UConn capped its season at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday, one day after winning its 12th national championship.

The Huskies received all 31 votes from a national media panel after Geno Auriemma’s team beat South Carolina 82-59 for the title. The Gamecocks, who started the season at No. 1, were the unanimous second choice.

A record five teams held the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 this year. South Carolina, UCLA, Notre Dame and Texas also all were first at some point this season. No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Texas both made the Final Four while USC finished fifth.

It was UConn’s first time at No. 1 since the team finished the 2021 season that way. It’s also the 17th time overall that the Huskies have ended in the top spot. This year ended the longest drought for the Huskies not to close the season at No. 1 since they went five years in a row from 2003-08.

TCU, Duke, LSU, North Carolina State and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.

HOCKEY

Three years of major tinkering has U.S. women’s hockey coach John Wroblewski saying he has finally captured the right mix of experience and youth heading into the world championships.

“For the first time, I think we have answers instead of questions,” Wroblewski said, assessing the roster overhaul he’s overseen since taking over after Team USA’s loss to arch-rival Canada at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

“These are answers that the players have provided us as opposed to us needing to figure things out or piece together,” he added. “Not only are they ready to make the team, but they’re ready to provide a spark.”

Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin makes no apologies for her veteran-laden, defending champion group heading to the Czech Republic to compete in the 10-nation tournament opening Wednesday.

“Both teams are different. We are a little more old and we’re all aware of that. And they have so many college kids on their team,” Poulin said. “It’s exciting. I don’t think we’re satisfied.”

Fresh versus the familiar is the theme involving one of sports’ longest-running and fiercest rivalries, with the game’s global powers set to face off in the final major tune-up before the 2026 Winter Games in Milan.

“It’s pivotal. It’s really important for us to see where we’re at,” said U.S. forward Hilary Knight, a four-time Olympian making her 15th world championship appearance.

“It’s not a secret that we have a split down the middle of veterans and sort of newer players,” she said of a roster featuring nine college players and just 13 holdovers from 2022. “To get those reps, those mental maps kind of going and then to be able to, less than a year later, do it on the biggest stage of your life is going to be critical.”

Don’t discount the hosts. The Carla MacLeod-coached Czech Republic team looks forward to showcase the gains it’s made by winning bronze at two of the past three worlds, and after making its Olympic debut in 2022.

“It will never be lost on us that we get the privilege of playing at home,” MacLeod said. “Four years ago, not a lot of people would have believed that this could have been a true story with the excitement and the potential of this team.”

Defending bronze medalist Finland, Sweden and Germany are also in the mix of contenders. The field is rounded out by Switzerland, Japan, Hungary and Norway, making its first tournament appearance since 1997.

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic will get the chance to avenge one of the more surprising losses of his career. The 24-time Grand Slam champion will face 32nd-ranked Alejandro Tabilo in his opening match of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco.

Tabilo rallied past 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round to set up the second-round rematch with Djokovic, who he beat at the Italian Open last year.

Djokovic, who had a first-round bye in Monte Carlo, won only five games against Tabilo in Rome.

It will be Djokovic’s first match since losing the Miami Open final to Jakub Mensik.

The Monte Carlo Masters is first big clay-court tournament of the year. Also in the round of 64, Jiri Lehecka beat Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6 (7) and Marcos Giron beat Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 (5).

GOLF

Vijay Singh withdrew from the Masters, citing an injury, the first time the former champion is not at Augusta National since making his debut in 1994.

The Masters did not provide details on the injury for Singh, 62. He tied for 18th on Sunday at the PGA Tour Champions event in Florida.

This is the 25-year anniversary of Singh’s victory at the Masters, when he withstood a cast of contenders in the final round that included Tiger Woods, David Duval and Ernie Els.

Tiger Woods was playing golf with Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley ahead of the Masters two years ago when Ridley mentioned the club’s soon-to-be-announced project to renovate a municipal course that for nearly a century had been an affordable haven for Augusta’s working-class and Black golfers.

Woods was interested immediately, Ridley said, and that kicked off more formal conversations that culminated with Monday’s announcement that Woods will design a par-3 course at the renovated municipal facility, and that Woods’ foundation will build an educational center for local public school students.

The five-time Masters champion’s involvement in the project will expand his imprint on the Georgia city where he experienced his greatest triumphs as a player.

The Augusta National-funded renovation of Augusta Municipal Golf Course — known as the Patch for the vegetable gardens that once abutted the property — was a surprise even to the facility’s general manager and head pro when Ridley announced it two years ago.

The Patch closed at the end of December for a planned 15-month rebuild overseen by architects Tom Fazio and Beau Welling. The municipal course — adjacent to an airport where Masters competitors arrive on private jets — is scheduled to reopen next April.

When it does, it will have nine new short holes created by one of the sport’s greatest players. The par-3 course will be known as the Loop at the Patch in honor of the Augusta National caddies who gathered there to play golf — an opportunity they did not enjoy at the exclusive club about 5 miles to the north.

Woods did not attend Monday’s news conference because he is rehabilitating from surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.

“It’s a momentous day for all of us at the TGR Foundation to be able to have this moment, to be able to do this in conjunction with Augusta,” Woods said in prerecorded remarks, “and to do something at a place that has meant so much to me in my lifetime.”