STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford will open the 2017-18 season ranked 10th in the Associated Press women's basketball poll, the organization announced Thursday. It's the 18th consecutive season the Cardinal has appeared in the preseason AP rankings.
Stanford, which closed out 2016-17 ranked sixth in the same poll, made its 13th overall trip to the Final Four and seventh in 10 years last season, posting a 32-6 overall record and a 15-3 mark in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal also won its 12th Pac-12 Tournament championship and celebrated Tara VanDerveer's 1,000th career victory during the program's 14th 30-win campaign.
Stanford has now appeared in the AP rankings 515 times out of 730 total polls since 1977 (70.5 percent), with an average positioning of 7.1. It's been in the past 306 polls, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (451). The Cardinal's 515 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (698), Georgia (522) and Texas (521).
Stanford put together a daunting nonconference slate that includes games against three of the top five teams in the AP preseason rankings. The Cardinal opens the season in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, Nov. 10 for a game against No. 5 Ohio State that will be carried on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Two days later, Stanford will face No. 1 UConn for the first time since 2014 at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT.
Stanford will also play at No. 3 Baylor on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT on FS1 and its storied rivalry with No. 14 Tennessee adds another chapter in Maples Pavilion on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks.
Season tickets, three-game and six-game mini plans and group tickets (15 or more) for all dates on the 2017-18 calendar are on sale now by visiting gostanford.com/tickets or calling 800-STANFORD. Single-game tickets are also available for all nonconference games excluding Tennessee. The Tennessee game and all conference single-game seats will go on sale to the public beginning Friday, Nov. 24.
2017-18 Preseason AP Poll
| Rank | School | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut | 800 (32) |
| 2 | Texas | 722 |
| 3 | Baylor | 709 |
| 4 | South Carolina | 674 |
| 5 | Ohio State | 635 |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 629 |
| 7 | Mississippi State | 619 |
| 8 | UCLA | 612 |
| 9 | Louisville | 546 |
| 10 | Stanford | 527 |
| 11 | Oregon | 485 |
| 12 | Duke | 435 |
| 13 | West Virginia | 359 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 344 |
| 15 | Maryland | 325 |
| 16 | Missouri | 315 |
| 17 | Marquette | 264 |
| 18 | Florida State | 234 |
| 19 | Oregon State | 201 |
| 20 | California | 169 |
| 20 | Texas A&M | 169 |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 143 |
| 23 | South Florida | 117 |
| 24 | Michigan | 113 |
| 25 | DePaul | 65 |