Five BIG EAST women's basketball teams have been ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll, including unanimously selected No. 1 Connecticut and No. 4 Notre Dame. DePaul checked in at No. 17, Louisville earned the No. 23 spot and Rutgers was picked at No. 25. Pittsburgh also received votes.

The Huskies received all 40 first-place votes Friday from the national media panel. It's the seventh time in school history UConn has held the top preseason ranking by The Associated Press.

Connecticut was the unanimous choice atop the poll the final 15 weeks last season, winning its sixth national championship to cap a 39-0 run. Huskies coach Geno Auriemma returns four starters from that team, including player of the year and BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Maya Moore.

"It's a great honor," Auriemma said of the No. 1 ranking. "They worked hard last season and we got a bunch returning who earned it."
Notre Dame's No. 4 ranking is its highest preseason ranking in program history, topping its No. 6 position from the 2000-01 poll. The Irish return all 12 players, including all five starters, from last year's team and adds the nation's ninth-ranked incoming freshman class featuring consensus National High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Skylar Diggins. Notre Dame finished 2008-09 at 22-9 overall and in a four-way tie for fourth after going 10-6 in BIG EAST play.

DePaul also finished in the fourth-place knot in 2008-09 at 10-6 and was 23-10 overall. The Blue Demons return four starters from last season's team which lost in the first round of NCAA Championship. DePaul is one of only 14 teams in the country to compete in the NCAA Championship in each of the last seven seasons. DePaul adds three newcomers, including junior transfer Jennifer Juergens and freshmen Katherine Harry and Anna Martin. Harry was named the 2008-09 Gatorade Missouri Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

2008-09 NCAA and BIG EAST runner-up, No. 23 Louisville is coming off its first national championship game appearance and is looking to fill the void left by graduated seniors Angel McCoughtry and Candyce Bingham. McCoughtry, the WNBA's top pick in 2009, led the Cardinals to a 34-5 mark and second place in the BIG EAST with a 14-2 record. She led Louisville and the BIG EAST in scoring (23.1 ppg), rebounding (9.3 rpg) and steals (4.2 spg) and became the first BIG EAST player to lead the conference in all three categories for three straight seasons. The Cardinals return only two starters from last season as head coach Jeff Walz will have his youngest team since taking the reins in 2007.

Tabbed at No. 25, Rutgers is coming off its fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Championship Regional Semifinal, the second longest streak in the nation. The Scarlet Knights posted a 21-13 mark and finished seventh in the BIG EAST at 9-7. RU returns seven letterwinners from last season along with a pair of starters, but have lost 57 percent of its scoring and 44 percent of its total rebounding and assists with the graduation of Kia Vaughn and Heather Zurich and the early departure of Epiphanny Prince.

Pittsburgh also received votes in the Associated Press Poll.

The 2010 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Championship will return to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. for the seventh straight year. For the second time all 16 BIG EAST schools will participate. The 2010 championship will be held March 5-9 with five full days of action and 15 games. The BIG EAST's teams will battle for the conference tournament title and one will earn the league's automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.

Preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll
Rank School (first place votes) Points
1. Connecticut (40)  1000
2. Stanford   951
3. Ohio State   862
4. Notre Dame  799
5. North Carolina   798
6. Duke  772
7. Baylor   744
8. Tennessee    676
9. LSU   600
10. Michigan State   521
11. Xavier   492
12. Texas   487
13. Oklahoma    444
14. Virginia   394
15. Florida State  385
16. Arizona State   317
17. DePaul    301
18. California   294
19. Georgia Tech   262
20. Kansas   241
21. Georgia   201
22. Vanderbilt  165
23. Louisville   156
24. Middle Tennessee State   143
25. Rutgers   138

Others Receiving Votes: Texas A&M 137, Maryland 114, Mississippi State 110, San Diego State 78, South Dakota State 70, Pittsburgh 48, Purdue 45, Kansas State 33, Gonzaga 30, Marist 26, UCLA 26, Michigan 16, Iowa State 14, Minnesota 14, Boston College 12, Louisiana Tech 11, Tulane 9, Bowling Green 8, Arkansas 7, TCU 7, Wisconsin-Green Bay 7, Auburn 6, Nebraska 6, Texas Tech 6, USC 5, Florida 3, Fresno State 3, Oklahoma State 3, Delaware 1, Florida Gulf Coast 1, Temple 1.