AP WBB Poll Notes: Time to Time Trivia Following Significant Poll Releases With Notable Achievements - Preseason Edition

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

As the shutdown began last March, because the fact that most of the major women’s teams played in conference tournaments the previous weekend, a clean finish to the final AP Women’s Poll was carried out in advance of the sudden stop to everything heading to the NCAA tournament.

 

South Carolina finished No. 1 for the first time, most of the major awards were announced, with one exception out of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) that remains in limbo to still be capable of being a surprise to the individual, and this fall seemed far enough in the future that the 2020-21 season may launch nearer to business as usual mode.

 

That, of course, is no longer feasible, but unlike football, which because of the delay of the start by the Big Ten and PAC-12 has had wild swings in the sport’s polls, the 45^th season, week number 789, of the Association Press Women’s Basketball Poll rolled out Tuesday even if many unknowns involving scheduling are uniform across the board heading to the Nov. 25^th start date.

 

So for now, what follows is a long list of notes, some in discussion form, and others in charts now follows to move forward into the still-scheduled launch on Nov. 25, ahead of the next poll that will come at the end of games that Thanksgiving Weekend.

 

There still might be a delay of launch by teams in the Big Ten and PAC -12 that combine for 10 teams in the preseason vote, but that delay is expected to be small enough that there is no need not to still vote those teams in the next poll, as opposed to what the directive was for football.

 

So let’s get going, as your Guru assumed to be able to still read his scribbles while entering the data in the various files.

 

For the record, since by now, all of you know South Carolina on the heels of a first-ever No. 1 finish also gets its first start atop the preseason poll followed by Stanford, Connecticut, Baylor and Louisville in the first five.

 

Five teams are missing from the final vote of 2019-20 – Arizona State, Florida State, Princeton, South Dakota and Iowa. None of which were carrying long consecutive streaks though three of them — Florida State, Arizona State, and Iowa, have had long histories of total appearances.

 

The Ivy season situation remains the most unclear fofr the months ahead, but Princeton, while still to be strong, took a major hit with the graduation of Bella Alarie.

 

Re-entries are Iowa State, Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan, and Notre Dame, the latter of which had along consecutive ranking streak snapped last season caused by a weakened roster missing five starters from the runnerup season of 2018-19.

 

All five are no strangers, either, in terms of previous poll appearances.

 

One team missing for the second straight time and third overall counting the first-ever preseason vote in November 1976-77 is Tennessee, which tops most overall categories in poll history, though the coming of Connecticut went on to erase some, such as most No. 1 rankings where the Huskies are a runaway 245.

 

Incidentally, the return of the Huskies makes the Big East the leader in terms of conferences number No. 1 rankings among current members at 245, however, under No. 1 rankings earned by teams in the conference at the time of the ranking, the Big East still leads at 162 off UConn’s previous affiliation, but the American Athletic Conference is high with 88 earned with the Huskies’ previous membership.

 

Here are the two lists with current membership on top of the earned at time of conference membership.

 

 

BEC	245
SEC	171
C-USA	117
B-12	94
ACC	93
PAC-12	38
B-10	18
X-D1	14
Overall
BEC	162
SEC	159
ACC	89
AAC	88
B-12	49
SWC	45
AIAW-R4	37
AIAW-R2	35
INDP	31
PAC-12	22
SBC	22
WCAA	16
Amer. Sou.	15
B-10	15
AIAW-R3	5
A-10	3

 

 As for the preseason vote, here are all the teams in terms of total appearances, Top 10, Top 5, and No. 1 rankings.

 

            

Ranked

Tennessee        42

Texas    35

Georgia 33

Maryland          33

Stanford           33

Connecticut     31

Louisiana Tech  27

Penn St.           25

Rutgers 25

Duke    24

LSU      23

North Caro.      23

North Caro. St.  23

Notre Dame     23

Vanderbilt        23

Baylor  20

Ohio St. 20

Old Dominion   20

Purdue 20

Virginia 19

Southern Cal    18

Oklahoma         17

Auburn 16

Iowa     16

Mississippi U.    16

UCLA    16

DePaul 15

South Carolina  15

Texas Tech       15

Kentucky          14

Long Beach St.  14

Texas A&M       14

Kansas  13

Louisville         13

Steph. F. Austin 13

Arizona St.        12

Western Ky.     12

California         10

Geo. Wash.       10

Michigan St.     10

Oregon 10

Colorado          9

Florida St.         9

Washington      9

Alabama           8

Arkansas           8

Iowa St. 8

Kansas St.         8

Mississippi St.   8

Oregon St.        8

Arizona 6

Florida 6

Miami  6

Missouri           6

Syracuse           6

UNLV    6

West Virginia    6

Cheyney           5

Minnesota        5

Oklahoma St.    5

St. Joseph's       5

UC Santa Barb.  5

Clemson           4

Michigan          4

Missouri St.      4

Nebraska          4

Northwestern  4

San Diego St.    4

Tennessee Tech 4

Wisconsin        4

Boston College 3

Delta St.           3

Drake   3

Illinois  3

Indiana 3

Marquette       3

Montclair St.    3

Queens 3

South Florida    3

Southern Conn. 3

St. John's          3

Utah     3

Wayland Baptist           3

Xavier  3

Colorado St.     2

Dayton 2

Georgetown     2

Georgia Tech    2

Gonzaga           2

Immaculata      2

La.-Monroe      2

Mercer 2

TCU      2

Valdosta St.      2

BYU      1

Cal-St. Fullerton 1

Chattanooga     1

Cincinnati        1

Delaware         1

Florida Intl.      1

Iliinois St.         1

James Madison 1

Lamar   1

Middle Tenn.    1

Mississippi Coll. 1

New Mexico     1

Pittsburgh        1

Seton Hall        1

Southern Ill.     1

Temple 1

Tulane  1

Virginia Tech    1

William Penn   1

 

Top 10
Tennessee	37
Connecticut	28
Stanford	26
Georgia	21
Louisiana Tech	20
Duke	17
Texas	17
Maryland	15
Baylor	14
Notre Dame	13
LSU	11
North Caro.	11
Old Dominion	11
Long Beach St.	10
Louisville	10
Ohio St.	10
Rutgers	10
Virginia	10
Penn St.	9
Purdue	9
UCLA	9
Auburn	8
North Caro. St.	8
South Carolina	8
Iowa	7
Southern Cal	7
Vanderbilt	7
Mississippi St.	5
Oklahoma	5
Texas Tech	5
Cheyney	4
Mississippi U.	4
Steph. F. Austin	4
Texas A&M	4
Western Ky.	4
Alabama	3
Delta St.	3
Iowa St.	3
Kansas St.	3
Kentucky	3
Oregon	3
Oregon St.	3
Wayland Baptist	3
Arkansas	2
California	2
Immaculata	2
La.-Monroe	2
Michigan St.	2
Montclair St.	2
Arizona	1
Cal-St. Fullerton	1
Florida	1
Florida St.	1
Georgetown	1
Illinois	1
Kansas	1
Mercer	1
Miami	1
Mississippi Coll.	1
Queens	1
St. Joseph's	1
Tennessee Tech	1
UNLV	1
William Penn	1
Xavier	1

 

Top 5
Tennessee	32
Connecticut	24
Louisiana Tech	15
Stanford	15
Georgia	12
Texas	10
Baylor	9
Duke	9
Maryland	7
Old Dominion	7
South Carolina	7
Notre Dame	6
LSU	5
Rutgers	5
Southern Cal	5
Auburn	4
Vanderbilt	4
Long Beach St.	3
Louisville	3
North Caro.	3
Ohio St.	3
Oklahoma	3
Purdue	3
UCLA	3
Virginia	3
Wayland Baptist	3
Delta St.	2
Iowa	2
Kansas St.	2
North Caro. St.	2
Oregon	2
Western Ky.	2
Alabama	1
Cal-St. Fullerton	1
Immaculata	1
La.-Monroe	1
Penn St.	1
Steph. F. Austin	1
Tennessee Tech	1
Texas A&M	1
Xavier	1

 

Top 1
Connecticut	12
Tennessee	12
Louisiana Tech	3
Baylor	2
Duke	2
Notre Dame	2
Southern Cal	2
Stanford	2
Texas	2
Delta St.	1
Georgia	1
Maryland	1
Old Dominion	1
Oregon	1
South Carolina	1
Virginia	1

Total of No. 1s is 46 because one season Tennessee and Louisiana Tech tied for first in the preseason vote.

 

Moving on to current consecutive weeks through the preseason vote, here’s the list.

 

Current Appearance Streaks of Women’s Teams in This Week’s AP Poll (Preseason) – November 10, 2020

 

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

1-510 Weeks Connecticut across 27 seasons began Preseason 1993-94

2-320 Weeks Baylor across 17 seasons began January 5, 2004

3-195 Weeks Maryland across 10 seasons began Preseason 2010-11

4-152 Weeks South Carolina across 8 seasons began Dec. 10, 2012

5-115 Weeks Mississippi State across 6 seasons began Nov. 24, 2014

 

7-88 Weeks Louisville across 5 seasons began January 11 2016

7-72 Weeks Oregon State across 4 seasons began December 19 2016

8-59 Weeks Oregon across 3 seasons began preseason 2017-18

9-48 Weeks Stanford across 3 seasons began week 13 of 2017-18

10-47 Weeks N. Caro. St. across 3 seasons began week 14 of 2017-18

 

11 – 39 weeks Kentucky across 3 seasons began week 4 of 2018-19 

12  – 30 weeks Texas A&M across 3 seasons began week 12 of 2018-19

13 – 25 weeks UCLA across 3 seasons began week 17 of 2018-19

14 – 22 weeks DePaul across three seasons began final poll of 2018-19

15  — 21 weeks Indiana across 2 seasons began preseason poll of 2019-20

 

16  — 19 weeks Gonzaga across 2 seasons began week 3 of 2019-20

17 — 18 weeks Arizona across 2 seasons began week 4 of 2019-20 

18 — 10 weeks Northwestern across two seasons began week 12 of 2019-20

19 – 9 weeks Missouri State across 2 seasons began week 13 of 2019-20

20 — 4 weeks Arkansas across two seasons began week 18 of 2019-20

 

21 – Tie – 1 week Iowa State began preseason of 20-21

21 – Tie – 1 week Ohio State began preseason of 20-21

21 – Tie – 1 week Notre Dame began preseason of 20-21

21 – Tie – 1 week Syracuse began preseason of 20-21

21 – Tie – 1 week Michigan began preseason of 20-21

 

Notable Departed Major Streaks Primarily Previous Five 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 2^nd 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

xx. 234 Weeks Notre Dame across 12 seasons began Preseason 2007-08 ending week 2 poll 2030 11/1//19

xx. 77 Weeks Texas across 4 seasons began Preseason 2015-16 end week 2 2020 11/11/20

 

 

Coaching

Moving on to coaches, the offseason carousel caused several changes with the departure of Joanne McCallie from Duke, Karen Aston from Texas, Vic Schaefer moving from Mississippi State to Texas, Muffet McGraw retiring from Notre Dame, Nikki McCray-Penson going from Old Dominion to Mississippi State, and the hire of Niele Ivy at her alma mater Notre Dame to succeed Muffet.

 

The moves by McCray-Penson and Ivy increases those who have played on and coached at AP ranked women’s teams and the subset in the case of Ivy doing both at their alma mater.

 

So, first here’s the coach-player list.

 

                                        AP PLAYER-COACH HISTORY

                                      (Played for and Coached Ranked Teams)

 

                                                1976-77 thru 2020-21

 

NAME                                                        SCHOOL COACH                   SCHOOL PLAYED

 

1. Katie Abrahamson-Henderson    Missouri St.                                Georgia/Iowa

2. Adia Barnes%.                             Arizona                                    Arizona

3. Carla Berube                                 Princeton                                    Connecticut

4. Cheryl Burnett                             Missouri.St.                               Kansas

5. Amanda Butler%                         Florida                                        Florida

6. Tonya Cardoza                              Temple                                      Virginia

7. Pokey Chatman%                          LSU                                          LSU

8. Cori Close                                     UCLA                                       UC Santa Barbara

9. Cynthia Cooper-Dyke%                 Southern Cal                             Southern Cal

10. June Daugherty                         Boise St./Washington                  Ohio St.

11. Nikki (Caldwell) Fargas                 UCLA                                       Tennessee

12. Nell Fortner                            Purdue/Auburn                                Texas

13. Susie Gardner                            Arkansas                                     Georgia

14. Kellie Harper%                              Tennessee                                 Tennessee

15. Michelle Clark-Heard%                Western Kentucky                   Western Kentucky       

16. Niele Ivy%.                                     Notre Dame                             Notre Dame

17. MaChelle Joseph                          Georgia Tech                              Purdue

18. Carolyn Kieger%                               Marquette                                Marquette

19. Linda Lappe%                               Colorado                                      Colorado     

20. Wendy Larry%                          Old Dominion                            Old Dominion

21. Joanne P. McCallie                    Michigan St./Duke                      Northwestern

22. Kathy McConnell-Miller              Colorado                                     Virginia

23. Nikki McCray-Penson                 Mississippi State                      Tennessee

24. Muffet McGraw                          Notre Dame                                St. Joseph’s

25. Katie Meier                                 Miami                                         Duke 

26. Cheryl Miller%                          Southern Cal                               Southern Cal

27. Kim Mulkey                               Baylor                                          Louisiana Tech

28. Mary Murphy                            Wisconsin                                   Northwestern

29. Kathy Olivier                             UCLA                                           UNLV

30. Raegan Pebley                            TCU                                           Colorado 

31. Carolyn Peck                             Purdue/Florida                           Vanderbilt

32. Laurie Pirtle                               Cincinnati                                     Ohio St.

33. Jennifer Rizzotti                        Hartford                                       Connecticut

34. Carol Ross%                              Florida/Mississippi                    Mississippi

35. Bev Smith%                                Oregon                                       Oregon

36. Dawn Staley                                Temple/South Carolina             Virginia

37 Joni Taylor                                  Georgia                                    Alabama

38. Jan Ternyik                                   San Francisco                          Montclair St.

39. Charli Turner Thorne                  Arizona St.                                Stanford

40. Amy Tucker*                               Stanford                                   Ohio St.

41. Holly Warlick%                            Tennessee                               Tennessee

42. Coquese Washington                    Penn State                               Notre Dame

43. Lindsay Whalen%                         Minnesota                               Minnesota

44. Terri Williams-Flournoy            Georgetown/Auburn                  Penn State

 

*-Filled in for Tara VanDerveer in 1995-96

 %-15  played and coached at same ranked school.

 

And finally, here’s the list of all-time coaching appearances (with a cut line

-       They’re all in the database), and likewise, the breakout of active coaches.

 

By Mel Greenberg

Women’s Hoops Guru @womhoopsguru

 

Quick hits on AP poll (week 1 preseason for coaches’ appearances week No. 1) – Season 2020-21 - Preseason

(This is 789th poll after week 1 for 2020-21). (Records on pages through preseason 2021 W-1)

 

Coaches with Four Ranked Teams

Jim Foster (St. Joe-35), (Vanderbilt-164), (Ohio St.-171), (Chattanooga-10), 380

Coaches with Three Ranked Teams  

C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney-85), (Iowa-155), (Rutgers-195), 435

Gary Blair (Stephen F. Austin-79), (Arkansas-67), (Texas A&M-249), 395

Marianne Stanley (Old Dominion-141), (Southern Cal-24), (Stanford*-18), 183

Lin Dunn (Miami-2), (Mississippi-1), (Purdue-130), 133

Joe McKeown (New Mexico St.-6), (George Washington-110), (Northwestern-23) 139

Don Perrelli (Northwestern-52), (S. Conn.-20), (St. John’s-1), 73

Tom Collen (Colorado St.-34), (Louisville-17), (Arkansas-9), 60

Sharon Fanning-Otis (Kentucky-4), (Miss. St.-48), (Chattanooga-4), 56

Debbie Yow (Florida-2), (Kentucky-21), (Oral Roberts-1), 24 

 

Co-Coaches

Kittie Blakemore, Scott Harrelson – West Virginia 8 

Sonja Hogg, Leon Barmore – Louisiana Tech 51

Jill Hutchison, Linda Fischer – Illinois St. 3

Jim Jarrett, Joyce Patterson – Georgia St. 1

Marianne Stanley, Amy Tucker – Stanford 18

Jim Bolla, Sheila Strike – UNLV 18

 

Coaches All Time Ranking Appearances

1.**- Pat Summitt, Tennessee – 618 (missed just 14 polls in entire AP history as existed in 2012)

2.  Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 577

3.  Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 543

4. **-Andy Landers, Georgia – 522

5. C. Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 435

6. **-Jody Conradt, Texas – 395

7. Gary Blair (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 395

8. **- Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina 384

9. **-Jim Foster (4 schools – St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio St., Chattanooga) – 380

10. **-Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame 373

11. Kim Mulkey, Baylor 345

12. **-Rene Portland (2 schools – St. Joseph, Penn St.) – 336

13.  **-Debbie Ryan, Virginia – 329

14. **- Kay Yow, North Caro. St. – 326

15. **-Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech (51-shared with Sonja Hogg) – 325

16. Brenda Frese (2 schools – Minnesota, Maryland) – 297

16.**- Gail Goestenkors (2 schools – Duke, Texas) – 295

18. **-Joe Ciampi, Auburn – 290

19. **-Sue Gunter (2 schools – Stephen F. Austin, LSU) – 270

19. **-Joanne P. McCallie (2 schools – Michigan St., Duke) – 270

21. **-Joan Bonvicini (2 schools – Long Beach, Arizona) – 267

22. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma – 264

22. **-Marsha Sharp, Texas Tech – 264

24. **-Van Chancellor (2 schools – Mississippi, LSU) – 261

25. **-Chris Weller, Maryland – 227

26. **-Theresa Grentz (2 schools – Rutgers, Illinois) – 225

27. Doug Bruno, DePaul – 212

28. Jeff Walz, Louisville -- 195

 29. (Tie) Dawn Staley (2 schools — Temple, South Carolina) — 183

29. (Tie)**-Marianne Stanley (3 schools – Old Dominion, Southern Cal, Stanford*) – 183

31. **-Paul Sanderford (2 schools – W. Kentucky, Nebraska) – 182

**-Not on the College Division I active head coaches list

 

Active Coaches-All Time AP Ranking Appearances

 

1. Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 577

2. Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 543

3. C.Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 435

4. Gary Blair, (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 395

5. Kim Mulkey, Baylor – 345

6. Brenda Frese (2 schools, Minnesota, Maryland) – 297

7. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma – 264

8. Doug Bruno, DePaul – 212

9. Jeff Walz, Louisville – 195

10. Dawn Staley (2 schools —Temple, South Carolina) – 183

11. Matthew Mitchell, Kentucky – 179

12. Sue Semrau, Florida St. – 176

13. Bill Fennelly, (2 schools – Toledo, Iowa St.) – 169

14. Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona St. – 165

15. Joe McKeown (3 schools – New Mexico St., George Washington, Northwestern) – 139

16. @!@!-Kristy Curry (2 schools – Purdue, Texas Tech) – 136

17. Scott Rueck, Oregon State – 116

18. $#$#Vic Schaefer, Mississippi St. – 114

19. Mike Carey, West Virginia – 113

20. Kevin McGuff (2 schools -- Xavier, Ohio State) – 110

21.)))-Chris Gobrecht,Washington - 104 

22. Cori Close, UCLA—100

23. Suzy Merchant, Michigan St. – 98

24. Kelly Graves, (2 schools — Gonzaga, Oregon) – 99

25. Lisa Bluder (2 schools – Iowa, Drake) – 95

26. Katie Meier, Miami –90

27. Quentin Hillsman, Syracuse – 88

28. Sharon Versyp, Purdue – 84

29. Wes Moore, North Caro. St. 68

30. Jim Littell, Oklahoma State – 58

31. $$$ - Bonnie Henrickson ( 2 schools — Virginia Tech, Kansas) - 54

32. Kim Barnes Arico (2 schools – St. John’s, Michigan) – 52

33. Jose Fernandez, South Florida – 51

34. Terri Williams-Flournoy (2 schools – Georgetown, Auburn) – 49

35. Jeff  Mittie, (TCU, Kansas St.) – 48

36. Kevin Borseth, Wis.-Green Bay – 46

37. Nikki Fargas (UCLA, LSU) – 46

38.%=%=  Matt Bollant, Wis.-Green Bay – 35

39. Lisa Stockton, Tulane – 35

40. !!!-Nell Fortner (Auburn, Purdue) – 30

 

$#$#-Active at Texas; )))-Active at Air Force; $$$-Active at UCSB;  !!!-Active at Georgia Tech;  %=%= Active at Eastern Illinois; @!@!-Active at Alabama, ====-Active at Kennesaw St.; Active at UNLV.XX 

 

– Listed to help with running poll week history count.

xx-. Holly Warlick, Tennessee – 109 (In 2016 Tennessee missed polls 16^th/17^th/18^th/19^th) ^{( in 2017 missed poll 5th, 6th, 7th ,8th, 9th. 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th)(in 2019 missed poll 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th)}

yy-. Kellie Harper,’Tennessee — 1 (In 2020 Tennessee missed polls 1^st/2^nd/16^th/17^th/18^th/ 19^th/20^th; In 2021 missed polls 1st.

 

 More coming in the next 24 hours from the overall breakout list of all-polls categories