round out the Top 20 with DePaul and Miami tied at 18th.

 

The remaining five are Syracuse, Arkansas, and a Big Ten trio of Minnesota, Indiana and Michigan. 

 

Arkansas, coached by Mike Neighbors who guided Washington in the recent Kelsey Plum era, made a run in the SEC tournament and is in a renaissance mode in making the Razorbacks’ first preseason AP ranking since 2002-03 and first overall since Dec. 1, 2014.

 

The Big East with DePaul and American with UConn in its final year before re-joining the Big East are the only two non-power five groups with reps though the Big 12 has just Baylor and Texas.

 

The ACC leads the way with six teams and five each are from the SEC, Big Ten, and Pac-12.

 

Missing from last year’s final poll are Iowa and Marquette, who were ranked all season, and Iowa State and Gonzaga who joined near the midway point, and C-USA champion Rice, which was in the last five polls..

 

Oregon coach Kelly Graves, who had previously made Gonzaga nationally relevant alongside the Zags men’s team, went on to take the Ducks to their first Women’s Final Four in Tampa, where they extended eventual champion Baylor to the closing minute of the semifinal.

 

After the game, star guard Sabrina Ionescu declared she would forego another year before going pro in the WNBA, to rejoin a seasoned roster that bolstered the overwhelming No. 1 choice.

 

Though the legendary and late Tennessee coach Pat Summitt missed the first poll, she became the all-time regular appearing in the next 92 before a four week absence occurred.

 

The consistency returned until a 10-week drought occurred in 1984-85 after leading the Olympic team to the gold medal in Los Angeles the previous summer.

 

This week’s non-ranking has Tennessee matching the program drought dubious record, though new coach and former Lady Vol star Kellie Harper is charged with just this one.

 

The previous nine closing out last season were under former Vol Holly Warlick, Summitt’s longtime assistant who took over after Summitt’s resignation in 2012 to battle Alzheimer’s Disease.

 

Sunmitt finished with 618 appearances, missing only 15 polls, far ahead of Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who breaks a tie with retired Georgia coach Andy Landers at third with 523 rankings.

 

When Warlick took over she went on to gain 109 rankings but most were at the back end of the marathon under Summitt that finally ended after 32 seasons at 565 from February 1985 until February 2016.

 

It became bumpy after that and when paired with the inability to get back to the Final Four, though that drought started under Summitt, Warlick was dismissed at the end of last season.

 

XXXX

 

Current Streaks of Women’s Teams in This Week’s AP Women’s Poll – Oct. 30, 2019

Preseason

 

1-490 Weeks Connecticut across 26 seasons began Preseason 1993-94

2-300 Weeks Baylor across 16 seasons began January 5, 2004

3-233 Weeks Notre Dame across 11 seasons began Preseason 2007-08

4-175 Weeks Maryland across 9 seasons began Preseason 2010-11

5-129 Weeks South Carolina across 7 seasons began Dec. 10, 2012

 

6-95 Weeks Mississippi State across 5 seasons began Nov. 24, 2014

7-76 Weeks Texas across 4 seasons began Preseason 2015-16

8-69 Weeks Louisville across 4 seasons began January 11 2016

9-52 Weeks Oregon State across 3 seasons began December 19 2016

10-40 Weeks Oregon across two seasons began preseason 2017-18

 

11-28 Weeks Stanford across two seasons began week 13 of 2017-18

12-27 Weeks N. Caro. St. across two seasons began week 14 of 2017-18

13 Tie — 21 weeks Syracuse began preseason 2018-19

13 Tie — 21 weeks Arizona State began preseason 2018-19

15 – 18 weeks Kentucky began week 4 of 2018-19 

 

16 Tie – 10 weeks Florida State began week 12 of 2018-19

16 Tie – 10 weeks Texas A&M began week 12 of 2018-19

18 — 8 weeks Miami began week 14 of 2018-19 

19 – 5 weeks UCLA began week 17 of 2018-19

20 – 2 weeks DePaul began final poll of 2018-19

 

21 Tie — 1 week Arkansas began preseason poll of 2019-20

21 Tie — 1 week Indiana began preseason poll of 2019-20

21 Tie — 1 week Michigan began preseason poll of 2019-20

21 Tie — 1 week Michigan State began preseason poll of 2019-20

21 Tie — 1 week Minnesota began preseason poll of 2019-20

 

Recent Departed Major Streaks Primarily Previous Three Seasons

 

xx. Tennessee 565 weeks. Began Feb. 17, 1985 after 10-wk drought and ran across 32 seasons ending on 2/15/16.

xx. Duke 312 weeks. Began week 3 11/29/99 and runs across 17 seasons ending 1/11/2016.

xx. 312 Weeks Stanford across 17 seasons began Preseason 2001-02 ending 12/17/2017.

xx. Texas A&M 134 weeks. Began 11/16/09 2nd week and runs across 7 seasons ending final poll 2015-16.

xx. Kentucky 132 weeks. Began feb. 1 2010 and runs across 8 seasons ending 1/2/2017.

xx. 59 Weeks Ohio State across 4 seasons began March 9 2015 ending final poll 2018

xx. 35 Weeks Duke across 3 seasons began December 5 2016 ending preseason poll 2019

 

Gone from final poll 2018-19 – Iowa and Marquette who went 20 weeks wire to wire last streaks.

Gonzaga last 16 weeks. Iowa State last 12 weeks. Rice last five weeks.

 

Total Preseason Appearances (44 is max.)


(113 Teams Listed)


Tennessee42
Texas35
Georgia33
Maryland32
Stanford32
Connecticut30
Louisiana Tech27
Penn St.25
Rutgers25
Duke24
LSU23
North Caro.23
Vanderbilt23
North Caro. St.22
Notre Dame22
Old Dominion20
Purdue20
Baylor19
Ohio St.19
Virginia19
Southern Cal18
Oklahoma17
Auburn16
Iowa16
Mississippi U.16
Texas Tech15
UCLA15
Long Beach St.14
South Carolina14
DePaul13
Kansas13
Kentucky13
Steph. F. Austin13
Texas A&M13
Arizona St.12
Louisville12
Western Ky.12
California10
Geo. Wash.10
Michigan St.10
Colorado9
Florida St.9
Oregon9
Washington9
Alabama8
Kansas St.8
Arkansas7
Iowa St.7
Mississippi St.7
Oregon St.7
Florida6
Miami6
Missouri6
UNLV6
West Virginia6
Arizona5
Cheyney5
Minnesota5
Oklahoma St.5
St. Joseph's5
Syracuse5
UC Santa Barb.5
Clemson4
Nebraska4
San Diego St.4
Tennessee Tech4
Wisconsin4
Boston College3
Delta St.3
Drake3
Illinois3
Marquette3
Michigan3
Missouri St.3
Montclair St.3
Northwestern3
Queens3
South Florida3
Southern Conn.3
St. John's3
Utah3
Wayland Baptist3
Xavier3
Colorado St.2
Dayton2
Georgetown2
Georgia Tech2
Immaculata2
Indiana2
La.-Monroe2
Mercer2
TCU2
Valdosta St.2
BYU1
Cal-St. Fullerton1
Chattanooga1
Cincinnati1
Delaware1
Florida Intl.1
Gonzaga1
Iliinois St.1
James Madison1
Lamar1
Middle Tenn.1
Mississippi Coll.1
New Mexico1
Pittsburgh1
Seton Hall1
Southern Ill.1
Temple1
Tulane1
Virginia Tech1
William Penn1

Total Top 10 Preseason Appearances

 (64 Teams Listed)

Tennessee37
Connecticut27
Stanford25
Georgia21
Louisiana Tech20
Duke17
Texas17
Maryland15
Baylor13
Notre Dame13
LSU11
North Caro.11
Old Dominion11
Long Beach St.10
Ohio St.10
Rutgers10
Virginia10
Louisville9
Penn St.9
Purdue9
Auburn8
UCLA8
Iowa7
North Caro. St.7
South Carolina7
Southern Cal7
Vanderbilt7
Oklahoma5
Texas Tech5
Cheyney4
Mississippi St.4
Mississippi U.4
Steph. F. Austin4
Texas A&M4
Western Ky.4
Alabama3
Delta St.3
Iowa St.3
Kansas St.3
Kentucky3
Oregon St.3
Wayland Baptist3
Arkansas2
California2
Immaculata2
La.-Monroe2
Michigan St.2
Montclair St.2
Oregon2
Cal-St. Fullerton1
Florida1
Florida St.1
Georgetown1
Illinois1
Kansas1
Mercer1
Miami1
Mississippi Coll.1
Queens1
St. Joseph's1
Tennessee Tech1
UNLV1
William Penn1
Xavier1

Total Top 5 Preseason Appearances

(41 Teams Listed)

Tennessee32
Connecticut23
Louisiana Tech15
Stanford14
Georgia12
Texas10
Duke9
Baylor8
Maryland7
Old Dominion7
Notre Dame6
South Carolina6
LSU5
Rutgers5
Southern Cal5
Auburn4
Vanderbilt4
Long Beach St.3
North Caro.3
Ohio St.3
Oklahoma3
Purdue3
UCLA3
Virginia3
Wayland Baptist3
Delta St.2
Iowa2
Kansas St.2
Louisville2
North Caro. St.2
Oregon2
Western Ky.2
Alabama1
Cal-St. Fullerton1
Immaculata1
La.-Monroe1
Penn St.1
Steph. F. Austin1
Tennessee Tech1
Texas A&M1
Xavier1

Total No. 1 Preseason Appearances

(La. Tech/Tennessee once tied)

(15 Teams Listed)

Connecticut12
Tennessee12
Louisiana Tech3
Baylor2
Duke2
Notre Dame2
Southern Cal2
Stanford2
Texas2
Delta St.1
Georgia1
Maryland1
Old Dominion1
Oregon1
Virginia1


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