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Restocked Kansas nabs No. 1 spot in AP Top 25 preseason poll

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October 22nd, 2018 by admin

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kansas is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.

Bill Self’s Jayhawks earned 37 of 65 first-place votes in results released Monday. That was nearly double that of second-ranked Kentucky.

The Jayhawks lost three starters from last year’s Final Four team, but have a restocked roster that includes transfer help from Memphis and California.

Gonzaga is No. 3, followed by Duke and Virginia to round out the top 5. The rest of the top 10 is: No. 6 Tennessee, No. 7 Nevada, No. 8 North Carolina, reigning national champion Villanova at 9 and Michigan State at 10.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has seven ranked teams, the most for any conference. The Southeastern Conference has five teams in the poll.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ preseason 2018-19 men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2016-17 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last year’s final ranking:

Record Pts Prv
1. Kansas (37) 31-8 1581 4
2. Kentucky (19) 26-11 1529 18
3. Gonzaga (1) 32-5 1461 8
4. Duke (4) 29-8 1452 9
5. Virginia (2) 31-3 1286 1
6. Tennessee (1) 26-9 1268 13
7. Nevada 29-8 1230 24
8. North Carolina 26-11 1221 10
9. Villanova (1) 36-4 1085 2
10. Michigan St. 30-5 1024 5
11. Auburn 26-8 974 19
12. Kansas St 25-12 922 –
13. West Virginia 26-11 678 15
14. Oregon 23-13 638 –
15. Virginia Tech 21-12 630 –
16. Syracuse 23-14 620 –
17. Florida St. 23-12 530 –
18. Mississippi St. 25-12 451 –
19. Michigan 33-8 437 7
20. TCU 21-12 311 –
21. UCLA 21-12 297 –
22. Clemson 25-10 268 20
23. LSU 18-15 187 –
24. Purdue 30-7 170 11
25. Washington 21-13 165 –

Others receiving votes: Loyola of Chicago 162, Marquette 124, Indiana 98, Florida 71, Nebraska 35, Maryland 28, Wisconsin 24, Notre Dame 22, Cincinnati 21, UCF 15, Alabama 15, Arizona 14, Buffalo 14, Louisville 11, Miami 10, San Diego St. 9, Texas Tech 6, Southern Cal 6, Butler 6, Texas 5, St. John’s 3, Arizona St 3, Providence 2, Xavier 2, Davidson 1, Missouri 1, Marshall 1, NC State 1.