Rutgers Earns No. 3 Slot in Associated Press Preseason Poll
Nov 03 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers was selected third in the Associated Press women's basketball preseason poll released on Saturday afternoon.
The ranking is the highest preseason ranking ever for the Scarlet Knights. The prior high was a fourth place precursor heading into the 1999-2000 campaign. The Top-5 preseason showing is the fourth in Rutgers' history. Tennessee received the top nod, compiling all 50 first-place votes. Rutgers faces the Lady Vols on Feb. 11 in Knoxville.
The Scarlet Knights, the NCAA runner-up, return all five starters from a team which posted a 27-9 ledger in 2006-07. Rutgers finished 15th in last season's final AP poll, released on March 12.
RU also received the third-place showing in the USA/ESPN coaches poll.
Connecticut placed second with Maryland taking fourth and LSU placing fifth.
Seven BIG EAST schools appear in the preseason top-25 poll with West Virginia (18) and Pittsburgh (20) rounding out the first 20. Louisville placed 21st followed by Notre Dame (24) and DePaul (25).
The Scarlet Knights open the season officially on Nov. 11, entertaining No. 7 Stanford. In addition to Tennessee and each of the six other league opponents, Rutgers will face - in total - 12 teams ranked in the top-25 preseason poll.
Other schools on RU's schedule include Maryland (4), LSU (5), Duke (10), California (13) and George Washington (15).
Notes: The highest ranking the Scarlet Knights have ever received in an AP poll is No. 2 (Week 10 and 13, 1980-81 season) No. 2 (Week 12 and 13, 1986-87 season)
This is the highest ranking for the Scarlet Knights under head coach C. Vivian Stringer. The previous was four to start the 1999-00 season. They fell to No. 10 in week two.
