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Lincoln - The Nebraska women's basketball team will open its 2013-14 campaign with its highest preseason ranking in school history, as the Huskers start the year No. 12 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25, announced Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Nebraska's preseason ranking by the coaches surpasses its No. 19 ranking by USA Today before the start of the 2012-13 season.
The Huskers finished the 2012-13 campaign at No. 18 in the final coaches poll following their second run to the NCAA Sweet 16 in the past four years. Nebraska closed with a 25-9 overall record that included a 12-4 Big Ten Conference finish.
NU enters the 2013-14 campaign as the highest ranked Big Ten team, just ahead of defending Big Ten regular-season champion Penn State. The Lady Lions will start the year at No. 15 in the coaches poll.
Michigan State heads into the season at No. 18, while defending Big Ten Tournament champion Purdue begins the year at No. 23. All four of the Big Ten teams in the preseason poll advanced to at least the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament and won at least 25 games.
The preseason top 25 included UCLA - Nebraska's first opponent of 2013-14, The Huskers will face the Bruins in the first-ever regular-season basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in downtown Lincoln on Nov. 8. Tip-off between the Huskers and Bruins, who advanced to the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament and finished with a No. 15 final national ranking in the coaches poll, is set for Noon.
Season and single-game tickets are available now at Huskers.com.
USA TODAY SPORTS DIVISION I TOP 25 COACHES' POLL
Preseason: Oct. 29, 2013
The USA TODAY Sports Top 25 preseason women's basketball coaches poll, with team's 2012-13 records in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in the final poll of 2012-13 (April 10) and first-place votes received:
| Rank | School (record) | Points | Final 2012-13 rank | First-place votes | |
| 1 | Connecticut (35-4) | 799 | 1 | 31 | |
| 2 | Duke (33-3) | 735 | 6 | ||
| 3 | Stanford (33-3) | 714 | 7 | ||
| 4 | Tennessee (27-8) | 663 | 9 | 1 | |
| 5 | Louisville (29-9) | 631 | 3 | ||
| 6 | Maryland (26-8) | 630 | 11 | ||
| 7 | Notre Dame (35-2) | 624 | 2 | ||
| 8 | Kentucky (30-6) | 621 | 8 | ||
| 9 | California (32-4) | 490 | 5 | ||
| 10 | Baylor (34-2) | 407 | 4 | ||
| 11 | North Carolina (29-7) | 387 | 19 | ||
| 12 | Nebraska (25-9) | 381 | 18 | ||
| 13 | Texas A&M (25-10) | 368 | 14 | ||
| 14 | Oklahoma (24-11) | 354 | 23 | ||
| 15 | Penn State (26-6) | 313 | 12 | ||
| 16 | Dayton (28-3) | 307 | 16 (tie) | ||
| 17 | LSU (22-12) | 276 | 21 | ||
| 18 | Michigan State (25-9) | 185 | not ranked | ||
| 19 | Colorado (25-7) | 172 | not ranked | ||
| 20 | Iowa State (24-9) | 163 | 22 | ||
| 21 | South Carolina (25-8) | 158 | 16 (tie) | ||
| 22 | Georgia (28-7) | 152 | 10 | ||
| 23 | Purdue (25-9) | 129 | 20 | ||
| 24 | Oklahoma State (22-11) | 127 | not ranked | ||
| 25 | UCLA (26-8) | 114 | 15 |
Others receiving votes: Vanderbilt (21-12) 99; Gonzaga (27-6) 68; DePaul (21-12) 54; West Virginia (17-14) 53; South Florida (22-11) 37; Georgia Tech (14-16) 34; Kansas (20-14) 32; Florida State (23-10) 18; Wisconsin-Green Bay (29-3) 18; Marist (26-7) 17; Rutgers (16-14) 11; Creighton (25-8) 10; Saint Mary's (23-11) 8; Syracuse (24-8) 8; Middle Tennessee (25-8) 6; Toledo (29-4) 6; Iowa (21-13) 4; Quinnipiac (30-3) 4; San Diego (22-10) 4; Delaware (32-4) 2; Minnesota (18-14) 2; Brigham Young (23-11) 1; Florida (22-15) 1; Pacific (27-8) 1; Southern Methodist (21-10) 1; St. John‘s (18-13) 1.