CleveBucks
Serenity now
Preseason poll is out. Buckeyes #4, with one first place vote (Florida got the other 30).
Complete Poll
Defending national champion Florida opens preseason in top spot in Coaches' Poll
Defending national champion Florida, with its five starters returning, is No. 1 in the preseason USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
The Gators received 30 of 31 first-place votes.
North Carolina is No. 2, Kansas sits at No. 3 and Ohio State, which got the other first-place vote, is No. 4.
UCLA, loser to Florida in the national championship game, is tied with Pittsburgh at No. 5.
Florida is only the second national champion to return five starters in at least 40 years.
One of the other two Final Four teams from last year also made the preseason poll. LSU opens at No. 7, followed by Georgetown, Wisconsin and Arizona.
Arizona, which won the 1997 NCAA Tournament, returned five starters in 1997-98. The Wildcats earned a top seed in that NCAA Tournament and lost to Utah in the round of eight to finish at 30-5.
After losing its top two scorers in Duke comes in next at No. 11, followed by Alabama, Texas A&M, Memphis and Boston College.
Washington will have to do without star Brandon Roy this season, but the Huskies should be fine as they open at No. 16. Next is Marquette, followed by Connecticut, Texas and Syracuse.
Georgia Tech swarms its way into the No. 21 position while Tubby Smith's Kentucky squad debuts at No. 22. Missouri Valley Conference member Creighton comes next at No. 23, followed by Tennessee and Nevada.
Complete Poll