BATON ROUGE — After reaching the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament and nearly upsetting No. 6 Duke on its home floor, the LSU women’s basketball team finished the season ranked in a tie for 25th in the final USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, it was announced on Thursday.
The Lady Tigers (21-10) earned 53 points and shared the final poll position with Texas (22-11). LSU was unranked but receiving votes in the previous Coaches’ poll released prior to the NCAA tournament. Connecticut, who won the national championship, earned all 31 first-place votes. Stanford, Oklahoma, Baylor and Xavier round out the top five.
Six Southeastern Conference teams placed in the final Top 25 highlighted by Tennessee at No. 8. Kentucky (No. 9), Georgia (No. 19), Mississippi State (No. 21), Vanderbilt (No. 24) and LSU (No. 25) were also ranked.
It represents the 16th time LSU has been ranked in the final USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll dating back to 1986. LSU received votes in last year’s final Top 25, and the Lady Tigers finished ranked in the top five in the previous six seasons.
USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Final Top 25
Rank, School (First Place Votes), Record, Points, Last Week’s Ranking
1. Connecticut (31), 39-0, 775, 1
2. Stanford, 36-2, 744, 2
3. Oklahoma, 27-11, 678, 12
4. Baylor, 27-10, 676, 18
5. Xavier, 30-4, 652, 5
6. Duke, 30-6, 591, 6
7. Nebraska, 32-2, 550, 4
8. Tennessee, 32-3, 538, 3
9. (tie), Kentucky, 28-8, 537, 15
9. (tie), Florida State, 29-6, 537, 11
11. Notre Dame, 29-6, 500, 7
12. Gonzaga, 29-5, 397, 14
13. Iowa State, 25-8, 357, 16
14. Texas A&M, 26-8, 336, 9
15. Ohio State, 31-5, 306, 8
16. West Virginia, 29-6, 287, 10
17. Georgetown, 26-7, 218, 13
18. St. John’s, 25-7, 215, 17
19. Georgia, 25-9, 202, NR
20. San Diego State, 23-11, 174, NR
21. Mississippi State, 21-13, 170, NR
22. Oklahoma State, 24-11, 121, 19
23. UCLA, 25-9, 106, 22
24. Vanderbilt, 23-11, 74, NR
25. (tie), LSU, 21-10, 53, NR
25. (tie), Texas, 22-11, 53, 20
Dropped out: No. 21 Virginia, No. 23 Hartford, No. 24 Middle Tennessee, No. 25 Michigan State.
Others receiving votes: Michigan State (23-10) 52; Wisconsin-Green Bay (28-5) 46; Hartford (27-5) 29; Virginia (21-10) 29; Middle Tennessee (25-6) 19; Arkansas-Little Rock (27-7) 15; Dayton (25-8) 11; California (24-13) 7; Vermont (27-7) 5; Princeton (26-3) 4; Marist (26-8) 3; DePaul (21-12) 2; Gardner-Webb (28-5) 2; Temple (25-9) 2; Lehigh (29-4) 1; Tulane (26-7) 1.