Kentucky No. 1
From the NIT to preseason No. 1, this Kentucky team is already in the record books.
Seven months removed from missing the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky has returned atop college basketball as the preseason No. 1 team in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, which was released Thursday. It marks the first time in the 22-year history of the Coaches’ Poll that a team enters the season ranked No. 1 after finishing the previous season unranked.
UK collected 16 of the 32 first-place votes and 767 points overall to edge out No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Louisville, No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Arizona for the top spot.
John Calipari was asked at UK Media Day on Tuesday if his team, which features the top-ranked recruiting class and eight McDonald’s All-Americans among the 12 scholarship players, is worthy of being No. 1. His response: I don’t know.
