By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA - Perhaps the other upsets in the Top 10 may save Tennessee from Top 10 neighbohood eviction when the new poll Associated Press women's poll is released early Monday afternoon.
But if the Vols are ousted, it ends an interesting run.
As of now the current top 10 streaks are -- believe it or not -- only four teams went wire to wire last season -- beginning with second place North Carolina in the streak ranking order.
North Carolina 66 straight top 10s beginning january fifth 05
Connecticut 60 beginning final poll of 04-05.
Stanford 27
Tennessee has been ranked 208 straight times in the Top 10 dating to final poll of 96-97
The week before the Vols were 11th,
That ended a streak of 178 beginning with the preseason poll of 86-78 making an overall stretch of 386/387 weeks dating to the preseason poll of 1986-87.
The biggest scare was a No. 10 on Dec. 10 1990.
In the 1985-86 season, Tennessee was was ninth in preseason and then not in top 10 rest of way.
The prevous season is when the Vols missed most of their overall 14 absences since the beginning of poll in 1976-77.
Meanwhile, the Guru travelled to Maryland Sunday to witness the wipeout of UCLA. Durng the game came the announcement of another NCAA field hockey title for the Terps, giving them back-to-back titles.
Temple travelled and in a battle of former longtime assistant coaches -- Jolette Law, Rutgers; Tonya Cardoza, Connecticut -- Cardoza's Owls picked up a 66-47 win over Illinois in Champagne.
That creates some mild interest next Monday when Rutgers visits Temple trying to bounce back from a West Coast set of thrashings by California and Stanford.
If California gets into the top five -- yes in our liftime -- it will be coach Joanne Boyle's first association with the penthouse neighborhood since here days as an assistant at Duke.
-- Mel
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