The Associated Press has announced its preseason women’s basketball awards with UConn senior Maya Moore atop the list. In addition, the Associated Press released its Preseason Top 25 with five BIG EAST teams in the top 14, including No. 1 Connecticut.
Moore was selected as a unanimous pick to the AP All-America Team. She becomes the first player ever to be honored unanimously on the preseason team twice, receiving all 40 votes from the national media panel for the second-straight year.
Moore is joined on the AP All-America Team by Baylor sophomore Brittney Griner (36 votes), Stanford junior Nnemkadi Ogwumike (34 votes), Ohio State senior Jantel Lavender (21 votes) and Oklahoma senior Danielle Robinson (18 votes).
Moore is a three-time postseason AP All-America selection and took home the AP Player of the Year Award during her sophomore season.
The Lawrenceville, Ga. native averaged 18.9 points and 8.3 rebounds last season as the Huskies completed their second-straight 39-0 campaign and won their second-consecutive National Championship. Connecticut enters the 2010-11 season as the No. 1 team in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and riding a record 78-game winning streak.
In the AP preseason rankings, the Huskies received 39 of a possible 40 first-place votes, marking the first time in 35 weeks that Connecticut has not been the unanimous No. 1 pick. The other years in which UConn opened the season as the AP’s No. 1 team were 1995-96, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2009-10.
UConn has been ranked No. 1 for a total of 144 weeks in the program's history, the most of any team nationally.
Joining the Huskies in the Preseason Top 25 were West Virginia at No. 11, Notre Dame at No. 12, Georgetown at No. 13 and St. John’s at No. 14. DePaul, Rutgers and Pittsburgh also received votes. At No. 11, West Virginia earns its highest Preseason Top 25 ranking ever and just the second in the history of the program. St. John’s earns its first Preseason Top 25 ranking, with the No. 14 spot also marking its highest AP mark ever.
|
RK
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PTS
|
|
1
|
Connecticut (39)
|
0-0
|
992
|
|
2
|
Baylor (1)
|
0-0
|
934
|
|
3
|
Stanford
|
0-0
|
922
|
|
4
|
Tennessee
|
0-0
|
886
|
|
5
|
Xavier
|
0-0
|
818
|
|
6
|
Duke
|
0-0
|
802
|
|
7
|
Ohio State
|
0-0
|
759
|
|
8
|
Texas A&M
|
0-0
|
664
|
|
9
|
Kentucky
|
0-0
|
649
|
|
10
|
Oklahoma
|
0-0
|
595
|
|
11
|
West Virginia
|
0-0
|
579
|
|
12
|
Notre Dame
|
0-0
|
560
|
|
13
|
Georgetown
|
0-0
|
506
|
|
14
|
St. John's
|
0-0
|
452
|
|
15
|
North Carolina
|
0-0
|
420
|
|
16
|
UCLA
|
0-0
|
382
|
|
17
|
Texas
|
0-0
|
274
|
|
18
|
Florida State
|
0-0
|
270
|
|
19
|
Georgia
|
0-0
|
241
|
|
20
|
Iowa State
|
0-0
|
195
|
|
21
|
Maryland
|
0-0
|
134
|
|
22
|
Iowa
|
0-0
|
121
|
|
23
|
TCU
|
0-0
|
117
|
|
24
|
Vanderbilt
|
0-0
|
109
|
|
25
|
Michigan State
|
0-0
|
105
|
Others receiving votes: LSU 75, Georgia Tech 73, Dayton 67, Gonzaga 64, DePaul 49, California 44, North Carolina State 28, Bowling Green 22, Nebraska 19, Temple 15, Wisconsin-Green Bay 15, San Diego State 8, Wisconsin 8, USC 7, James Madison 5, Rutgers 4, Arkansas-Little Rock 3, Arizona State 2, Pittsburgh 2, Kansas 1, Miami (FL) 1, Penn State 1 and Tulane 1.
