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rial meningitis. "I think my knee injury has actually helped me a lot. Defensively was an area I really wanted to improve in my game, and because I had to AP Top 25 (preseason) 1. NATIONAL RANKINGS 2. Connecticut 3. Duke 4. Baylor (40) 5. Maryland 6. Kentucky 7. Stanford 8. Penn State 9. 10. Georgia 11. Delaware 12. Oklahoma 13. California 14. St. John's 15. Texas A&M 16. Vanderbilt 17. West Virginia 18. Nebraska 19. Ohio State 20. Tennessee 21. PURDUE 22. Georgia Tech 23. Oklahoma State 24. Miami (FL) 25. DePaul Notre Dame Louisville Other receiving votes: Kansas, Middle Tennessee, Green Bay, Texas, Iowa State, San Diego State, Rutgers, Georgetown, LSU, UCLA, Virginia, Flor- ida State, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Princeton, UTEP, South Carolina, Michigan State, Fresno State, Creighton, USC 2. Connecticut 3. Duke 4. Baylor (31) 5. Maryland 6. Stanford 7. Kentucky 8. Penn State 9. 10. Delaware 11. Georgia 12. Texas A&M 13. St. Johns 14. Oklahoma 15. California 16. Tennessee 17. Vanderbilt 18. PURDUE 19. Nebraska 20. Georgia Tech 21. Ohio State 22. West Virginia 23. Miami (FL) 24. Oklahoma State 25. Green Bay 26. Kansas Louisville Other receiving votes: DePaul, South Carolina, Gonzaga, Georgetown, Iowa State, Rutgers, Middle Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, LSU, Virginia, Michi- gan, St. Bonaventure, Iowa, Arkansas, San Diego State, Syracuse, Brigham Young, Marist Notre Dame USA Today Coaches Poll (preseason) 1. spend so much time worrying about quickness, agility, knee strength, it's made me better. "I think my knee injury actu- ally made me a better shooter, as well. I'm more con- scious about balance and form. It's actually turned out to be to my advantage." League coaches themselves and they want to do whatever it takes to make the team better. "This team is so unselfish, selected the Boiler- makers to finish third in the conference, be- hind defending cham- pion Penn State and Nebraska. The media had the same top two, but put Ohio State in at third place. Versyp thinks the Boilermakers have the tools to compete for a Big Ten champion- ship. it's not about any of them. They don't care about shots. They don't care about who scores. They're going to know if there's a go-to player during the game, they're going to do that, but they're just very unselfish. We have depth. We're more athletic than we've ever been." The Big Ten, which returned eight of its top 10 scorers from a season ago, should be a com- petitive league, the top six or seven teams. "I think it'll be incredibly especially in "I think we'll be in the mix because of our six leaders that have all played, all started," she said. derstand what I want, they understand the system, they under- stand game situa- tions. The sopho- mores and freshmen have given so much of "They un- competitive and just awesome to watch and awesome to play in," Mingo said. "I think the Big Ten is going to be one of the better leagues out there this year, if not the best. I'm claim- ing that right now. Big Ten love." ranked in the top 25 of each of the two major preseason polls. The Associated Press puts The Boilermakers are PURDUE IN TOP 25 Purdue at No. 21, behind Penn State (8), Nebraska (18) and Ohio State (19). Michigan and Michigan State were also re- ceiving votes. USA Today Coaches Poll, check- ing in behind Penn State, at No. 8. Nebraska is 19th and OSU at 21st. Big Ten have new coaches this season. Indiana hired Curt Miller away from Bowling Green, where he compiled a 258-82 record; Illi- nois' first-year coach Matt Bollant came from Green Bay, where he was 148-19 during his tenure; and Kim Barnes Arico is at Michi- gan after taking St. John's to the Sweet 16 a year ago. NEW BLOOD IN BIG TEN A fourth of the teams in the The Boilers are 18th in the Sharon Versyp's Boilermakers are ranked in the top 25 in two preseason polls and were picked to finish third by the coaches in the Big Ten. Tom Campbell ners," Versyp said. "It's great for our conference. It'll strengthen our conference and obviously the recruiting bases (for them and us) are very different. The three new ones are going to be great, like the ones that came in last year and the year before. "Hopefully now we can "They've been proven win- keep our coaches solid now for five to 10 years in their careers and that's when the Big Ten is really going to kick off." j GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 9 • 38