The American Athletic Conference held its inaugural women’s basketball media day Monday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Ct.

With the day’s events came the release of the conference’s coaches’ preseason poll, which has Temple slated to finish ninth out of the conference’s 10 teams, ahead of only the University of Houston.

Defending national champion Connecticut will look to flex its status as a national powerhouse in a new conference, and was unanimously chosen by all voting coaches as the top-ranked team in the preseason poll. Louisville University, the national runner-up a season ago, came in at No. 2 in the ranking.

The American also announced the preseason All-Conference selections, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year candidates, none of which included Temple.

Coach Tonya Cardoza and seniors Natasha Thames and Shi-Heria Shipp took part in the day’s events.

Temple will open the season against Big-5 rival La Salle University Nov. 8.

2013-14 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
                                                  Points
1.     Connecticut (9)                  81
2.     Louisville (1)                       73
3.     USF                                    59
4.     Rutgers                              57
5.     SMU                                   50
6.     Memphis                            32
7.     Cincinnati                           30
8.     UCF                                    28
9.     Temple                               25
10.   Houston                              15