Breanna Stewart (30), Bria Hartley (14) and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (23)
are three of the stars returning for the defending national champions

To the surprise of nobody defending national champion UConn was the unanimous No. 1 team in the preseason Associated Press poll.

This is the ninth time the Huskies have been the preseason No. 1 team. The first time it happened was in 1995 but it was a short stay at No. 1 as the Huskies lost their season opener to Louisiana Tech and they never gained the top ranking that season. UConn was also the preseason pick in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010. UConn was the No. 1 team every week during the 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.

UConn, which opens the regular season by hosting Hartford on Nov. 9, returns eight of its top nine scorers off a team that posted a 35-4 record and won the program's eighth national title.