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The USA Today released their first coaches poll of the year today and our beloved Connecticut Huskies were ranked 19th. Kentucky, to nobody's surprise, was ranked first and after them Michigan State, Louisville, Duke and Arizona to round out the Top 5. Florida, who we play on December 2nd, is ranked eighth. Indiana, our semi-final opponent for November's 2k classic, is ranked 24th.
For those of you familiar with Bill Simmons, this is classic "NOBODY BELIEVES IN US" territory. I think our 20-win performance last year and the fact that we return all of our starters warrants a slightly higher ranking- probably the residual effects of not being present for postseason play. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is who cuts down the nets in April and we all know that today's rankings hold no water there. Remember, we were un-ranked before the 2011 season and look what happened.
Here's a breakdown by conference:
ACC- 5
B1G- 5
AAC- 3
Big 12, Pac 12, SEC- 2 each
Mountain West, WCC, A-10, Fake Big East and Missouri Valley- 1 each
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentucky (16) | 21-12 | 767 | NR |
| 2 | Michigan St. (3) | 27-9 | 749 | 13 |
| 3 | Louisville (10) | 35-5 | 741 | 1 |
| 4 | Duke (3) | 30-6 | 710 | 5 |
| 5 | Arizona | 27-8 | 637 | 14 |
| 6 | Kansas | 31-6 | 623 | 8 |
| 7 | Syracuse | 30-10 | 551 | 3 |
| 8 | Florida | 29-8 | 550 | 9 |
| 9 | Michigan | 31-8 | 548 | 2 |
| 10 | Ohio St. | 29-8 | 533 | 6 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 25-11 | 494 | NR |
| 12 | Oklahoma St. | 24-9 | 462 | NR |
| 13 | Memphis | 31-5 | 334 | 18 |
| 14 | Gonzaga | 32-3 | 270 | 12 |
| 15 | Va. Commonwealth | 27-9 | 258 | 23 |
| 16 | Wichita St. | 30-9 | 233 | 4 |
| 17 | Marquette | 26-9 | 230 | 11 |
| 18 | Oregon | 28-9 | 175 | 15 |
| 19 | Connecticut | 20-10 | 167 | NR |
| 20 | New Mexico | 29-6 | 153 | 19 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | 23-12 | 148 | 22 |
| 22 | Notre Dame | 25-10 | 128 | NR |
| 23 | UCLA | 25-10 | 121 | NR |
| 24 | Indiana | 29-7 | 118 | 7 |
| 25 | Virginia | 23-12 | 103 | NR |
| Schools Dropped Out |
| Others Receiving Votes |
| Baylor 102; Colorado 93; Creighton 87; Iowa 86; Tennessee 73; Georgetown 38; Harvard 28; Pittsburgh 23; California 16; Boise State 11; Saint Louis 8; La Salle 7; Temple 4; Missouri 4; Villanova 4; Kansas State 3; LSU 2; Iowa State 2; Arizona State 2; Illinois 2; Georgia 1; UNLV 1. |