Who says ladies first?

Four days after the defending NCAA champion Connecticut men's team debuted at No. 1 on the ESPN/USA Today men's college basketball Top 25, the UConn women received the same treatment.

The Huskies, who return four of five starters from last season's 29-5 team, have been voted the No. 1 team in ESPN/USA Today women's college basketball poll, which was released Monday. Connecticut received 18 of 40 first-place votes and 947 points from a nationwide panel of Division I coaches.

Tennessee, winner of six NCAA titles, is second with seven first-place votes and 934 points. Rutgers also had seven first-place votes and is No. 3 with 899 points.

Despite receiving five first-place votes, Georgia, a Final Four participant last March, is No. 5.

Last year's Elite Eight participants UCLA, Louisiana Tech and Iowa State each received one first-place vote, and are ranked fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

North Carolina, Notre Dame and Penn State round out the top 10.

Purdue, the defending NCAA champion, is No. 19 after graduating its top two players (Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs) and coach (Carolyn Peck) took their games to the WNBA.

Connecticut, which hasn't been to the Final Four since 1996, was the top seed in the Mideast Region last season but was upset by fourth-seeded Iowa State 85-70 in the Sweet 16. However, the team's top threat, All-America pick Svetlana Abrosimova (16.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg), returns, as does team-leader Shea Ralph (16.8 ppg). The Huskies also get a boost from sophomore point guard Sue Bird, who returns after being limited to just eight games with a knee injury, and highly-touted recruit freshman guard Kennitra Johnson.

Tennessee was seeking its fourth consecutive NCAA title last season but was beaten by Duke in the East Region title game. Star forward Chamique Holdsclaw, arguably the best women's college basketball player in history, moved on to the WNBA, and point guard Kellie Jolly graduated as well. Tennessee, however, still has Tamika Catchings, most experts' pick as the preseason Player of the Year, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement. Coach Pat Summitt enters the season just five wins short of picking up her 700th career coaching victory.

Rutgers has four returning starters, including All-Big East first-team guards Tasha Pointer and Shawnetta Stewart. UCLA, led by Pac-10 Player of the Year Maylana Martin, has all five starters back, although point guard Erica Gomez will miss most of the early non-conference schedule as she heals from an offseason shoulder surgery.

Georgia, looking for its fourth Final Four appearance in six years, returns junior twins Kelly and Coco Miller, and gets a boost from junior-college transfer Shala Crawford, who should strengthen the Bulldogs' inside game, which was suspect in 1999.

Auburn is 11th in the preseason poll, followed by Illinois, UC Santa Barbara, LSU, Old Dominion, Oregon, Virginia Tech, N.C. State, Purdue and Kansas.

Boston College, Duke, Texas Tech, Arizona and Virginia round out the top 25.