The Huskies received some good news Monday going into their five-day holiday break, as UConn was ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press rankings for the first time this season and 243rd week in program history.
Following former No. 1 Stanford's loss to unranked Texas on Sunday afternoon and UConn's 97-53 clobbering of Oklahoma, the Huskies received 19 first-place votes, well ahead of those received by Oregon (5), Oregon State (4) and South Carolina (1). That group of four, along with Stanford, round out the top five of the rankings.
It was UConn's first time voted No. 1 since Dec. 31, 2018, right before the Huskies fell on the road to Baylor. The Huskies had started the 2019-20 season at fifth in the poll before eventually climbing up No. 2, where they were ranked the previous two weeks.
UConn (10-0) has earned the top ranking in the AP poll at least once in 21 seasons, including all but five since 1994-1995.
Setting aside the ranking, associate head coach Chris Dailey, who was filling in for Geno Auriemma against Oklahoma, said that this particular UConn team still has a ways to go before truly becoming the best team in the nation.
"I don't know that we're the No. 1 team in the country," Dailey said Sunday. "I haven't seen enough of a lot of people. But I've known our team when we have been No. 1. This team isn't there yet. We're not really worried about No. 1 now. What we want to do is give ourselves the best chance to be in position in March."
UConn, which alongside Oregon State is the only undefeated team in the top five, has played one ranked team so far this season, then-No. 16 DePaul, but has a tough schedule coming up. The Huskies will face off against No. 6 Baylor, No. 2 Oregon, No. 22 Tennessee and No. 4 South Carolina. The first three of those games will be home matchups.
If you ask senior point guard Crystal Dangerfield, earning the top spot may be cool, but it's not the end-all-be-all. After three straight exits in the national semifinals, the senior knows firsthand that it doesn't matter where you start, but rather where you finish.
"At the end of the day, it's that last weekend (that matters)," Dangerfield said Sunday. "Me speaking from what's happened the last three years, I don't care about anything until we get to the last weekend."
Elsewhere in the poll, Miami and Texas re-entered the Top 25. The Longhorns became just the seventh unranked team to knock off the No. 1 team when they beat the Cardinal on Sunday. Oregon State, which at 11-0 is off to the best start in school history, also earned its highest ranking ever at No. 3.
