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First Preseason Top 25 poll is out, Kentucky sits at No. 1

John Calipari

AP

AP

The first men’s basketball preseason top 25 poll was released on Thursday morning, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that the team topping that list was Kentucky.

The Wildcats received 24 of a possible 32 first place votes in the Coaches’ Poll.

Trailing behind Kentucky?

Arizona at No. 2, Duke at No. 3 and Wisconsin at No. 4, all of whom got at least two first-place votes. Kansas, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Louisville and Texas round out the top ten.

The only quibble I have there is Florida sitting at No. 7. I think the Gators have a high ceiling this year, but when you combine the fact that they are a young group with a lot of unproven talent that lost four senior starters from last season’s team, I think it’s a bit much to rank them that high.
RELATED: NBCSports.com’s Top 25 Countdown

The rest of the top 25 can be seen here. The one that we are releasing over the course of this month will look a bit different, but the only real issue I have with the poll is Syracuse. The Orange lost Jerami Grant, C.J. Fair and Tyler Ennis and they have just one (freshman) point guard on their roster. I have a great deal of respect for Jim Boeheim, but I think he needs to prove himself with this group.

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