NEW YORK - Connecticut forward Maya Moore, the Big East's top player last season, was picked as the league's preseason player of the year by the conference's coaches Thursday. The Huskies were predicted to win their third straight conference championship.

Moore, the first freshman to win Big East player of the year last season, was picked to repeat. The first-team All-American averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds to guide Connecticut to the Final Four before the Huskies lost to Stanford.

The Huskies, 36-2 last season and returning four starters, received 14 of the 16 first-place votes and 224 points in the poll. Rutgers was chosen to finish second - one point ahead of Louisville, which knocked the Scarlet Knights out of the Big East tournament in the semifinals last season.

The Cardinals return second-team All-American Angel McCoughtry, who led the conference in scoring with 23.3 points last season. Louisville was followed in the preseason poll by Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Marquette and DePaul in the top half of the league. West Virginia was ninth, followed by Villanova, Georgetown, South Florida, St. John's, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and Providence.

For the first time, all 16 teams will make the postseason tournament.

Besides Moore and McCoughtry, four players - junior Tina Charles of Connecticut, senior Krystal Ellis of Marquette, junior Epiphanny Prince of Rutgers, and senior Shavonte Zealous of Pittsburgh - were unanimous selections to the 11-person all-conference team.

The others on the team were Candyce Bingham of Louisville, Renee Montgomery of Connecticut, Shantia Grace of South Florida, Chandrea Jones of Syracuse, and Kia Vaughn of Rutgers.