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The college basketball season is just around the corner, and we now have an official look at how programs across the country stack up against each other. On Tuesday, USA TODAY Sports announced its first rankings of the 2022-23 season with the preseason Coaches Poll.
Despite falling short in the national championship game in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the North Carolina Tar Heels sit atop the rankings with 23 first-place votes. UNC returns four starters from last year’s squad that just fell short of the title.
Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Houston Cougars sit at No. 2 and No. 3 in the country, while the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks round out the top five.
The SEC and Big 12 have the most teams in the preseason Top 25 with five ranked teams each.
Where does your favorite team land in the preseason rankings?
A full look at the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll can be seen below.
Preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
UNC, one of men’s college basketball’s blue blood programs, ascends to the No. 1 spot in the USA TODAY Sports preseason top 25 rankings after falling in the NCAA championship game a season ago. https://t.co/90mMNDyXGe
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) October 25, 2022
- North Carolina (23)
- Gonzaga (5)
- Houston (1)
- Kentucky (3)
- Kansas
- Baylor
- UCLA
- Duke
- Creighton
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Arizona
- Indiana
- Auburn
- TCU
- Villanova
- Virginia
- Alabama
- San Diego State
- Oregon
- Michigan
- Illinois
- Texas Tech
- Dayton
Others Receiving Votes: Purdue 44; Texas A&M 37; Miami-Florida 31; Connecticut 31; Michigan St. 29; Providence 22; Iowa 22; Syracuse 13; Florida State 13; Virginia Tech 9; Southern California 9; Saint Mary’s 8; Wyoming 7; Wisconsin 7; UAB 6; Ohio St. 5; Florida 5; Iowa State 4; Xavier 3; Toledo 2; Rutgers 2; Drake 2; Boise St. 1.
List of USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2022-23 season: Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Glenn Braica, St. Francis (N.Y.); Kevin Broadus, Morgan State; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Baker Dunleavy, Quinnipiac; Jim Ferry, Maryland-Baltimore County; Greg Gary, Mercer; Michael Huger, Bowling Green; Ron Hunter, Tulane; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Western Illinois; James Jones, Yale; Greg Kampe, Oakland; Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri State; Grant McCasland, North Texas; Robert McCullum, Florida A&M; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Niko Medved, Colorado State; Dan Monson, Long Beach State; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Nate Oats, Alabama; Matt Painter, Purdue; Brett Reed, Lehigh; Keith Richard, Louisiana-Monroe; Mark Slessinger, New Orleans; Craig Smith, Utah; G.G. Smith, High Point; Zach Spiker, Drexel; Danny Sprinkle, Montana State; Brett Tanner, Abilene Christian.