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Preseason top 25: Gonzaga opens up at No. 19 in coaches poll

Saint Mary’s opens up at No. 22. Take that.

By Peter Woodburn
Saint Mary's v Gonzaga Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The Gonzaga Bulldogs will begin the season ranked No. 19 in the preseason USA Today men’s basketball coaches poll.

In the most important news of the day, Saint Mary’s will start the season ranked No. 22. Take that.

The top of the rankings have a whole host of teams we would expect to be up there. Duke gathered 20 first-place votes, with Michigan St., Arizona and Florida scrambling for the rest of them. The returning NCAA Champions, the North Carolina Tar Heels, enter the season at No. 9.

Overall, being ranked No. 19 is probably on the higher side of where we will see the Zags to start the year. Although Gonzaga returns a lot of talent, they lost just as much. But again, although the polls are absolutely meaningless, especially this early in the year, they mean absolutely everything when Gonzaga is ranked higher than Saint Mary’s.

For now, greatness runs through Spokane.

USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll

rank team last year's record points 1st place votes
rank team last year's record points 1st place votes
1 Duke 28-9 774 20
2 Michigan St 20-15 747 9
3 Kansas 31-5 723 0
4 Kentucky 32-6 678 0
5 Arizona 32-5 654 2
6 Villanova 32-4 623 0
7 Florida 27-9 549 1
8 Wichita St. 31-5 543 0
9 North Carolina 33-7 515 0
10 West Virginia 28-9 458 0
11 Southern California 26-10 396 0
12 Miami-Florida 21-12 383 0
13 Cincinnati 30-6 349 0
14 Notre Dame 26-10 305 0
15 Minnesota 24-10 303 0
16 Louisville 25-9 295 0
17 Xavier 24-14 284 0
18 UCLA 31-5 275 0
19 Gonzaga 37-2 242 0
20 Northwestern 24-12 208 0
21 Purdue 27-8 167 0
22 St. Mary's 29-5 152 0
23 Seton Hall 21-12 139 0
24 Baylor 27-8 107 0
25 Alabama 19-15 82 0
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 76; Virginia 57; Butler 43; Missouri 35; TCU 32; Rhode Island 31; Providence 21; Wisconsin 21; Maryland 20; Oakland 19; Oklahoma 19; Michigan 13; Texas 13; Virginia Tech 12; Oregon 12; Southern Methodist 6; Creighton 6; Georgia 3; Georgia Tech 3; Harvard 2; Arkansas 2; Florida State 1; South Carolina 1; Nevada 1.

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