First, it was a winning season. Then a victory over a ranked team. Then an NCAA tournament bid.
Now comes another milestone for the Iowa State women's basketball team - a national ranking of its own.Iowa State broke into The Associated Press poll for the first time Monday, claiming the No. 24 spot in voting by a national media panel.
"I try not to make a big deal out of a lot of things, but it's a big step," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. "When you do anything in life for the first time ever, it's a moment you should feel very good about.
"If you get ranked among the best women's college teams in the country, that's something you should be excited about, and we are. Who would have thought 2 1/2 years ago this was even a possibility?"
Tennessee remained a unanimous No. 1 in the poll, which underwent a massive revision in the other spots. Hawaii joined Iowa State as a newcomer, moving in at No. 23 for its first national ranking in four years.
Utah is a spot away from breaking into the AP's Top 10, jumping up from 14th to No. 11. Actually, the Utes are a Top 10 team already, tied for the No. 9 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Hawaii (16-1), which has lost only to Iowa State, made the Top 25 for the first time since the week of Jan. 4, 1994, when it was 21st. The Rainbow Wahine have won 12 straight since their loss.
With 16 ranked teams losing in the past seven days, including eight in the Top Ten, only Tennessee, No. 4 Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech held the positions they occupied last week.
There was so much shuffling that Vanderbilt climbed three spots despite losing to Tennessee by 32 points. Other changes included Duke zooming from 24th to 13th after beating three ranked teams in a week, Stanford returning to the Top Ten for the first time since mid-November, and Nebraska and Purdue dropping out.
Tennessee (21-0) overwhelmed DePaul 125-46 before beating Vanderbilt and received all 39 first-place votes. Connecticut (19-1) moved from third to second after three lopsided wins that included a 93-72 victory over Old Dominion, which dropped one place to third.
Louisiana Tech held on at No. 4 after beating Penn State and losing at Western Kentucky, and Texas Tech bounced back to beat Kansas after losing at Iowa State to hold on at fifth.
North Carolina jumped five spots to tie Vanderbilt for sixth and Illinois fell two places to eighth. Stanford climbed four spots to ninth, while Arizona went from seventh to 10th.
Stanford, a Final Four team the last three years, has won eight of its last nine after a 2-4 start.
Utah climbed three places to 11th. Then it was North Carolina State, Duke, Florida and Western Kentucky, followed by Virginia, Georgia, Washington, Florida International and Wisconsin.
Clemson, Stephen F. Austin, Hawaii, Iowa State and Southwest Missouri State held the final five places.