Connecticut is No. 1 again in The Associated Press' poll. The Huskies received all 36 first-place votes from the national media panel Monday.
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They had their most challenging week in a long time, but swept through it beating three top-25 teams. UConn topped then-No. 3 Stanford, No. 8 Maryland and then-No. 14 Penn State by an average of 18 points.
Here are five things to know about this week's top 25:
BUSY WEEK: Connecticut has a long week ahead with four home games. While the talent isn't the caliber of the teams they just played, having four games in five days will be a test for the short-handed Huskies, who are down to seven scholarship players after injuries last week to Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck.
"I think the thing that has always been key for us it that we always try to approach every game the same way, regardless of who or where we're playing," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "If we keep getting better, it's going to be harder to beat us, whether on the road or at home. If we stay stagnant and don't move forward from here, we're setting ourselves up to get beat."
FREE FALLING: California, ranked No. 17, was the only top-25 team to lose to an unranked opponent when the Golden Bears fell at George Washington 75-72 on Friday, dropping them seven spots in the poll. The rest of the poll went 30-0 against non-top 25 teams winning by an average of 27 points.
WELCOME TO THE POLL: At No. 25 DePaul, became the first member of the new Big East conference to get ranked. Before the conference split this season, the Big East had at least one team ranked for every poll since Feb. 23, 1993. DePaul was last ranked in the preseason poll last season.
RISING CARDINALS: Fourth-ranked Louisville is unbeaten after a thrilling overtime win against No. 10 Oklahoma in the Preseason WNIT championship game on Sunday. The ranking is the Cardinals' best in school history and coach Jeff Walz is one victory away from becoming the winningest coach at Louisville.
BAROMETER: Stanford, Maryland and Penn State all saw their games against top-ranked UConn as a chance to see where they stacked up against the best in the country. Despite falling short, all three schools see a bright future this season.
"We'll be a different team come December, March, April. The goal is to grow from this experience," Stanford star Chiney Ogwumike said. "[UConn] is the standard. Take that as motivation to get better throughout the year."
