With three of its top four scorers returning for their senior seasons, Kansas figures to be in the mix for the NCAA championship. So do a handful of other teams.
By a very slim margin, the Jayhawks are atop the ESPN/USA Today preseason coaches' poll released Thursday night. Eight teams received first-place votes.
With bruising forward Wayne Simien, versatile Keith Langford and
speedy point guard Aaron Miles all back, Kansas (24-9 last
season) received eight of a possible 30 first-place votes and
741 points in a ballot of Division I coaches.
Despite collecting four more first-place votes than Kansas, Wake Forest (21-10) is second with 724 points. The Demon Deacons
lead an Atlantic Coast Conference contingent of three teams
ranked in the top four.
A young team on the rise behind second-year coach Roy Williams,
North Carolina (19-11) received six first-place votes and 697 points.
After its surprising run to the 2004 NCAA title game, Georgia Tech (28-10) received one first place-vote and 604 points.
Illinois (26-7) is fifth with one first-place vote and 598
points. Syracuse (23-8) is sixth with 557 points.
Defending champion Connecticut (33-6) slipped to seventh with
541 points after the departure of NCAA Final Four Most
Outstanding Player Emeka Okafor and guard Ben Gordon.
Fresh off a Final Four appearance, Oklahoma State (31-4) is
eighth with a first-place vote and 511 points. Kentucky (27-5)
is ninth with 480 points, four more than Michigan State (18-12).
Beginning the second 10, Arizona (20-10) received one
first-place vote and 475 points. Duke (31-6), which lost to UConn in the Final Four, is 12th with 403 points and
Louisville (20-10) got the final first-place vote and is 13th
with 374 points.
Mississippi State (26-4) is 14th and Texas (25-8), Maryland (20-12), Pittsburgh (31-5), Alabama (20-13), North Carolina State (21-10) and Wisconsin (25-7) round out the top 20.
At No. 21 is Notre Dame (19-13), the fourth Big East Conference school in the rankings. Florida (20-11), Memphis (22-8),
Washington (19-12) and Stanford (30-2) complete the poll.