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The Kentucky Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels are on top of the preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll of the 2015-16 college basketball season.
UK and UNC tied for the top spot after earning 749 points apiece, though the Heels earned one more first-place vote than UK did. The Maryland Terrapins, Duke Blue Devils and Kansas Jayhawks rounded out the top five.
Other notable teams on the list are the LSU Tigers at No. 19 and Vanderbilt Commodores at No. 20. Kentucky will play those two teams twice in addition to a neutral-site game against Duke and a road game at Kansas. In other words, it's another loaded schedule for the Cats based on the polls.
Here is the full Top 25 Coaches Poll:
|
RANK |
TEAM |
2014-15 FINAL RECORD |
POINTS |
1ST PLACE VOTES |
|
1 |
Kentucky |
38-1 |
749 |
11 |
|
1 |
North Carolina |
26-12 |
749 |
12 |
|
3 |
Maryland |
28-7 |
723 |
5 |
|
4 |
Duke |
35-4 |
686 |
3 |
|
5 |
Kansas |
27-9 |
675 |
1 |
|
6 |
Virginia |
30-4 |
667 |
0 |
|
7 |
Iowa St. |
25-9 |
541 |
0 |
|
8 |
Oklahoma |
24-11 |
520 |
0 |
|
9 |
Villanova |
33-3 |
498 |
0 |
|
10 |
Arizona |
34-4 |
477 |
0 |
|
11 |
Gonzaga |
35-3 |
468 |
0 |
|
12 |
Wichita St. |
30-5 |
461 |
0 |
|
13 |
Michigan St |
27-12 |
386 |
0 |
|
14 |
California |
18-15 |
350 |
0 |
|
15 |
Indiana |
20-14 |
312 |
0 |
|
16 |
Utah |
26-9 |
250 |
0 |
|
17 |
Wisconsin |
36-4 |
181 |
0 |
|
18 |
Notre Dame |
32-6 |
172 |
0 |
|
19 |
Louisiana State |
22-11 |
163 |
0 |
|
20 |
Vanderbilt |
21-14 |
153 |
0 |
|
21 |
Baylor |
24-10 |
145 |
0 |
|
22 |
Butler |
23-11 |
132 |
0 |
|
23 |
West Virginia |
25-10 |
125 |
0 |
|
24 |
Purdue |
21-13 |
110 |
0 |
|
24 |
Connecticut |
20-15 |
110 |
0 |
*Hi/Low Rankings
Hi/Low = The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a "NR" (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
Others Receiving Votes
Michigan 108; Louisville 93; Texas A&M 58; UCLA 48; Georgetown 45; Cincinnati 43; North Carolina State 36; Oregon 33; Texas 29; Xavier 25; Florida State 25; Miami (Fla.) 11; San Diego State 10; Iowa 8; Davidson 5; Boise State 5; Providence 5; Stephen F. Austin 2; Belmont 2; Ohio State 2; Tulsa 1; Dayton 1; Old Dominion 1; Marquette 1.