Duke moves to No. 4, Tennessee falls to lowest ranking

By Doug Feinberg

AP Sports Wrier 

Tennessee keeps dropping in the women's basketball poll, falling to its lowest ranking in 23 years.

Connecticut remained the unanimous No. 1 choice for the seventh straight week Monday in The Associated Press Top 25.

North Carolina is No. 2 and plays Connecticut next Monday in Chapel Hill. Oklahoma, Duke and Baylor round out the first five.

The Lady Vols' streak of 211 consecutive weeks in the top 10 ended earlier this season. They fell six spots to No. 13 and hold their lowest ranking since the final poll of 1986 when they finished 15th. Tennessee lost at Vanderbilt 74-58 on Sunday.

The Blue Devils host Maryland on Monday night.

Auburn moved up three spots to sixth — its highest ranking since Jan. 3, 2000. Louisville climbed three places to seventh. Texas A&M dropped five spots to eighth after losing to Florida State.

Stanford moved up two places into ninth after routing Washington and Washington State. Notre Dame finished off the first 10.

The Irish were followed by California, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Ohio State.

Texas, which was No. 4 two weeks ago, dropped eight places to No. 16 after losing to Purdue and Texas Tech. The Longhorns had started the season 12-0 before losing three of their last four games.

Kansas State (14-0), which is off to the best start in school history, moved up three places to 17th. The Wildcats visit Oklahoma on Wednesday.

Vanderbilt made the biggest leap, climbing six spots to No. 18. Florida was 19th. Iowa State entered the poll for the second time this season at No. 20 after beating Oklahoma State on Sunday. The Cyclones were ranked 25th in the third poll of the season before falling out a week later.

Marist moved up four places to equal its highest ranking ever at No. 21. The Red Foxes have won 12 straight games.

Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Georgia Tech and New Mexico rounded out the poll. Rutgers fell six places after losing at Syracuse and Louisville. New Mexico rejoined the Top 25 a week after falling out.

Pittsburgh and South Dakota State fell out of the poll this week.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 11, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

Others receiving votes: Pittsburgh 56, S. Dakota St. 50, Florida St. 45, Boston College 29, DePaul 22, Xavier 13, Purdue 10, Syracuse 7, Middle Tennessee 5, LSU 4, Gonzaga 3, San Diego St. 3, Wake Forest 3, Indiana 2, South Florida 2, St. John's 2, TCU 2, UCLA 2, Bowling Green 1, Richmond 1.