The college basketball season is around the corner.
With less than a month to go before the season tips off, we are getting our first taste of where teams will start on the totem poll as the march towards March. USA Today published the preseason Coaches Poll on their website Thursday.
There are some familiar faces, a few surprises, and a couple of questions marks with a lot to prove.
Where does your favorite college basketball program stand?
Take a look at the newest preseason AP Top 25 below:
| 1 | Duke | 28-9 | 774 | 20 | NR | 0 | – |
| 2 | Michigan St | 20-15 | 747 | 9 | NR | 0 | – |
| 3 | Kansas | 31-5 | 723 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 4 | Kentucky | 32-6 | 678 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 5 | Arizona | 32-5 | 654 | 2 | NR | 0 | – |
| 6 | Villanova | 32-4 | 623 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 7 | Florida | 27-9 | 549 | 1 | NR | 0 | – |
| 8 | Wichita St. | 31-5 | 543 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 9 | North Carolina | 33-7 | 515 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 10 | West Virginia | 28-9 | 458 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 11 | Southern California | 26-10 | 396 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 12 | Miami-Florida | 21-12 | 383 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 13 | Cincinnati | 30-6 | 349 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 14 | Notre Dame | 26-10 | 305 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 15 | Minnesota | 24-10 | 303 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 16 | Louisville | 25-9 | 295 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 17 | Xavier | 24-14 | 284 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 18 | UCLA | 31-5 | 275 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 19 | Gonzaga | 37-2 | 242 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 20 | Northwestern | 24-12 | 208 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 21 | Purdue | 27-8 | 167 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 22 | St. Mary’s | 29-5 | 152 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 23 | Seton Hall | 21-12 | 139 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 24 | Baylor | 27-8 | 107 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
| 25 | Alabama | 19-15 | 82 | 0 | NR | 0 | – |
No surprise to find Duke at the top of the list. They’re returning a number of players, including their (let’s call him fiery) leader Grayson Allen. Add in the nations top recruit Marvin Bagley III and they have the makings of another season primed for a deep run into the tournament.
One-and-done artisans Kentucky come in at number four, and the defending National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels manage to slip into the top 10, landing in the nine spot.
One of the bigger surprises is Jim Larranaga and the Miami Hurricanes all the way up at No.12.
Louisville will fight distractions all year long thanks to an FBI investigation and the controversy surrounding their former coach Rick Pitino. It will be interesting to see how the team responds, and if they rise into the top 10, or fall out of the top 25 entirely.
Expect the board to change like the position of the sun; the eventual National Champion might not even be on this list.
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