FanNation - The Republic of Sport

1. Oklahoma Sooners - Hungry to make the Final Four, Paris and crew will not be fun to play against.

2. UConn Huskies - Not having Elena Delle Donne around will hurt more than people think. Montgomery needs to play better at the point than she did in the NCAAs.

3. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Epiphany Prince is ready to take this team over and she will be in the running for Big East platyer of the year. Still the best defense in the nation.

4. Duke Blue Devils - I'm banking on Abby Waner getting her three point shot back. If she doesn't, this team will not be ranked this high.

5. UNC Tar Heels - The Big Macs, McCants and McFarland, and company will build on their mistakes from the elite eight against LSU. 

6. Stanford Cardinal - They just lost, but once they get their start recruit, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, going, it's no stopping them form there.

7. Texas A&M Aggies - Tanisha Smith and Tyra White will be unstoppable most of the season.

8. Louisville Cardinals - I don't want to put them here, because they only have one elite player and if your in the top 10, you need more than that. Angel is great, but she can't carry the team, she's not Stephen Curry. But Tennessee just lost, so Louisville gets the 8 spot.

9. Tennessee Volunteers - They don't have offensive firepower, specifically the Parker firepower, to not play defense this year. They will have to step up the defense in big game. This team has a lot of talent though.

10. Notre Dame "Fightin" Irish - Very underrated depth on this team. Barlow and Becca should lead them to the sweet sixteen possibly beyond.

11. Vanderbilt Commodores - The whole team is back and Christina Wirth is a legitimate SEC player of the year candidate.

12. California Bears - This annoying little team scores way too many point when they play my sun devils...blah

13. Virginia Cavaliers  - Apparently Monica Wright is way better than I thought, because about an hour ago she took out Tennessee single-handedly. The Cavs might just jump ahead of Maryland in the ACC race.

14. Arizona State Sun Devils - Turner Thorne has a complete team. A leader at PG, a great shooter, the best name in womens college basketball(Dymond Simon), and a pretty good frontcourt. If they can be more consistent and play better defense in key spots, they could win the Pac-10. They will have a great matchup with UNC(the team they've lost to the last two season) in the WNIT.

15. Baylor Bears - I think it's best not to read to much into their victory over Stanford, simple beacause it's too early to tell. Stanford is still trying to find an identity after Wiggins and once they do that, they will be able to beat a team like Baylor.

16. Oklahoma State - They lost to a good Duke team and no one can stop Andrea Riley from scoring, this team will be fine.

17. Maryland Terrapins - I moving them down further than most polls have simple because of how they lost to TCU. by 12. Also, Kristi Toliver is just not as good as people think. She's made almost no improvement since MAryland's title season.

18. Texas Longhorns - They have their three point threat back from injury and have a team that could surprise some people.

19. Ohio State Buckeyes - Lavender is really good. I think she actually has a great shot at winning national POY over Paris and Moore, but proooobably not.

20. Purdue Boilermakers - They have a young team with great talent, if all their talent can come together and play as one, they could make an elite eight run.

21. Auburn Tigers - I dont know anything about this team...at all...pretty cool huh?

22. Old Dominion Monarchs - Couple questions. Are they named after the butterfly? Did Sacramento get their nickname from a mid-major college program? Questions that dont matter, but I would love to get answered.

23. Florida State Seminoles - They have a great freshman, Cierra something or other. THey could make a lot of noise.

24. TCU Horned Frogs - Yup, Ladainian Tomlinson would be proud.

25. LSU Tigers - I'm keeping them in the Top 25. They lost to a really good team, Notre Dame, and they have a lot of great young talent. Once those young'ns get some experience this team will be back in a big way.

Others: Michigan State, Marist, Georgia Tech, Xavier, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Marquette, Georgia, Utah, Gonzaga, Arkansas, George Washington, Montana, DePaul, and Syracuse*

*Gotta a top 20 recruit out of high school, Syracuse could surprise.

Preseason Awards

Player of the Year- Courtney Paris, Oklahoma: It'll actually probably be Maya Moore, but I can hold out hope.

Freshman of the Year- Cierra Bravard, Florida State: She's already off to a great start and if the only true freshman in the major conferences that will be the focal point of her team's offense. 

Coach of the Year- Charlie Turner Thorne: After we win the PAC-10 this season, Charlie will take home some more hardware for her trophy case. Hey, gotta have at least one biased pick.