Tennessee\u2019s 31-year run in the Top 25 is over.<\/p>\n
The Lady Vols streak of 565 consecutive weeks in The Associated Press women\u2019s basketball poll ended Monday as Tennessee fell out of the Top 25. The streak started Feb. 17, 1985.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really an amazing streak and a tribute to all of the players and coaches who\u2019ve contributed to the Lady Vols\u2019 rich tradition of excellence,\u201d Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said. \u201cThe results this season haven\u2019t been what we wanted, but I assure you my staff and I are working extremely hard to ensure that our players reach their potential and, in turn, help our program attain the level of success we expect at Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee (16-11) had been teetering on the edge the past few weeks and finally dropped out after losing two of its three games last week. With the Lady Vols out, UConn now has the longest active streak. The Huskies, who remain No. 1 in the poll this week, have been ranked for 428 consecutive weeks. It would take them roughly seven more years to match Tennessee\u2019s record.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very impressive,\u201d said Tamika Catchings, who starred for the Lady Vols from 1997-2001. \u201cThat\u2019s huge. Like anything else, streaks come to an end at some point and time. Thirty-one years, that\u2019s amazing. To be a part of it was really awesome. Highs and lows. Unfortunately they are going through a little low right now, but it will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
During that 31-year run the Lady Vols had been ranked No. 1 103 times. They were in the first five 407 weeks and top 10 506 times. Since the poll began in 1976, Tennessee had only missed a total of 15 weeks before Monday. The Lady Vols were not in the first poll then missed four weeks in 1981-82. They also had a 10-week gap in 1984-85.<\/p>\n
While the Lady Vols fell out, UConn continued its run at No. 1. The Huskies cruised through two more easy victories. They host SMU on Wednesday and then Tulane on Saturday. This was the 200th week overall that UConn has been No. 1 in the poll.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a reflection of the players we\u2019ve had and the consistency,\u201d UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m most happy with. It\u2019s been going for a long time and you look around the country and realize how difficult it is to sustain this. It\u2019s not as easy as people think sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Huskies were followed by Notre Dame, South Carolina, Baylor and Ohio State.<\/p>\n
Colorado State entered the Top 25 for the first time since 2002. The Rams have won 21 straight games. Missouri also came back into the poll while Florida fell out.<\/p>\n
Other tidbits from this week\u2019s poll:<\/p>\n
\nFALLING OUT:<\/strong> With Tennessee dropping out, it\u2019s the 10th time that a team started the season in the top five and fell out of the poll. The others were South Carolina (1980-81), Louisiana-Monroe (1985-86), Old Dominion (1985-86), Louisiana Tech (1990-91), Georgia (1991-92), Auburn (1993-94), UCLA (1999-2000), Rutgers (2008-09) and North Carolina (2009-10).<\/p>\n HURRICANE COMING: Miami\u2019s got a tough week ahead with games against No. 10 Louisville and No. 12 Florida State. The Hurricanes won their only game last week, beating Virginia Tech in overtime.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Follow Doug on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/dougfeinberg<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Full poll: http:\/\/collegebasketball.ap.org\/Womens-Top-25-2016-16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennessee\u2019s 31-year run in the Top 25 is over. The Lady Vols streak of 565 consecutive weeks in The Associated Press women\u2019s basketball poll ended Monday as Tennessee fell out of the Top 25. The streak started Feb. 17, 1985. \u201cIt\u2019s really an amazing streak and a tribute to all of the players and coaches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-34402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34402"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}