First AP Top 25 basketball poll is out: Where are Duke and UNC ranked?

Duke and North Carolina are both in transition phases but their basketball programs are still considered among the nation’s top teams entering the new season.

The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll has Duke at No. 9 and UNC at No. 19.

The Tar Heels have a new coach in Hubert Davis, previously assistant coach who took over as head coach following Roy Williams retirement last April.

Duke has Mike Krzyzewski on the sidelines for his 42nd season with the Blue Devils. But Krzyzewski announced his retirement plan in June and Duke selected associate head coach Jon Scheyer to take over as head coach following this season.

The Blue Devils went 13-11 last season, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995. But they are the highest rated ACC team entering this season.

In addition to Duke and UNC, the other ACC teams in the top 25 are Florida State at No. 20 and Virginia at No. 25.

This is the 14th consecutive season Duke has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP preseason poll. The last time Duke as not ranked in the preseason AP poll was 1995, when the program was last coming off missing the NCAA tournament.

This season’s Blue Devils will be tested by two other preseason top 10 teams, and another one from elsewhere in the top 25, in the season’s first three weeks. Duke opens the season Nov. 9 against Kentucky, ranked No. 10, in the Champions Classic at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Blue Devils face preseason No. 1 Gonzaga on Nov. 26 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. They travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play No. 17 Ohio State on Nov. 30.

At UNC, Davis takes over a program that made the NCAA tournament last March but lost 85-62 to Wisconsin in the first round to finish with an 18-11 record.

This is the 16th consecutive season UNC has been ranked in the preseason poll. The Tar Heels were at No. 16 in last season’s initial AP poll.

AP Top 25 preseason poll

Place	Team	Points
1	Gonzaga (55)	1,562
2	UCLA (8)	1,459
3	Kansas	1,427
4	Villanova	1,332
5	Texas	1,315
6	Michigan	1,255
7	Purdue	1,213
8	Baylor	992
9	Duke	963
10	Kentucky	894
11	Illinois	861
12	Memphis	831
13	Oregon	775
14	Alabama	713
15	Houston	694
16	Arkansas	673
17	Ohio State	581
18	Tennessee	563
19	North Carolina	547
20	Florida State	381
21	Maryland	294
22	Auburn	267
23	St. Bonaventure	238
24	Connecticut	161
25	Virginia	125

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 87, Indiana 41, USC 30, Arizona 26, Virginia Tech 25, Oklahoma State 25, Xavier 22, Texas Tech 17, Richmond 13, Rutgers 11, Colorado State 11, LSU 7, Belmont 7, San Diego State 5, St. John’s 5, Mississippi State 5, Syracuse 5, Drake 4, Colorado 4, BYU 3, Notre Dame 3, Louisville 3.

Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first place votes.