For the first time since USA TODAY began administering the Coaches Poll in 1991, two teams share the No. 1 ranking, North Carolina and Kentucky.
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Following two of the winningest programs in college basketball history is Maryland, which received five first-place votes despite having not reached the second week of the NCAA Tournament since 2003.
This is the USA Today Coaches Poll with the AP Poll not having come out yet.
1 college basketball team in the preseason coaches poll? Last season they ran the table in the regular season and made it to the Final Four before finally losing a heartbreaker to Wisconsin.
Duke returns six letter winners from last year’s national title team, headlined by captains Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones and Marshall Plumlee. The Tar Heels finished 12th in the poll last season.
Maryland, Duke and Kansas round out the top five.
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Four more ACC teams received votes from the 32 coaches involved in the poll. Indiana is 15th, Notre Dame 18th, Butler 22nd and Purdue 24th. But the Blue Devils have a stellar freshman class coming in.
