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The final major college basketball poll was released on Thursday, and coaches across the country largely agree with AP voters on who the best teams are. Just like in the AP poll, the Kentucky Wildcats are the No. 2 team in the USA Today coaches preseason poll.
USA Today did not elaborate on the qualities of teams, but they did note that Kentucky had 12 first place votes in comparison to 14 for No. 1 Kansas. So, it was a tight race at the top.
It’s interesting that both of the major polls had Kansas No. 1, despite that they’re in the middle of the FBI investigation into college hoops corruption. They’ve already decided to hold key forward Silvio De Sousa out pending an eligibility review, so they’ve got a lot of concerns surrounding the team for a preseason top-ranked team.
Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Duke Blue Devils
- Gonzaga Bulldogs
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Villanova Wildcats
- Nevada Wolf Pack
- Michigan State Spartans
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Auburn Tigers
- West Virginia Mountaineers
- Syracuse Orange
- Florida State Seminoles
- Oregon Ducks
- Virginia Tech Hokies
- Michigan Wolverines
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- UCLA Bruins
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Clemson Tigers
- Washington Huskies
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
Kentucky is joined in the coaches top 25 by SEC foes Tennessee (6), Auburn (12), Mississippi State (19). LSU has appeared in the 20-25 range of many polls, but they are not getting as much respect from coaches.
Kentucky will have 9 games against top 25 teams in the coaches poll this season: Kansas, Duke, Tennessee (twice), UNC, Auburn (twice), and Mississippi State (twice).
With each poll, the excitement of the Champions Classic continues to grow. According to the coaches poll, we will see No. 1 Kansas take on No. 10 Michigan State and No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Duke.
What a way to kick off the season. November 6th can’t get here fast enough.