Duke #1 in pre-season coaches poll

[elcheato]

Defending champion Duke begins the 2010-'11 men's college basketball poll on top of the preseason men's basketball ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

The Blue Devils received 29 of 31 first-place votes in the poll. No. 2 Michigan State received the other two first-place votes.

Preseason Coaches' Poll

The top five teams in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll:

Duke
Mich. St.
Kansas St.
Pitt
Ohio St.

Duke figures to have a different look from the team that won 35 games and its ninth ACC tournament title in 12 years before edging Butler in the NCAA title game. The Blue Devils are replacing veteran leaders Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas with players like freshman point guard Kyrie Irving and transfer Seth Curry, but the expectations are the same.

Michigan State reached the Final Four last season for the second consecutive year, and the Spartans have six Final Four appearances in their past 12 seasons. They haven't won a national title since 2000, though, which is something this group hopes to change. Three of their top four and seven of nine scorers are back from last season's team that won 28 games.

Kansas State, with almost everyone coming back from last year's 29-8 team, is ranked No. 3, while Pittsburgh (four starters and seven of eight players returning) and Ohio State, which boasts a glittering recruiting class that some publications pegged as tops in the nation, round out the top five.

No. 6 is Villanova, followed by Kansas, Purdue, North Carolina and No. 10 Kentucky.

Florida is ranked 11th, followed by Gonzaga, Syracuse, Baylor, Missouri, Illinois, Washington, Butler, Memphis and No. 20 Tennessee.

No. 21 is Georgetown, while Temple, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Texas round out the poll.

In all, nine teams -- led by No. 9 North Carolina -- that finished last season unranked now hold spots in the preseason poll.

 

[The Young One]

Duke is gonna be a force this year. Kyrie Irving is gonna make a lot of gms and teams fall in love.

NC State is my sleeper ACC school.

 

[elcheato]

I can't wait for the basketball season.. Glad OSU is consistently relevant now and get more noticed nationally. The #5 ranking is pretty amazing considering we lost the best player in college.

William Buford could have an Evan Turner like season this year, not to the same extent, but the constant threat of a triple double or just putting up big numbers.. Going into his junior year, and most likely will be starting at PG this year. Hes about 6'6, with great athleticism and a deadly mid range shot, will be a hard cover.

William Buford - Jon Diebler - David Lighty - DeShaun Thomas - Jared Sullinger is what I hope the lineup is, although I could see us bringing Thomas off the bench for a scoring spark and starting Dallas Lauderdale at Center and moving Jared to PF.

 

[The Young One]

There's a lot of talk saying Sully could be a one and done kid. I just dont see him leaving there after one year though.

 

[elcheato]

He should go one and done if his draft status gets high enough imo, because the longer he stays the more people are going to knock on him for not having great athletic ability. But I assume he could still go high if he played great for 2 or 3 years.

 

[Lake Louise]

I like seeing the Big Ten continuing to develop into relevant powers. They have improved in football, and now in basketball. It's not all of a sudden, it's been a slowly but surely thing, but it's nice to see. Makes things more interesting, and enjoyable.

 

[Mooche]

I am super excited to see Duke this season. Going to be a fun team to watch, even though I hate them. Looking forward to a great season!