Buffs finish at No. 15 in final AP poll
A second consecutive run to the Sweet 16 resulted in Colorado women’s basketball landing its best final ranking in more than two decades.
On Monday, the Associated Press released its final Top 25 poll of the season, with CU landing at No. 15. The Buffaloes (24-10) moved up two spots from the previous poll, which was released on March 18.
In the 47-year history of the women’s AP Top 25, this is the first time that the final poll has been released after the NCAA Tournament. In prior years, the final Top 25 was released after Selection Sunday, but before the start of the tournament.
This is the sixth time in program history that the Buffs have finished within the top 15 of the final poll, and the first time since 2002, when they were No. 12.
After starting the season at No. 20 in the preseason poll, the Buffs climbed to No. 3 on two different occasions and spent seven weeks in the top five overall. Only six teams spent more time in the top five than CU.
Overall, CU has appeared in the top 25 in each of the last 27 polls, dating back to last year.
It is the second-longest streak in program history, behind a 75-week streak from 1992-97.
South Carolina (38-0), which completed a perfect season with an 87-75 win against Iowa in the national title game on Sunday, was the unanimous No. 1, with all 35 first-place votes. Iowa (34-5) was a unanimous choice for No. 2.
The other two Final Four teams, Connecticut and North Carolina State finished No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, with both making jumps of seven spots from the previous poll.
USC finished at No. 5 to lead a group of six teams from the Pac-12. In its final season, the Pac-12 tied with the Big 12 for the most teams in the final Top 25.
Rounding out the top 10 was LSU at No. 6, Texas at No. 7 and then three Pac12 teams: Oregon State at
coach Billy Donovan in the back-to-back club, and is in company with Bill Self and Rick Pitino as only the third active coach with two championships.
Nobody will say the Uconn coach didn’t work for this one. In the first half, he begged with, swore at generally berated the refs about over-the-backs, elbows and hip checks that weren’t called.
Once, when that didn’t work after Edey set a hard (and probably legal) pick against Castle, Hurley started in on Edey himself as the center walked toward the Purdue bench for a timeout.
But the coach’s best work came in whatever hotel room he used to draw up the game plan.
How did he deliver it to the Huskies?
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, and total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking.
Rec. Pts Pvs
1. S. Carolina (35) 38-0 875 1
2. Iowa 34-5 840 2
3. Uconn 33-6 798 10
4. NC State 31-7 764 11
5. Southern Cal 29-6 728 3
6. LSU 31-6 687 8
7. Texas 33-5 674 4
8. Oregon St. 27-8 613 12
9. Stanford 30-6 562 5
10. UCLA 27-7 553 6
11. Notre Dame 28-7 531 9
12. Indiana 26-6 496 14
13. Baylor 26-8 425 19
14. Gonzaga 32-4 393 16
15. Colorado 24-10 370 17
16. Ohio St. 26-6 334 7
17. Duke 22-12 286 —
18. Virginia Tech 25-8 284 13
19. Kansas St 26-8 215 15
20. Syracuse 24-8 184 22
21. Oklahoma 23-10 150 18
22. Utah 23-11 127 21
23. Creighton 26-6 125 24
24. West Virginia 25-8 104 —
25. Iowa St. 21-12 103 — Others receiving votes: Tennessee
44, Nebraska 27, Mississippi 24, UNLV
20, Louisville 12, Middle Tennessee 8, North Carolina 7, Fairfield 6, Kansas 4, Alabama 2.
No. 8, Stanford at No. 9 and UCLA at No. 10.
Also from the Pac-12 was Utah at No. 22.
Colorado and Utah will join the Big 12 this summer, along with Arizona and Arizona State.
Future Big 12 opponents for CU that appeared in the final Top 25 included Baylor (No. 13), Kansas State (No. 19), West Virginia (No. 24) and Iowa State (No. 25).
Kaufman-renn 2-4 0-0 4, Edey 15-25 7-10 37, Jones 2-3 1-1 5, Loyer 0-5 0-0 0, Smith 4-12 3-4 12, Gillis 0-2 0-0 0, Heide 1-1 0-0 2, Colvin 0-2 0-0 0, Barrett 0-0 0-0 0, C.furst 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Morton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 11-15 60.
Karaban 2-7 0-0 5, Clingan 5-8 1-1 11, Castle 6-13 2-4 15, Newton 6-13 6-6 20, Spencer 5-12 0-0 11, Diarra 4-6 0-0 9, S.johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Ball 0-0 0-0 0, Hurley 0-0 0-0 0, Ross 0-0 0-0 0, Roumoglou 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 9-11 75.
Halftime: Uconn 36-30; 3-Point Goals: Purdue 1-7 (Smith 1-2, Gillis 0-1, Jones 0-1, Loyer 0-1, Colvin 0-2), Uconn 6-22 (Newton 2-5, Diarra 1-2, Castle 1-4, Spencer 1-4, Karaban 1-6, Clingan 0-1); Fouled Out: S.johnson; Rebounds: Purdue 27 (Edey 10), Uconn 32 (Spencer 8); Assists: Purdue 8 (Smith 8), Uconn 18 (Newton 7); Total Fouls: Purdue 15, Uconn 18.
“The message was that we were the best team in the country,” Hurley said. “Purdue was clearly the second-best team in the country. Play to our identity, be who we’ve been the whole year, and we’ll be champions.”