Georgetown Ranked 22nd in Men's Hoops

North Carolina the first unanimous preseason No. 1

At No. 22, Georgetown's men's basketball is among seven teams from the Big East in The Associated Press' preseason Top 25.

The North Carolina Tar Heels were selected for the top spot, the first unanimous No. 1 selection since the pre-season poll started in 1981-82. North Carolina has the top six scorers -- including national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough -- back from a team that had a school-record 36 wins and reached the Final Four.

Connecticut, No. 3 Louisville and No. 5 Pittsburgh give the Big East three teams in the top five. It's the second time the 16-team Big East has had seven teams ranked in the preseason. No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 16 Marquette and No. 23 Villanova also are ranked.

"The Big East this season will be as tough a conference as any has ever been," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "There are so many teams capable of winning the league, making the NCAA tournament and winning a lot of games. It will be great for folks to watch, although it might not be as much fun to coach. One thing for sure is that when we get to March, we will all be tested and ready to compete at a high level."

The Tar Heels, No. 1 in the final poll last season, are the preseason No. 1 for the second straight year, joining UNLV in 1989-90 and 1990-91 as the only schools to do that. It also marks North Carolina's record sixth time atop the preseason rankings, breaking a tie with Duke.

UCLA is ranked No. 4, with Michigan State, Texas, Duke, Notre Dame and Gonzaga rounding out the Top 10.

Purdue was 11th followed by Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, Arizona State, Marquette, Miami, Southern California, Florida and Davidson.

The last five teams were Wake Forest, Georgetown, Villanova, Kansas and Wisconsin.

Kentucky is not ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 1990-91, and the longest current streak now belongs to Duke, which has been in every one since 1996-97.

North Carolina, Tennessee and Memphis, unanimous for three weeks, were the only teams ranked No. 1 last season.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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