Week 18 AP Poll (Mar 9, 2026)

[UCann]

As expected, down this week to 6th. As low as 10th on some ballots:

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[UConNick]

UConn and Duke are the only teams to never fall out of the top six for the entire regular season, from preseason to this poll. Michigan was 7 and Arizona 14 in the preseason, but I like my goalposts because they reflect better for UConn

 

[GHSWolverines]

We will be a 2 or 3 seed in March Madness unless Florida stumbles big time.
PS I am ok with that. Let's go huskies!

 

[AdamaNation]

We’ve won more titles when not a 1 seed.

 

[jibsey]

UConn is lucky to be #6. What do we need to remain a #2 seed? I’m guessing 2 wins in the BE.

 

[BFieldHusky]

UConn is lucky to be #6. What do we need to remain a #2 seed? I’m guessing 2 wins in the BE.

I think a win Thursday clinches it.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think a win Thursday clinches it.

With you, I don't think it would take much. Unless some of these three seeds go on crazy runs.

 

[BFieldHusky]

With Purdue, Nebraska and Mich St on one side of the Big 10 tournament, it really helps. Purdue and Nebraska would meet in the quarters, and the winner would face Michigan St in the semis.

 

[upstater]

We will be a 2 or 3 seed in March Madness unless Florida stumbles big time.
PS I am ok with that. Let's go huskies!

By stumble do you mean a loss? Because if UConn wins the BET and Florida loses to a pretty a team like Arkansas, Alabama or Tennessee, I think UConn gets the 1 seed.

 

[navery12]

Everyone outside of the top 4 teams have pretty much been in free fall for a month straight. Unless falls flat on their face against Marquette in 2 straight games the 2 seed is safe

 

[upstater]

UConn is lucky to be #6. What do we need to remain a #2 seed? I’m guessing 2 wins in the BE.

Why are we lucky?

It's not a one game season folks.

Houston is ahead of us and they lost 3 in a row last week.

They have more losses than us.

They also didn't beat anyone in the OOC.

So... don't understand the thinking here.

 

[RuffRuff]

By stumble do you mean a loss? Because if UConn wins the BET and Florida loses to a pretty a team like Arkansas, Alabama or Tennessee, I think UConn gets the 1 seed.

I think right now Uconn would have to win the BET and Florida would have to get knocked out in the first round.

 

[FightOnCT]

They don’t even really pay attention to the conference tourneys every year. It’s more for borderline cases like bubble territory

 

[RuffRuff]

Everyone outside of the top 4 teams have pretty much been in free fall for a month straight. Unless falls flat on their face against Marquette in 2 straight games the 2 seed is safe

This.

 

[superjohn]

I think a win Thursday clinches it.

Yep but we shouldn't even be thinking about that. Team has to get back on track this Big East tournament. If the team putzes around again and wins on Thursday only to lose in the semis on Friday it will tell us everything we need to know about this team and what they won't accomplish in the NCAA's.

 

[DW1361]

I am pleasantly surprised we didn’t drop out of the top 8. I don’t pay much attention to the polls and thought perhaps we would drop to a 3 seed. No more worries from me and I have to say I am impressed that most of you told me so..,,.

 

[GHSWolverines]

By stumble do you mean a loss? Because if UConn wins the BET and Florida loses to a pretty a team like Arkansas, Alabama or Tennessee, I think UConn gets the 1 seed.

That's a stumble. If Florida gets to the conference championship, then they will likely be the last 4 seed

 

[SwingDog]

Only down to #6 is very generous. I just want them to play better and play hungry every single game, one game at a time.

 

[uconn_jack]

Why are we lucky?

It's not a one game season folks.

Houston is ahead of us and they lost 3 in a row last week.

They have more losses than us.

They also didn't beat anyone in the OOC.

So... don't understand the thinking here.

Yeah, I can understand Florida I guess. Houston makes no sense, recency bias or not. Everyone seems to want to make Houston happen.

 

[superjohn]

Why are we lucky?

It's not a one game season folks.

Houston is ahead of us and they lost 3 in a row last week.

They have more losses than us.

They also didn't beat anyone in the OOC.

So... don't understand the thinking here.

Because Houston played a tougher schedule than UConn and only lost to ranked teams while UConn had a couple of WTF losses to bad teams.

 

[FightOnCT]

Who exactly did Houston beat though with that tougher schedule? Goes both ways

 

[upstater]

Because Houston played a tougher schedule than UConn and only lost to ranked teams while UConn had a couple of WTF losses to bad teams.

Better losses. But no better wins.

I guess that's something.

But when you look at WAB:

Q1A (top teams): UConn 5-2 / Houston 4-5
Q1: UConn 7-2 / Houston 7-5
Q2: UConn 9-1 / 11-0

When you count the sheer number of games, there's not a tremendous difference in schedule (until you take into account the Q3 and Q4 cupcakes).

Q1A: UConn 7 games to Houston's 9
Q1+Q2: UConn 19 games to Houston's 21.

Houston has effectively played only 2 tougher games than UConn.

BUT they haven't beaten teams like Kansas, Illinois and Florida. Their best win is against Arkansas or maybe Texas Tech (teams that are basically like St. John's).

They don't have a couple bad losses like UConn but Marquette and Creighton losses are not shocking compared to a bad OOC loss.

 

[upstater]

Who exactly did Houston beat though with that tougher schedule? Goes both ways

This is the difference between the 2 teams. UConn has better wins but worse losses.

According to the WAB metric, UConn is well ahead.

But I would say also that Houston's schedule is not that much more difficult than UConn's given our OOC. They've effectively played 2 tougher games than UConn. So maybe those 2 tougher games effectively equalize when you look at the fact that they have one more loss.