Coaches' poll rewards Stanford with #1 ranking.

[Fightin Choke]

LINK

1. Stanford
2. Notre Dame
3. South Carolina
4. UConn
5. Tennessee

Here is a link to the actual poll: http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-women/polls/coaches-poll/

UConn still received 4 first place votes.

 

[RadyLady]

as well they should. Thanks for posting

 

[UConnCat]

And the coaches were not impressed with South Carolina's win, at least not enough to keep them at #2.

Stanford was voted #1 by the coaches after upsetting Baylor in 2012. Stanford was dropped from the #1 perch in December after losing to then #2 UConn at Maples 61-35. Funny how things go. That Stanford team didn't make the Final Four; neither did preseason #1 Baylor. UConn won the NC after some heartbreaking losses to ND that caused many to question its mental toughness at the end of games.

 

[Jackalope]

The only current top 25 teams Stanford plays are #5 Tennessee (in Knoxville), #11 North Carolina (tournament in Hawaii) and the two conference games with #14 California. I would say that if Stanford gets through Tennessee on December 20th, they have a good shot at running the table and maintaining the #1 spot for the regular season.

 

[Gate81]

They also play 13 Texas (Thursday) and in conference Oregon State, 21 but likely underrated. I expected the ratings to be 1 UND 2 SC 3 Stanford 4 UConn.

 

[Massman]

Massman can not use his tickets for the Gulf showcase.
Good tickets in Uconn section---101 Row 6.
All six games for $150 or whatever . chemral53@yahoo.com
See you in Tampa I hope.

 

[Vowelguy]

The only current top 25 teams Stanford plays are #5 Tennessee (in Knoxville), #11 North Carolina (tournament in Hawaii) and the two conference games with #14 California. I would say that if Stanford gets through Tennessee on December 20th, they have a good shot at running the table and maintaining the #1 spot for the regular season.

Stanford will not go undefeated.

 

[stwainfan]

It's still very early in the season. Many good games left too play.

 

[RadyLady]

And the coaches were not impressed with South Carolina's win, at least not enough to keep them at #2.

Stanford was voted #1 by the coaches after upsetting Baylor in 2012. Stanford was dropped from the #1 perch in December after losing to then #2 UConn at Maples 61-35. Funny how things go. That Stanford team didn't make the Final Four; neither did preseason #1 Baylor. UConn won the NC after some heartbreaking losses to ND that caused many to question its mental toughness at the end of games.

oddly familiar song, that mental toughness ditty...

 

[Bayareahusky]

Well deserved Stanford... You deserve to be #1...... and yes, as stwain says, tis early tis early

 

[huskeynut]

Fair ranking - for now.

 

[LadyVols9]

TN has a brutal remaining schedule.

They play:

#1 Stanford
#2 ND- at
#3 SC- at
#6 Texas AM
#9 KY--twice (home and away)
#13- Texas-at
#21- Oregon St.
#24- Rutgers-at

That is NINE games against teams that are currently in the top 25.

 

[Gate81]

i say give TN #1 ranking if they win all those games!

 

[triaddukefan]

I see alot of shuffling in the next few weeks below the top 4

TN has a brutal remaining schedule.

They play:

#1 Stanford
#2 ND- at
#3 SC- at
#6 Texas AM
#9 KY--twice (home and away)
#13- Texas-at
#21- Oregon St.
#24- Rutgers-at

That is NINE games against teams that are currently in the top 25.

Duke has a brutal remaining schedule as well..... particulary the month from Nov 30 -Dec 29.

@TAMU, @ Nebraska, and home vs South Carolina.... in the same week

Then two weeks later home vs Kentucky and then @ UCONN.

Then of course a tough ACC schedule with ND, Louisville, UNC, Syracuse .... and a tricky FSU squad in Tallahassee


If Duke can emerge from December with 3 or fewer losses.... I'll be a very happy fan.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I want that #1 ranking back.

 

[chrissaran]

If the Big East was still the Big East, there would be 8 teams in the top 25: UConn, Notre Dame, Louisville, DePaul, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers and USF. There's nothing UConn could have done about that.

 

[rocky rococo]

As a UConn fan, it would be very painful to see Stanford now lose to Tennessee.

 

[Zorro]

To paraphrase Gen. McArthur, we SHALL return.

 

[Vowelguy]

Stanford will not go undefeated.

As I was saying.....

 

[JellyBean]

As I was saying.....

Texas played very well yesterday. So much for that long lived #1 ranking for Stanford.

 

[easttexastrash]

Texas played very well yesterday. So much for that long lived #1 ranking for Stanford.

Who's next? After watching Notre Dame and South Carolina this week, I am a firm believer that the Gamecocks should be the number 1 team in the nation. IMO, Notre Dame has 3 very good players (Lloyd, Allen and Turner) and then quite a few role players. South Carolina has 5 future WNBA players: Mitchell, Welch, Coates, Ibiam and Wilson. Cuevas is a freshman but I see her adding a lot to this team due to her speed. Next to Jefferson, she is probably the fastest player in WCBB this year.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Who's next? After watching Notre Dame and South Carolina this week, I am a firm believer that the Gamecocks should be the number 1 team in the nation. IMO, Notre Dame has 3 very good players (Lloyd, Allen and Turner) and then quite a few role players. South Carolina has 5 future WNBA players: Mitchell, Welch, Coates, Ibiam and Wilson. Cuevas is a freshman but I see her adding a lot to this team due to her speed. Next to Jefferson, she is probably the fastest player in WCBB this year.

Honestly, it doesn't matter where anyone is ranked now, as I'll be much more interested in seeing how teams are ranked at the conclusion of the non-conference schedule. But if you're arguing whether Notre Dame or South Carolina should be #1, then I think you should base it more on how the teams have played rather than how many WNBA players you believe are on each team's roster. Notre Dame did not look impressive in their win over Michigan State, but they won by basically the same margin by which the Gamecocks beat the Trojans, and the Spartans are top 20 whereas no one had the Trojans ranked highly given their losses to graduation and discipline. Plus Notre Dame won in East Lansing, but South Carolina won at home. The only other games on the two teams resumes were cupcakes. We'll know a lot more in early December, as South Carolina will have played their only early season challenge (@Duke) whereas Notre Dame will have hosted Maryland, UConn, and DePaul.

 

[ChicagoGG]

Next week's polls should be entertaining....

 

[Vowelguy]

I suspect the votes in the top 5 are going to be verrrry close. In theory I could see UConn as low as #5 but I suspect a lot of voters wont want to put them that far down.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Mel Greenberg wrote "There is going to be mixed philosophies which may help UConn stay number one which has happened before to teams at the top including the Huskies." I just can't see that happening. The link is provided by pap49cba (LINK).