Duke will enter season with top ranking again
Duke was in good position to be ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason men’s basketball poll before landing Marvin Bagley III.
Once the nation’s top recruit decided to reclassify so he could sign to play this season, the Blue Devils became the voters’ clear choice.
Led by Bagley and senior guard Grayson Allen, Duke was the preseason No. 1 for the second straight year and ninth time overall, matching rival North Carolina for most all-time. The Blue Devils received 33 of 65 first-place votes from a national media panel in the AP Top 25 released Wednesday.
No. 2 Michigan State received 13 first-place votes, No. 3 Arizona had 18 and No. 4 Kansas got one. Kansas extended the nation’s longest consecutive poll streak with its 162nd straight Top 25 appearance, a run that started on Feb. 3, 2009. Arizona is next with 98.
Kentucky rounded out the top five Wednesday, followed by Villanova, Wichita State, Florida, North Carolina and Southern California.
West Virginia was No. 11, followed by Cincinnati, Miami, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Louisville, Xavier, Gonzaga and Northwestern, which is ranked in the preseason poll for the first time. Purdue was No. 20, with UCLA, Saint Mary’s, Seton Hall, Baylor and Texas A&M filling the final five spots.
North Carolina was ranked No. 6 in last year’s preseason poll before going on to beat Gonzaga for its sixth national title.
Duke had three players leave school early, but coach Mike Krzyzewski restocked the Blue Devils with another stellar recruiting class. That group is led by Bagley, an athletic 6-foot-11 forward widely considered the No. 1 recruit of the 2018 class before reclassifying.
Duke, which lost to Final Fourbound South Carolina in the second round of the 2017 NCAA tournament, is ranked No. 1 for the 129th time, five behind alltime leader UCLA. The Blue Devils were first the preseason No. 1 in 1978-79 and finished seventh in last year’s final poll.
“It is an honor to be picked No. 1 in your sport,” Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “At this time of the year, it truly is a prediction, so you haven’t earned No. 1 yet. More than likely, past teams that have played at Duke have put this team in a position where people might say, ‘How is that team going to do?’ or ‘They have a lot of talent,’ and all of the sudden, you’re No. 1.
“Certainly it’s an honor, and we’ll look forward to trying to achieve and earn that ranking at some time during the season, hopefully at the end.”