Baylor No. 1 in USA TODAY preseason basketball poll

Narrowly edging Gonzaga, Baylor leads for the first time since the poll began in 1991.

It seems only fitting in this election year that the voting in the preseason USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll came right down to the wire.

With all 32 precincts – er – panelists reporting, Baylor will enter the 2020- 21 campaign with the No. 1 ranking. It’s the first time the school has led the preseason balloting since USA TODAY started administering the poll in 1991.

The Bears finished fourth in the final poll in March after the 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled but did hold the No. 1 position for a stretch last season. In the preseason balloting, they received 764 poll points and 12 first- place votes to narrowly edge out Gonzaga and Villanova for the top spot.

The second- ranked Zags picked up 10 firsts and 762 total points, and the Wildcats got 755 points with eight top nods to open at No. 3. This is the closest preseason vote since the 2015- 16 season, when Kentucky and North Carolina started out the year tied for first.

The remaining two No. 1 votes went to Iowa and Duke, ranked No. 6 and 8, respectively. Virginia, the winner of the most recent NCAA tournament in 2019, will open at No. 4, while perennial contender Kansas rounds out the top five.

For the most part, the top 25 is dominated by the power conferences. The Big Ten has the most representatives with six, headed by the Hawkeyes and No. 7 Wisconsin. That list also includes No. 23 Rutgers, which cracked the top 25 for a week last season but has its first preseason ranking in the USA TODAY poll.

The Big 12 checks in with five clubs, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference with four. The Southeastern Conference and Pac- 12 have three each.

BEN QUEEN/ USA TODAY SPORTS Baylor returns guard Jared Butler ( 12) and guard Davion Mitchell in this year’s quest for a NCAA national title, shown during a game last season at West Virginia.