Louisville Joins Women's Poll for First Time
November 20, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2006
Louisville achieved one of coach Tom Collen's goals: The Cardinals finally are a Top 25 team in women's basketball.
They joined the AP poll for the first time on Monday, breaking in at No. 24. The Cardinals are 4-0 and have won by an average of 33 points.
"I think the ultimate goal for this program is to always be there," Collen said. "You've really arrived when you're in the Top 25 year in and year out, but you have to start somewhere."
Maryland, North Carolina and Oklahoma remained 1-2-3 in the poll, which had one other newcomer in George Washington at No. 23. New Mexico and Southern Cal dropped out, while Stanford fell from fourth to 11th after losing at home to BYU.
Collen took the Louisville job in 2003 after five seasons at Colorado State, where his teams made 34 appearances in the Top 25. His Louisville teams have won at least 19 games each season and made the NCAA tournament twice, but they've never been able to get ranked - until now.
"I think it's a good motivator, a good pat on the back for our players and for our staff that we're doing things right," he said. "You need those positive rewards."
Maryland (5-0) received 46 of 50 first-place votes from a national media panel and had 1,246 points, 71 more than North Carolina. The Terrapins played three straight days during the weekend and their closest game was a 14-point win over Arizona.
North Carolina (3-0) routed Elon 90-36 in its only game and received one first-place vote. Oklahoma (3-0) won twice in Hawaii and picked up the three other first-place votes.
The next six teams all moved up one spot - Tennessee, Duke, Ohio State, Connecticut, Georgia and LSU. Purdue, 5-0 under new coach Sharon Versyp, jumped two places to 10th after beating Baylor to win the Preseason WNIT.
Stanford (1-1) lost to BYU 55-52 in the second round of the WNIT and was left with an expected seven-day layoff. The Cardinal host Missouri on Tuesday night.
Texas A&M moved up one spot to 12th, while Arizona State slipped two places to 13th after a loss to Tennessee ended its 26-game home winning streak. Then it was Vanderbilt, Baylor and California, followed by Michigan State, Rutgers, DePaul and Kentucky.
UCLA, BYU, George Washington, Louisville and Texas held the final five places.
George Washington lost to Maryland on Sunday after a 4-0 start that included victories over Arizona and TCU. The Colonials were a regular in the poll through the 1990s but were ranked only once last season, holding the No. 25 spot the week of Jan. 16.
Southern Cal, which was 19th last week, dropped out after road losses to South Dakota State and Ohio State. New Mexico, which had been 23rd, lost to Nebraska before rebounding to beat Texas.
Rutgers (1-2) dropped four places to 18th after splitting two games. The Scarlet Knights were upset by Pepperdine in overtime, then beat Florida. Their other loss was to Georgia on Nov. 12.
Louisville is getting solid play from sophomore Angel McCoughtry, who's averaging 17.3 points and shooting 68 percent. Five others average 8.5 to 13.5 points.
Six players scored in double figures in an 89-44 waltz past Furman on Sunday, but the schedule toughens considerably over the next couple of weeks. The Cardinals play at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, then have games against Xavier, Kentucky and Western Kentucky.
"We're going to find out how good we are," Collen said. "If we stumble and fall, we'll find out how resilient we are."
