Friday, October 31, 2008
The Baylor men’s basketball team received the 29th-most votes in the USA Today/ESPN preseason men’s college basketball poll of coaches, released Thursday.
Texas, which finished tied atop the conference at 13-3 and lost the Big 12 tournament title game in overtime, was the conference’s highest-ranked representative, at eighth.
Other Big 12 schools making the top 25 were Oklahoma at No. 14 and 2008 Big 12 champion Kansas at 23rd.
In addition to Baylor in the also-rans, Texas A&M received 19 votes and Oklahoma State received 4.
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USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Poll
The top 25 teams in the preseason USA Today-ESPN men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2007-08 records, points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last year’s final ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. North Carolina (31) 36-3 775 3
2. Connecticut 24-9 707 —
3. Louisville 27-9 694 6
4. UCLA 35-4 650 4
5. Duke 28-6 578 16
6. Pittsburgh 27-10 576 18
7. Michigan State 27-9 572 13
8. Texas 31-7 538 5
9. Notre Dame 25-8 525 19
10. Purdue 25-9 465 20
11. Gonzaga 25-8 437 —
12. Memphis 38-2 425 2
13. Tennessee 31-5 408 7
14. Oklahoma 23-12 387 —
15. Arizona State 21-13 304 —
16. Miami 23-11 233 —
17. Marquette 25-10 219 21
18. Georgetown 28-6 175 12
19. Florida 24-12 161 —
20. Davidson 29-7 158 9
21. Southern Cal 21-12 153 —
21. Wisconsin 31-5 153 10
23. Kansas 37-3 130 1
24. Wake Forest 17-13 129 —
25. Villanova 22-13 122 24
Others receiving votes: UNLV 60, Saint Mary’s 59, Ohio State 54, Baylor 47, Xavier 27, Syracuse 23, LSU 19, Texas A&M 19, Arizona 18, Virginia Tech 15, BYU 13, West Virginia 10, Siena 9, Washington 8, Kentucky 7, Vanderbilt 7, Oklahoma State 4, Clemson 2, Washington State 1.






