Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 17, 1992 TAG: 9203170073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was Virginia's first No. 1 finish.
"We didn't put a lot of emphasis into the regular season but the kids just kept working at getting better," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "Now, it's the postseason and they're ready."
The Cavaliers (29-1) received 65 first-place votes and 1,745 points from a nationwide panel of 70 women's coaches, while Tennessee (27-2) got the remaining five first-place votes and 1,685 points.
Virginia and Tennessee, the early season No. 1 team, were the only teams to stay in the top five the entire year, with Virginia never being lower than second.
In the men's poll, Duke can now try to do what UNLV couldn't last year - run the season as No. 1 and defend its national championship.
The Blue Devils were ranked No. 1 in the preseason and stayed there through Monday's 17th and final regular-season voting.
Last season UNLV was able to do the same thing, and like Duke this season, was the defending champion. UNLV's only problem was Duke, which beat the Runnin' Rebels in the national semifinals.
The last team to go No. 1 start to finish and win the national championship was Indiana in 1976, the last team to go unbeaten, something UNLV missed last season by that one game.
Duke is followed in the latest voting of a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters by the other three No. 1 seeds in the upcoming NCAA tournament - Kansas, Ohio State and UCLA.
The Blue Devils (28-2), the top seed in the East, received 64 of 65 first-place votes and 1,624 points to easily beat the Midwest's top seed, Kansas (26-4), which had 1,543 points.
Ohio State (23-5), the top seed in the Southeast, had 1,461 and was followed by UCLA (25-4), the West's No. 1, which had 1,390. Both teams won the two major conferences, which don't have postseason tournaments - the Big Ten and Pac-10.
by CNB