First college basketball poll is out!
Believe it or not, the NCAA basketball season gets under way a week from Monday, and we have our first ESPN/USA Today poll of the new season. Your No. 1 team: The Kansas Jayhawks, and for good reason.
The Jayhawks return their top nine scorers from last year, which is almost absurd. All-Americans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, who both turned down the NBA draft, will team with prized 6-6 freshman guard Xavier Henry to lead the way for KU. Collins, a 5-11 senior point guard, averaged 18.9 points and 5.0 assists last season. Aldrich, a 6-11 center, averaged 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Jayhawks, who reached the Sweet 16 last season.
Kansas received 27 first-place votes in garnering top preseason honors for the third time in school history and the first since the 2004-05 season. KU was also No. 1 in the 1996-97 season. The Jayhawks didn’t win the title either of the first two times.
In 2008, coach Bill Self won his first NCAA title and the third for Kansas. Comparing that team with this squad, he said the 2008 team “was more experienced and quicker. But that team didn’t have the depth and didn’t potentially rebound as well.”
Michigan State, which finished as the runner-up in the 2009 NCAA tournament, starts the 2009-10 campaign second in the poll. The Spartans lost center Goran Suton and Big Ten Player of the Year Travis Walton from last year’s club but have a lot of depth and a good freshman class.
Defending national champion North Carolina begins this year at No. 4. Kentucky is at No. 5 in the poll after finishing last season unranked and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 17 years.
Georgia Tech, ranked 20th despite its 12-19 record last season, is only the fourth team in the poll to get a preseason ranking on the heels of a sub.-500 season.
UCLA is not ranked for the first time in 80 polls dating to the final poll of the 2004-05 season. North Carolina now has the longest active streak with 69.
NCAA futures will be coming soon to WagerWeb.com
Here’s the Top 25 poll:
1. Kansas (27 first-place votes)
2. Michigan State (3)
3. Texas
4. North Carolina (1)
5. Kentucky
6. Villanova
7. Purdue
8. Duke
9. West Virginia
10. Butler
11. Tennessee
12. California
13. Washington
14. Connecticut
15. Michigan
16. Oklahoma
17. Ohio State
18. Minnesota
19. Mississippi State
20. Georgia Tech
21. Georgetown
22. Dayton
23. Louisville
24. Clemson
25. Syracuse
Others receiving votes: Maryland 100, Illinois 83, Siena 72, UCLA 59, Vanderbilt 38, Oklahoma State 29, Missouri 28, Xavier 25, Gonzaga 24, Notre Dame 22, USC 22, Pittsburgh 19, Tulsa 17, Kansas State 16, Brigham Young 16, Florida State 15, Florida 13, Wake Forest 13, San Diego State 8, Creighton 7, Boston College 4, Texas A&M 4, Southern Illinois 3, Utah State 3, Cornell 3, Memphis 3, Mississippi 3, UNLV 2, South Carolina 1, Northern Iowa 1.
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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