Quinnipiac Ranked Nationally in USA Today Sports Top 25 Coaches' Poll for First Time in Program History
MAAC Sports
EDISON, NJ – Quinnipiac University Women’s Basketball team ranked No. 23 overall in the final USA Today Sports Top 25 Coaches’ Poll of the 2016-17 season. It is the first time in program history that the Bobcats have been ranked nationally. Quinnipiac previously received votes in national polls in 2012-13 and 2014-15, but were never in the Top 25.
The Bobcats finished the season (29-7, 17-3 MAAC) and earned its first two NCAA Tournament wins in program history. Quinnipiac defeated nationally ranked opponents No. 25 Marquette University and No. 16 University of Miami in the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Tournament en route to the Sweet 16.
The Bobcats are the second team from the MAAC to advance to the Sweet 16. Marist College was the first team to do so in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
They were just the fourth No. 12 seed in NCAA Women’s Basketball Division I history to advance to the Sweet 16, joining BYU (2014), Kansas (2013), and San Francisco (1996). The Bobcats were also the fourth team in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to knock off both a No. 4 and 5 seed en route to a Sweet 16 berth.
Quinnipiac was one of 13 programs across the nation to have won at least three-straight conference regular season titles. The Bobcats have recorded a mark of 54-6 (.900) in conference games in that three-year span (since 2014-15).
Quinnipiac finished first in the MAAC in scoring offense (68.4), scoring margin (+9.7), field goal percentage defense (36.9%), blocked shots per game (4.9), assists per game (16.2), steals per game (10.8), turnover margin (+4.94), and assist/turnover ratio (1.1).