Gophers women's basketball team still in AP Top 25 despite losing streak

NEW YORK — Minnesota dropped five more spots, from 18th to 23rd, in the newest Associated Press women's basketball poll, which was released Monday afternoon.

Two weeks ago, when the Gophers were off to a 12-0 start, they were ranked 12th.

Notre Dame remained No. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll after beating then-No. 2 Louisville last week.

The Big Ten has six teams in the Top 25 for the first time since the first regular-season poll of 2014-15. Maryland leads the way at No. 9 while Michigan State (17), Rutgers (20), Iowa (22), Minnesota (23) and Indiana (25) give the Big Ten the most ranked teams this week.

Minnesota plays Iowa at 6 p.m. tonight at Williams Arena (ESPN2).

The ACC, Pac-12 and SEC each have four teams in the poll. The Big 12 has three while the Big East has a pair. The West Coast Conference and American each have one.

The Fighting Irish received 23 first-place votes from the 30-member national media panel on Monday. Louisville fell to fourth, swapping places with Baylor, which received six first-place votes. UConn moved into a tie with the Lady Bears for the No. 2 slot. The Huskies got the final first-place vote. The Irish beat Louisville by 14 points and then routed Wake Forest by 30.

Stanford, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Maryland and Oregon State fill out the top 10.

Rutgers and DePaul entered the AP Top 25 at Nos. 20 and 24 while Florida State and California fell out.

Here are some other tidbits from the poll:

RISING RUTGERS: The Scarlet Knights entered the poll at No. 20. Rutgers has won its first five games in the Big Ten — the best start since joining the conference in 2014-15. The team has won eight straight overall. Rutgers faces Purdue and No. 17 Michigan State this week.

FALLING LADY VOLS: Tennessee dropped seven spots this week to No. 20 as the team is riding a three-game losing streak. It's the first three-game skid for the Lady Vols in 33 years. They fell to Missouri, Kentucky and Georgia by a combined eight points over the last eight days.