NEW YORK (AP) — UConn finished off the decade in the same spot where it began — No. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll.
The Huskies received 19 first-place votes on Monday, beating No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Oregon State, which both got five first-place votes. South Carolina and Stanford round out the top five. With few games this week because of the holidays, the first 22 teams in the poll stayed the same as the previous week.
It's been some decade for the Huskies: five national championships, a total of 17 losses and all 194 weeks ranked in the top five. UConn has been the No. 1 team in the Top 25 in 111 of them, a run that included an 111-game winning streak.
No. 6 Baylor has the second-most No. 1 rankings over the past 10 years with 47. The two teams will play each other on Jan. 9 in Hartford, Connecticut.
The Huskies had the week off for the holidays, with their next game coming on Thursday against Wichita State. UConn hopes to have coach Geno Auriemma back for that game after he missed the Huskies' final game of 2019 because of surgery to treat diverticulitis.
Other tidbits from the poll:
RETURNING GOLDEN GOPHERS
Minnesota returned to the rankings this week at No. 24 riding an 11-game winning streak. Lindsay Whalen's team was ranked 23rd in the preseason poll before falling out after a loss to Missouri State in the opener. Minnesota replaced Michigan, which fell out of the rankings.
RISE AND FALL OF LADY VOLS
While Tennessee has been holding strong in the poll this season, the 22nd-ranked Lady Vols saw a historic 31-year run in the Top 25 end earlier this decade. In 2016, Tennessee fell out of the poll for the first time since 1985, ending a record streak of 565 consecutive weeks ranked.
PAC-12 POWERS
While UConn received 19 first-place votes and Oregon and Oregon State five apiece, South Carolina got the other one. The Ducks and Beavers are two of four Pac-12 teams in the top 10. Stanford is fifth and UCLA is 10th. The Beavers are off to the best start in school history, going 12-0. UCLA has matched the program's fastest start, also going 12-0.
