Where the Wildcats stand in first Coaches Top 25 Poll

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

1. Kansas Jayhawks
2. Kentucky Wildcats
3. Duke Blue Devils
4. Gonzaga Bulldogs
5. Virginia Cavaliers
6. Tennessee Volunteers
7. North Carolina Tar Heels
8. Villanova Wildcats
9. Nevada Wolf Pack
10. Michigan State Spartans
11. Kansas State Wildcats
12. Auburn Tigers
13. West Virginia Mountaineers
14. Syracuse Orange
15. Florida State Seminoles
16. Oregon Ducks
17. Virginia Tech Hokies
18. Michigan Wolverines
19. Mississippi State Bulldogs
20. UCLA Bruins
21. TCU Horned Frogs
22. Purdue Boilermakers
23. Clemson Tigers
24. Washington Huskies
25. 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.