This Week's AP Poll: Throwback Monday

[BoomBoom]

After pasting Georgia, Seton Hall enters the AP Poll at #23. It's the first time they have been ranked since January of 1995. Hats off to them...and it puts me in mind of where UConn was in January of 1995. Just months away from NC #1.

20 years for one school to slide back into the national picture...and again...credit to them for their return. But to think what those 20 years have been for UConn! Now on the verge of #10.

What will the WBB scene look like in another 20 years? Fun to think of what history could be on the verge of just beginning (or continuing). Given that UConn's own history was just beginning 20 years ago.

 

[DavidK]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

7 of 25 are one time Big East schools

#2 Uconn
#4 Notre Dame
#7 Louisville
#16 Rutgers
#21 Syracuse
#23 Seton Hall
#25 DePaul

I want my confrence back

 

[Wink96]

I want my confrence back [/QUOTE]
Me TOO!

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Conference games are beginning. I think this is where we should see how good some of these teams are and where the separation is among that top teams.


Louisville/ND/Duke/UNC/Syracuse/FSU

South Carolina/Kentucky/TAMU/Tennessee

Texas/Baylor

Seton Hall/DePaul

Cal/Oregon State/Washington/UCLA/ Stanford


Just a few of the intriguing match ups.

 

[Buzzyboy]

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

7 of 25 are one time Big East schools

#2 Uconn
#4 Notre Dame
#7 Louisville
#16 Rutgers
#21 Syracuse
#23 Seton Hall
#25 DePaul

I want my confrence back

A few of these teams were helped immeasurably by having UConn have the success it did. It got other programs to compete at a higher level and be able to recruit by telling talented girls out there that they were the building blocks of that respective school's future and that they would be able to compete against the "best" if they joined the Big East. I don't see why that can't happen in the AAC with teams like SMU and Houston etc. Maybe a talented kid doesn't want to leave Texas but would like to be the recruit or at least one of the recruits to make these teams successful and get them in the NCAA tournament. If UConn stays in the AAC, I can assure you that the quality of basketball in the league will be appreciably better down the road and quite competitive.

 

[Jackalope]

Somewhere, Somehow Anne Donovan might be taking credit for Seton Halls ranking. After all, didn't she recruit a number of the players?

 

[easttexastrash]

Conference games are beginning. I think this is where we should see how good some of these teams are and where the separation is among that top teams.


Louisville/ND/Duke/UNC/Syracuse/FSU

South Carolina/Kentucky/TAMU/Tennessee

Texas/Baylor/OK State

Seton Hall/DePaul

Cal/Oregon State/Washington/UCLA/ Stanford


Just a few of the intriguing match ups.

OU Lite is ranked 18th. Otherwise the Big 12 is looking pretty weak.

 

[triaddukefan]

OU Lite is ranked 18th. Otherwise the Big 12 is looking pretty weak.

They are ranked.... but still unproven in my opinion.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

OU Lite is ranked 18th. Otherwise the Big 12 is looking pretty weak.

yea, i forgot about them.

and seems to me that either one of the Kansas teams usually pull off an upset or two each season.

 

[wire chief]

More-ranking-by-reputation. Why would North Carolina be above Oregon State?

 

[triaddukefan]

More-ranking-by-reputation. Why would North Carolina be above Oregon State?

More quality wins ?

 

[HoopsFan21]

A few of these teams were helped immeasurably by having UConn have the success it did. It got other programs to compete at a higher level and be able to recruit by telling talented girls out there that they were the building blocks of that respective school's future and that they would be able to compete against the "best" if they joined the Big East. I don't see why that can't happen in the AAC with teams like SMU and Houston etc. Maybe a talented kid doesn't want to leave Texas but would like to be the recruit or at least one of the recruits to make these teams successful and get them in the NCAA tournament. If UConn stays in the AAC, I can assure you that the quality of basketball in the league will be appreciably better down the road and quite competitive.

You might be right about UConn's influence. Here is what the SMU coach, Rhonda Rompola, had to say about it in her post-game press conference:

On how UConn affects recruiting
"I think it helps recruiting, I think players want to play against UConn. All of our freshmen that played in today’s game wanted to have the opportunity to play UConn and they did. They got a little taste of it."

 

[easttexastrash]

More-ranking-by-reputation. Why would North Carolina be above Oregon State?

Good question since they beat Oregon State and their only loss is to Tennessee in Knoxville.

 

[easttexastrash]

You might be right about UConn's influence. Here is what the SMU coach, Rhonda Rompola, had to say about it in her post-game press conference:

On how UConn affects recruiting
"I think it helps recruiting, I think players want to play against UConn. All of our freshmen that played in today’s game wanted to have the opportunity to play UConn and they did. They got a little taste of it."

It couldn't have tasted that good.

 

[JellyBean]

A few of these teams were helped immeasurably by having UConn have the success it did. It got other programs to compete at a higher level and be able to recruit by telling talented girls out there that they were the building blocks of that respective school's future and that they would be able to compete against the "best" if they joined the Big East. I don't see why that can't happen in the AAC with teams like SMU and Houston etc. Maybe a talented kid doesn't want to leave Texas but would like to be the recruit or at least one of the recruits to make these teams successful and get them in the NCAA tournament. If UConn stays in the AAC, I can assure you that the quality of basketball in the league will be appreciably better down the road and quite competitive.

This has been my thinking since day one of the AAC and folks were crying about why nobody wanted UConn in the P-5. To me, if our basketball history does not warrant enough respect from the P-5 to get an invite...forget the P-5!! We can get the AAC to become a Power Conference!!! SMU, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, just to name a few, are in places where there is tons of basketball talent. In time, those schools will become better and start to compete at a high level. It just takes time. The AAC will become a power conference in 4-5 years. I am calling it now. Especially teams like Memphis and Houston.

 

[JellyBean]

More-ranking-by-reputation. Why would North Carolina be above Oregon State?

Just name only.

 

[easttexastrash]

More quality wins ?

They do have some decent wins but got walloped by Oregon State in Chapel Hill.

 

[BoomBoom]

Looking back 20 years...the last 20 NCs have been divided as follows:

Connecticut--9
Tennessee--5
Baylor--2
Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Maryland, Purdue--1 each

How will the next 20 NCs be distributed? I could see

Connecticut--6
Louisville--4 (maybe none in the immediate future but in the back half of the next 20 years...Walz is going to be around a long time!)
Notre Dame--3
Bayl0r--3
Texas--2
Tennessee--1
And a spot reserved for a team I can't currently see winning one but who might become/return to the elite in the years ahead (say, a Maryland).

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats to Seton Hall. They were absolutely abysmal for a few years.

 

[Vowelguy]

We can get the AAC to become a Power Conference!!! .

Women's basketball has nothing to do with whether the AAC is a power conference.

When p5 schools are earning 20 mill a year, and the AAC is getting 1 mill, it will be easy for lesser p5 schools to upgrade thrift programs.

Note it took seton hall and Syracuse 20 years to build their programs. DePaul, Rutgers, and nd were all decent before they entered the BE.

 

[DobbsRover2]

And old Rutgers fans will tell you that they won a national title back in 1982 long before UConn was any good and in fact at a time when Southern Connecticut was the top local power, having been to as many AIAW national semifinals as Louisiana Tech, Delta State, Old Dominion, and Wayland Baptist.