Posted on 10/27/2006 11:01:44 AM PDT by Perdogg
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:
1. Florida 2. North Carolina 3. Kansas 4. Ohio State 5. UCLA/Pitt
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
GO HEELS!
If you're not a gator... you're gator bait!
It won't be easy, but I think we've got as good of a shot at repeating as any recent defending champion.
No way no how should Ohio State be the #4 team.....
With Oden, maybe. But since they won't have him until Late December/January, this is a ranking for how good they could be instead of how good they are now.
they'll be starting 2-3 freshmen every night.
So when does Roy Williams start in on Billy Donovan and his ability to out recruit him? (this'll be fun!)
Meh...
Marquette at 17, Wisconsin at 9, and Wis.-Milwaukee didn't even make the cut...
Recruiting is irrelevant. As cyber-sage BobLeeSwagger says: "Roy can take his'n and beat your'n, then take your'n and beat his'n."
MD, UNC class of '97
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.