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SportsPulse: The university basketball season is fast approaching. Here are the top 25 teams of the preseason that you must know.
USA TODAY Sports
Kansas guard Lagerald Vick reacts after a game against Duke in the second half of the Midwest Regional Championship game at the 2018 NCAA Tournament.(Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)
High-end talent tends to turn quickly into the modern era of college basketball. As a result, a large number of teams that participated in the championships last year are very different from those of the 2018-19 season. By extension, therefore, the USA TODAY pre-season poll of sports coaches does not look like the final ranking of the previous season.
Kansas will open the year with the No. 1 ranking, although the vote was far from unanimous. The Jayhawks received 14 of 32 votes in first place to beat Kentucky, No. 2, 10 points.
This is the first ranking of the Jayhawks' # 1 pre-season since the 2009-10 season. Built around the return of the great man Udoka Azubuike and an infusion of talented transfers and recruits, the KU is expected to continue its reign in the Big 12.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Kansas enters the season thinking national title or "failure"
TOP 25 ANALYSIS: Five teams snubbed or overestimated in the pre-survey
TRAVEL TO SKIPPING: Villanova, NCAA basketball champion, will not visit the White House
Kentucky, second in the standings, was voted first on 12 ballots, thanks to another group of highly rated recruiting classes joining some major pools of last year 's campaign. Duke, who will be even more focused on first-year students, opens in third place, winning four votes for first place. The Blue Devils are leading a list of seven ACC members in the top 25, which also includes Virginia No. 5 and North Carolina No. 7. Gonzaga and the Cavaliers complete the top five by winning a only vote in the first place.
Kansas is the only member of last year's Final Four to be ranked in the top five. Reigning champion Villanova will open in eighth, Michigan's second, 18th, and Loyola-Chicago, second in the top 25.
The Wildcats are the only Big East team in the standings. There are four teams each of Big 12, Big Ten and SEC. Big Ten's best team is Michigan No. 10.
The No. 6 Tennessee and No. 9 Nevada have reached their highest ranking of the preparatory season since USA TODAY Sports took charge of poll administration during the 1991-92 season.
The complete top 25 of the pre-season (record 2017-18)
1. Kansas (31-8)
2. Kentucky (26-11)
3. Duc (29-8)
4. Gonzaga (32-5)
5. Virginia (31-3)
6. Tennessee (26-9)
7. North Carolina (26-11)
8. Villanova (36-4)
9. Nevada (29-8)
10. State of Michigan (30-5)
11. State of Kansas (25-12)
12. Auburn (26-8)
13. West Virginia (26-11)
14. Syracuse (23-14)
15. State of Florida (23-12)
16. Oregon (23-13)
17. Virginia Tech (21-12)
18. Michigan (33-8)
19. State of Mississippi (25-12)
20. UCLA (21-12)
21. TCU (21-12)
22. Purdue (30-7)
23. Clemson (25-10)
24. Washington (21-13)
25. Nebraska (22-11)
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