Oregon women will begin season in AP's top 25 for 6th straight year
The Oregon women's basketball team will open the season ranked in the Associated Press top 25 for the sixth straight season.
The Ducks came in at No. 20 in Monday's preseason AP poll.
Oregon, which went 20-12 last season and finished second in the Pac-12, bring back six players — including all-conference guards Te-Hina Paopao and Endyia Rogers — to pair with a highly regarded class of newcomers that features four players ranked in the espnW Top 100 in guard Chance Gray (No. 7), forward Grace VanSlooten (No. 13), guard Jennah Isai (No. 36) and forward Kennedy Basham (No. 59).
Only two other Pac-12 teams were ranked in the preseason poll: No. 2 Stanford and No. 19 Arizona.
No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Tennessee round out the top 5.
The Ducks' nonconference schedule includes game in the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland over Thanksgiving weekend against No. 12 North Carolina and potentially No. 8 Iowa State. They could also end up playing No. 14 Ohio State at the San Diego Invitational tournament Dec. 20-21.
Oregon plays Carroll College in an exhibition game Oct. 28 at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks will open the regular season at home against Northwestern on Nov. 7.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks women's basketball ranked in the preseason AP top 25
