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The USA Today Coaches Poll was released moments ago and, not surprisingly, Gonzaga has been tabbed in the latter portion of the Top 25 at #22.
The hype-drown Hoosier of Indiana garnered the #1 spot with Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Michigan rounding out the top five. The top ranked school on the West Coast is Arizona at #11 followed by UCLA at #13. UNLV and San Diego State are at #19 and #20, respectively.
Personally, I consider this to be one of the most wide open seasons in college basketball in recent memory. Indiana is extremely skilled but they are by no means a juggernaut in the mold of a Kentucky or Noth Carolina in seasons past.
Saint Mary's is the only other WCC team receiving votes in the Coaches Poll. They check in at #31.
As we expected, there is only one ranked team on Gonzaga's schedule to start the season and is Baylor at #18. There will obviously be plenty of movement throughout the season but I don't expect many other teams on the Zags' schedule to wind up ranked.
The entire USA Today Top 25 can be seen below.
Rank | School (first-place votes) | 2011-12 record | Points | Last year's final ranking | |
1 | Indiana (21) | 27-9 | 761 | 13 | |
2 | Louisville (5) | 30-10 | 738 | 4 | |
3 | Kentucky (5) | 38-2 | 718 | 1 | |
4 | Ohio State | 31-8 | 617 | 3 | |
5 | Michigan | 24-10 | 605 | 22 | |
6 |
North Carolina State | 24-13 | 581 | 20 | |
7 | Kansas | 32-7 | 563 | 2 | |
8 | Duke | 27-7 | 516 | 14 | |
9 | Syracuse | 34-3 | 502 | 5 | |
10 | Florida | 26-11 | 422 | 9 | |
11 | Arizona | 23-12 | 411 | NR | |
12 | North Carolina | 32-6 | 401 | 6 | |
13 | UCLA | 19-14 | 396 | NR | |
14 | Michigan State | 29-8 | 391 | 7 | |
15 | Creighton | 29-6 | 325 | 21 | |
16 | Memphis | 26-9 | 307 | NR | |
17 | Missouri | 30-5 | 289 | 11 | |
18 | Baylor | 30-8 | 266 | 8 | |
19 |
UNLV | 26-9 | 203 | NR | |
20 | San Diego State | 26-8 | 196 | NR | |
21 | Wisconsin | 26-10 | 191 | 12 | |
22 | Gonzaga | 26-7 | 166 | NR | |
23 | Notre Dame | 22-12 | 122 | NR | |
24 (tie) | Florida State | 25-10 | 61 | 15 | |
24 (tie) | Texas | 20-14 | 61 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Saint Louis (26-8) 58; Virginia Commonwealth (29-7) 40; Cincinnati (26-11) 33; Murray State (31-2) 30; Kansas State (22-11) 13; Saint Mary's (27-6) 11; New Mexico (28-7) 10; Tennessee (19-15) 10; Minnesota (23-15) 9; Pittsburgh (22-17) 9; Marquette (27-8) 8; Stanford (26-11) 7; Butler (22-15) 6; Oklahoma State (15-18) 6; Colorado State (20-12) 4; Middle Tennessee (27-7) 3; Drexel (29-7) 2; Georgia (15-17) 2; Miami (Fla.) (20-13) 2; St. Joseph's (20-14) 2; Marshall (21-14) 1