It was in Chicago at the Big Ten Conference's media day a few weeks back that Lisa Stone talked about the climb her University of Wisconsin women's basketball team was on.

This was after the Badgers, who lost in the final of the Women's National Invitation Tournament last season, were picked to finish second in the Big Ten by the conference 's coaches and third by a media panel.

Monday was another step in that climb toward national prominence in a season UW hopes will result in an NCAA tournament appearance. The Badgers found themselves in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since Feb. 11, 2002, checking in at No. 25.

"It's an awesome thing for us to reach the Top 25," Stone, who's in her fifth year at UW, told the AP. "It's an early ranking, but it demonstrates the fact that we're headed in the right direction."

UW, which faces Marquette at the Bradley Center Saturday, opened its season with an 82-62 win on the road against Cleveland State in a game that was closer than the final score.

But that showing, combined with the fact that the Badgers returned all of their major contributors from last year's 23-13 team, was enough to put UW into the poll. The Badgers had the second-most points of teams outside the Top 25 in the AP preseason poll.

Pittsburgh fell out of the poll, the only team to do so, after an 80-74 loss to Penn State Sunday. The Panthers and North Carolina State were each just one point shy of the Badgers.

Defending national champion Tennessee remained the unanimous pick at No. 1, getting all 50 first-place votes. With UW's inclusion, the Big Ten had three teams in the Top 25, with Ohio State at No. 16 and Michigan State following at No. 17.

The Badgers were ranked 25th the last time they cracked the poll. During that 2001-02 season, they reached as high as No. 5 the highest AP ranking in program history before going 4-11 down the stretch and losing to Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.