Lady Vols rule preseason coaches' poll

They ended last season No. 1 and they'll start this season the same way.

Poll Positions

The top five teams in the ESPN/USA Today preseason coaches' poll:

1.	2.	3.	4.	5.
For the complete ESPN/USA Today poll, click here.

The defending NCAA champion Tennessee Lady Vols were voted the top team in the nation in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 coaches' preseason poll released Wednesday.

The Lady Vols received 26 of 31 first-place votes to outdistance rival Connecticut in the second spot. UConn received four first-place votes.

Tennessee and UConn will not play a regular season game in 2007-08, the first time since their inaugural meeting in 1995 that the women's basketball superpowers are not scheduled to play. UConn sent Tennessee a contract to continue the series, but Tennessee chose to terminate the series.

The Huskies lead the overall series 13-9 and are 4-0 against the Lady Vols in national championship games. Their last meeting came in January, a 70-64 Tennessee victory in Hartford that featured a dunk by Lady Vols star Candace Parker.

NCAA runner-up Rutgers, which returns all five starters, was ranked third in the preseason poll after a 27-win season that included the Big East tournament title. The run led to a seven-year contract extension for coach C. Vivian Stringer, who will be paid the same base salary as football coach Greg Schiano.

Maryland made a solid jump in the offseason, finishing the 2006-07 season ranked 14th but vaulting to No. 4 in the preseason poll.

LSU, which also received a first-place vote, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Stanford, Duke and Georgia rounded out the top 10.

Tennessee kicks off its season at home on Nov. 11 against Chattanooga. The Lady Vols face No. 6 Oklahoma on Nov. 15 in a key early-season battle.

Rutgers has a difficult early test as well, opening against No. 8 Stanford on Nov. 11 (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET).

Source: ESPN.com