Both teams earned 749 points from the ballots of 32 Division I coaches.
Advertisement
Kentucky lost the top seven scorers from a team that almost achieved the first ideal college season in 39 years, but the bar for John Calipari’s newest batch of freshmen remains just as high.
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. The ACC has four teams in the top 25, while the Big Ten has five but the ACC has three top ten teams while the Big Ten only has one.
The Cats share the spot with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Poeltl will be one of the best rim protectors in the nation this year and if he improved his offense over the summer like many say he has this team is a real threat to not only Arizona in the PAC-12 but also to possibly make a Final Four run.
UC, Xavier, Ohio State and Dayton all are among others receiving votes.
Kentucky is also tied for No. 1. 1′s to begin the season since the coaches poll came into existence in 1991. Ingram, Jeter and Kennard were McDonald’s All-Americans in 2015, and Thornton was considered a frontrunner to make the 2016 game before reclassifying.
Advertisement
Familiar shades of blue topped the first USA Today basketball coaches poll of the 2015-16 season, which was released Thursday.
