USA Today College Basketball Coaches Poll 2014: Preseason Rankings Released

After falling just short of winning their second national championship in three years last season, the Kentucky Wildcats top USA Today's preseason college basketball Coaches Poll for the 2014-15 campaign.   

As seen in this rundown of the Top 25, the SEC favorites garnered 24 out of a possible 32 first-place votes:

Rank	Team	Points	First-Place Votes
1	Kentucky	785	24
2	Arizona	746	3
3	Duke	715	2
4	Wisconsin	706	3
5	Kansas	654	0
6	North Carolina	598	0
7	Florida	568	0
8	Virginia	519	0
9	Louisville	507	0
10	Texas	479	0
11	Wichita State	471	0
12	Villanova	439	0
13	Gonzaga	423	0
14	Iowa State	323	0
15	Connecticut	292	0
16	VCU	259	0
17	San Diego State	251	0
18	Michigan State	241	0
19	Oklahoma	237	0
20	Ohio State	223	0
21	Nebraska	156	0
22	SMU	149	0
23	Michigan	139	0
24	Syracuse	128	0
25	Iowa	56	0

Despite losing Julius Randle and James Young to the NBA, Kentucky is in the catbird seat due largely to the return of twin brothers Aaron and Andrew Harrison.

According to Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal, the Wildcats' occupation of the No. 1 spot isn't particularly unexpected:

Perennial contenders in Arizona, Duke, Wisconsin and Kansas round out the Top Five. The University of Connecticut, which won the national title last season, checks in at No. 15 in the wake of superstar guard Shabazz Napier making the jump to the NBA.

Wichita State, which went undefeated during the regular season in 2013-14, checks in at No. 11.

Although the poll certainly provides college basketball observers with a jumping-off point, the rankings shouldn't be taken as gospel. UConn was ranked just 19th in last year's preseason poll, while fellow Final Four team Wisconsin was No. 21.

Kentucky checks in at No. 1 for the second consecutive season, and there is no question that head coach John Calipari is hopeful that this campaign will end slightly better than the last.

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