Kentucky women hold steady at No. 9; Duke’s 16-year poll run ends
The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team split a pair of games last week but held its ground in The Associated Press poll released Monday.
Kentucky lost to second-ranked and undefeated South Carolina on Thursday, then beat Auburn on Sunday. The Wildcats were No. 9 last week and checked in at No. 9 again on Monday.
The Wildcats (14-2) are back in action Thursday at Ole Miss.
Louisville, winners of 11 straight games, climbed to No. 17 this week. The Cardinals were out of the poll for six weeks before jumping back in last week at No. 23.
Meanwhile, Duke’s streak of 312 straight weeks in the AP poll is over.
The Blue Devils entered the Top 25 on Nov. 29, 1999, and hadn’t left until Monday. It’s the third-longest streak in the history of the poll since it began in 1976. Only Tennessee (561) and UConn (423) have had longer runs in the Top 25. The Huskies remained No. 1 on Monday after routing Memphis and Temple this past week by an average of 47.5 points.
UConn was followed by South Carolina, Notre Dame, Baylor and Maryland. Texas dropped to sixth after losing its first game of the season to Baylor on Sunday. Duke (13-6) has lost three of its last five games to Syracuse, Louisville and N.C. State. The Blue Devils spent 34 weeks at No. 1 during its 16-year run.
Associated Press Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 17, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record | Points | Previous | |
1. UConn (32) | 16-0 | 800 | 1 |
2. South Carolina | 17-0 | 766 | 2 |
3. Notre Dame | 16-1 | 738 | 3 |
4. Baylor | 18-1 | 700 | 6 |
5. Maryland | 16-2 | 655 | 8 |
6. Texas | 16-1 | 653 | 4 |
7. Ohio St. | 13-4 | 568 | 5 |
8. Arizona St. | 15-3 | 558 | 10 |
9. Kentucky | 14-2 | 548 | 9 |
10. Mississippi St. | 16-2 | 530 | 7 |
11. Oregon St. | 14-3 | 493 | 12 |
12. Stanford | 14-4 | 411 | 11 |
13. Texas A&M | 13-5 | 399 | 15 |
14. Florida St. | 13-4 | 397 | 16 |
15. South Florida | 12-4 | 326 | 19 |
16. Miami | 17-2 | 267 | 21 |
17. Louisville | 14-5 | 254 | 23 |
18. Tennessee | 11-5 | 235 | 13 |
19. Oklahoma | 12-4 | 191 | 14 |
20. UCLA | 12-5 | 160 | 17 |
21. Michigan St. | 13-4 | 151 | 18 |
22. Florida | 15-3 | 104 | 20 |
23. Missouri | 15-3 | 103 | 24 |
24. DePaul | 13-6 | 82 | _ |
25. West Virginia | 15-4 | 54 | _ |
Others receiving votes: Purdue 47, Northwestern 46, Washington 42, Duke 32, Syracuse 20, Green Bay 19, George Washington 11, UTEP 7, Iowa 6, California 5, Oklahoma St. 5, Arkansas 4, Colorado St. 3, San Diego 3, St. Bonaventure 3, BYU 2, Southern Cal 1, Villanova 1.
This story was originally published January 18, 2016 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Kentucky women hold steady at No. 9; Duke’s 16-year poll run ends."