Oklahoma No. 7 in Coaches Poll

Nov. 5, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma women's basketball was ranked seventh in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll released Wednesday.

Connecticut tallied 30 of a possible 31 first-place votes to take the No. 1 spot. Stanford, Rutgers, North Carolina, Maryland and Tennessee, which earned the other first-place vote, completed the top six.

Duke, California and Big 12 foe Texas A&M, respectively, landed in the top 10.

It is Oklahoma's fourth best start in the coaches' poll. OU began that 2001-02 season at No. 5 and were third and sixth, respectively, to begin the past two seasons.

Other Big 12 schools in the poll included No. 13 Texas, No. 15 (tie) Oklahoma State and No. 17 Baylor. Kansas State and Iowa State also received votes.

Many Oklahoma's opponents will be highly-ranked, including No. 1 Connecticut, No. 6 Tennessee and No. 9 California. The Sooners may also face No. 4 North Carolina and No. 18 Arizona State in the Preseason WNIT.

The USA Today/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head women's basketball coaches from Division I institutions.

The Sooners were ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press' preseason media poll released Saturday.

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Upcoming Schedule
Oklahoma's regular season begins with its 1,000th game in program history when it hosts UC-Riverside in the first round of the Preseason WNIT on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners precede that with two exhibition games, Nov. 6 versus Western State College of Colorado and Nov. 11 against Oklahoma Christian. Both games tip at 7 p.m.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets should call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU. Tickets may also be purchased online by visiting the ticket office link on SoonerSports.com.

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USA Today/ESPN Coaches Preseason Top 25
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)

Rank	Team	Points
1.	Connecticut (30)	773
2.	Stanford	676
3.	Rutgers	639
4.	North Carolina	629
5.	Maryland	624
6.	Tennessee (1)	602
7.	Oklahoma	600
8.	Duke	508
9.	California	495
10.	Texas A&M	493
11.	Louisville	481
12.	Vanderbilt	419
13.	Texas	315
14.	Notre Dame	294
15.	Virginia	279
15.	Oklahoma State	279
17.	Baylor	272
18.	Arizona State	215
19.	Ohio State	188
20.	Old Dominion	163
21.	Auburn	154
22.	LSU	133
23.	Pittsburgh	104
24.	Florida State	101
25.	Georgia	94

Others receiving votes: Xavier (24-9) 87; Purdue (19-15) 85; Kansas State (22-10) 72; Iowa State (21-13) 63; Marist (32-3) 48; Utah (27-5) 46; George Washington (27-7) 24; Syracuse (22-9) 24; Marquette (21-14) 22; Hartford (28-6) 11; Michigan State (23-14) 11; Texas-El Paso (28-4) 9; West Virginia (25-8) 8; Liberty (28-4) 7; Gonzaga (25-9) 6; Illinois State (26-7) 3; Iowa (21-11) 3; New Mexico (20-13) 3; Minnesota (20-12) 2; Montana (25-7) 2; Southern Methodist (24-9) 2; TCU (23-12) 2; Boise State (24-8) 1; DePaul (20-12) 1; East Carolina (13-17) 1; Georgia Tech (22-10) 1; North Carolina A&T (25-8) 1.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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