Duke Blue Devils: #1 in the Coaches Basketball Poll
The Duke Blue Devils and two other ACC squads headline the top ten of the college basketball Coaches Poll.
The Duke Blue Devils are the preseason number one in men’s college basketball. That was the announcement now that the Coaches Preseason Poll is out. Twenty-seven of thirty-four first place votes went to the Blue Devils. They firmly have the target on their backs.
Duke will be coming into this season with a mix of players from their last title run and an influx of new freshmen who are all highly rated. Not only do you get the likes of Grayson Allen, but also the return of Amile Jefferson for one more run. Then there are the freshmen with Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson, and Marques Bolden.
These all seem like good signs, but it is only fair to mention the 1994 North Carolina Tar Heels. They brought back several pieces from the 1993 Championship team but could not mesh them successfully with a trio of talented freshmen. Duke needs to be aware that talent does not necessarily determine fate, but all signs point to fun in Durham.
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Further down the list at #6 are the North Carolina Tar Heels. The last second losers of last year’s title game have to replace two big pieces in Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige. They have their own trio of freshmen to try and do that with. That includes guard Seventh Woods and forward Tony Bradley.
The poll suggests there is a bit of a gap between the Tar Heels and the five teams above them. This is because each of those five teams received somebody’s first place vote. The Tar Heels garnered none of those.
Other ACC squads appeared in the poll. That should mark this year as a competitive one at the top of the conference. Virginia is nestled right behind the Heels at number 7. Louisville and Syracuse are in the top 20.
2016 Preseason Coaches Poll:
Duke Blue Devils
(27)
2. Kansas Jayhawks (1)
3. Villanova Wildcats (1)
4. Kentucky Wildcats (2)
5. Oregon Ducks (1)
6.
North Carolina Tar Heels
7. Virginia Cavaliers
8. Xavier Muskateers
9. Michigan State Spartans
10. Wisconsin Badgers
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11. Arizona Wildcats
12. Indiana Hoosiers
13. Gonzaga Bulldogs
14. Louisville Cardinals
15. Purdue Boilermakers
16. UConn Huskies
17. Syracuse Orange
18. West Virginia Mountaineers
19. Saint Mary’s Gaels
20. UCLA Bruins
21. Maryland Terrapins
22. Texas Longhorns
23. Creighton Blue Jays
24. Rhode Island Rams
25. Cincinnati Bearcats
Next: Hill for Duke after Bye Week
Still have some football to play before we get to the season openers in less than a month.