5 things to know about AP women’s basketball poll

Connecticut remained No. 1 in The Associated Press’ women’s basketball poll Monday after two more wins over ranked teams.

The Huskies did have their closest game of the season when they went to Baylor and ended the Lady Bears’ 69-game home winning streak with an 11-point victory on Jan. 13. UConn beat then-No. 23 Rutgers on Sunday by 30. The Huskies (20-0) have beaten their seven ranked opponents by an average of 21.6 points. They will host Memphis and South Florida this week.

Here are five things to know about this week’s poll:

UNBEATEN PART II: Connecticut isn’t the only unbeaten team as No. 2 Notre Dame also hasn’t lost yet this season. The Irish have a very tough two weeks in front of them with three road games against teams in the top 11 starting with Monday night’s game at Tennessee. Notre Dame also visits No. 6 Maryland next Monday night before facing Duke on Super Bowl Sunday. The Irish (16-0) have home games against Miami and Clemson in there as well.

With both UConn and Notre Dame undefeated, it marks the seventh time in the last 11 seasons that two teams have made it this far unblemished. The longest run over that stretch was 2010 when UConn and Nebraska were undefeated until the end of February.

MOUNTAINEERING: After just falling short of being ranked for most of the season, Mike Carey’s West Virginia team jumped into the poll at No. 18. The Mountaineers (14-2) are tied for first in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State, with the school’s only losses coming to Ohio State in the season opener and Baylor.

West Virginia, which was last ranked on Dec. 17, 2012, visits Texas Tech and Texas this week.

FREEFALLING: It was another jumbled week for Top 25 teams, with nine of them falling to unranked or lower ranked opponents. Iowa State took the biggest tumble, dropping seven spots after losing to West Virginia and Kansas State. The Cyclones have lost three straight after starting the season 14-0. Florida State also got swept this week, losing to N.C. State and Virginia. The 24th-ranked Seminoles dropped four spots.

HIGH RISERS: Arizona State moved up five spots to No. 14 after beating California on Friday. The Sun Devils have equaled their best ranking since Dec. 14, 2009. They have a tough test Monday night with No. 4 Stanford visiting. Arizona State is trying to complete a sweep of its two Bay Area opponents for the first time since 2006.

POLL JINX?: Rutgers and Vanderbilt made their first appearances in the Top 25 this season and had mixed results. The Scarlet Knights, who hadn’t been ranked since the start of the 2011-12 season, were swept by Memphis and UConn. The Commodores beat both Mississippi and then-No. 14 LSU. A week earlier, three teams making their first appearances of the season in the Top 25 went 1-4.

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