AP Top 25 Is Out: Duke Starts At #7

And Kansas is #1

The first (AP) Top 25 is out and Duke is in at #7. Interestingly, KenPom lists Houston as #1 and Duke as #2.

UNC is at #9 in the AP. Wake Forest, Miami, Clemson and Louisville all got some support. Maryland, now in the Big Ten of course, got 1 vote. Cheer up, guys - there’s always the trip to Lincoln to look forward to.

What do all ten of these programs below have in common? They’re either established, solid programs or they have coaches who really know what they’re doing and can maintain success.

There are a couple of young/newish coaches on the list - Jon Scheyer of course, Hubert Davis at UNC - but Scheyer has done a solid job. Davis has been a bit up and down but basically, even if he’s not Dean Smith or Roy Williams, at least he’s not Matt Doherty. He’s still building so we’ll see. Clearly he’s not an awful coach. The floor is set; just not sure about the ceiling.

Odds are the national champions will come from one of these 10 teams although there are a number of schools outside the Top Ten we’d watch out for - Auburn, Purdue, Arkansas and Kentucky. No surprise that John Calipari has a lot of talent with the Razorbacks of course and we’re very curious to see how Kentucky does under Mark Pope. So far, he’s been brilliant - but he hasn’t coached a single game yet.

That’s the situation we’re most curious about nationally. There’s a reasonable chance that UK hit it out of the park with that hire.

• 1 Kansas (30)
• 2 Alabama
• 3 UConn (11)
• 4 Houston (4)
• 5 Iowa State
• 6 Gonzaga
• 7 Duke
• 8 Baylor
• 9 North Carolina
• 10 Arizona