[ccorces1]

Gators near-unanimous No. 1 in preseason poll

ESPN.com news services



Defending national champion Florida was a near-unanimous pick for No. 1 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches poll released on Friday.
Poll Positions The top five teams in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll:
For the complete ESPN/USA Today preseason poll, click here. The Gators, who return all five starters from the squad that cruised past UCLA to win the title in Indianapolis, claimed 30 of the 31 available first-place votes and 772 points. They are 44 points ahead of the No. 2 team, North Carolina, which lost in the second round of last season's NCAA Tournament but adds a highly touted freshman class to star sophomore forward Tyler Hansbrough and a handful of returning upperclassmen.
Another team with high expectations after a premature NCAA Tournament exit, Kansas, is at No. 3, followed by Ohio State, which, even with stud freshman center Greg Oden possibly out until January, corralled the other first-place vote. Pittsburgh and UCLA are tied for fifth.
LSU, a third member of last season's Final Four, is ranked 7th. The fourth Final Four squad, mid-major George Mason, is unranked after being picked second in the preseason Colonial Athletic Association poll behind Hofstra.
There are 10 teams in the preseason poll that ended last season unranked, led by Big Ten challenger Wisconsin at No. 9 and Pac-10 threat Arizona at No. 10. Creighton (No. 23) and Nevada (No. 25) are the only two mid-majors to crack the initial Top 25, although three of the first four in others receiving votes are West Coast Conference kingpin Gonzaga and Wichita State and Southern Illinois from the Missouri Valley.

[chsbletz]

Until they demonstrate that they aren't what they were at the end of last season, I think you have to accord the Gators the number one spot in the rankings. Curiously, they didn't win the SEC East regular season championship last season. Tennessee did. In fact, the Volunteers beat the Gators both times they played them. That, of course, won't happen this year. The Gators are solid, and Tennessee will be much younger than they were. According to pre-season predictions by basketball writers, Kentucky will be the Gators' main competition for the SEC East this season.

[desertrat]

Florida returns just about everyone from last years team that won it all, so yes, I agree they deserve the #1 ranking. Do I think they repeat? Not a chance. It is very difficult to repeat do to the complacency that usually happens with teams that win a title. It's not easy to regain that mindset to go out with the same hunger and intensity as before winning the title.

[ccorces1]

it will be interesting to see how they come back, i don't believe they were the best team in the country at the end of last season and i don't think they are the best right now, but i will gladly watch them try to prove me wrong!

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by ccorces1

it will be interesting to see how they come back, i don't believe they were the best team in the country at the end of last season and i don't think they are the best right now, but i will gladly watch them try to prove me wrong!

Are you in Long Beach, Ca? I grew up there from 6th grade up.

[soriano33]

THis is a fair ranking, we havent experienced significant losses from last year's team at UF. The champs are number one until someone beats them this year.