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Michigan is No. 6 in Associated Press preseason basketball Top 25; Michigan State unranked

Detroit News staff and wires

For the first time in eight years, Michigan will enter the men’s college basketball season as a top-10 team.

The Wolverines checked in at No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll on Monday, marking their first top-10 nod since they started at No. 7 in 2013-14.

It's also their highest preseason ranking since they began the 2012-13 season at No. 5.

Hunter Dickinson and Michigan are ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 in men's basketball.

Michigan was one of five Big Ten teams to make the initial poll and was the highest ranked of the bunch just ahead of Purdue (No. 7), who the Wolverines edged out as the preseason pick to repeat as conference champs. The others were Illinois (No. 11), Ohio State (No. 17) and Maryland (No. 21).

Michigan State just missed the cut, receiving the most votes of any team to not make the top 25, and will enter the season unranked for the first time since 2011-12.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga carried a No. 1 ranking all last season before falling a win short of becoming college basketball’s first unbeaten national champion in 45 years.

Mark Few’s Bulldogs start this season in the same position, hoping to complete that final step this time around.

The Zags were the runaway top choice in the poll. They earned 55 of 63 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 UCLA, which earned the other eight. Kansas, Villanova and Texas rounded out the top five, while reigning national champion Baylor checked in at No. 8.

The Zags have accomplished just about every milestone possible in 23 years under Few other than cutting down the nets on the final Monday night of the season. They came close to completing the first unbeaten run since 1976 last year with a wire-to-wire No. 1 team, only to fall to the Bears in a one-sided final in Indianapolis.

Now they’ll try again.

“It is quite an honor to be selected preseason No. 1 for the second consecutive year,” Few said in a statement to the AP. “Our returning players realize the challenge of playing up to that level all year and look forward to it.”

Gonzaga lost AP All-Americans Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs to the NBA, but second-team selection Drew Timme (19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds) and starting guard Andrew Nembhard return. The Zags also bring in a top recruiting class featuring the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in 7-footer Chet Holmgren and a five-star guard in Hunter Sallis.

Going back to the 2019-20 season, the Zags have now been ranked in the top three for 32 straight polls, with 22 of those at No. 1.

The top tier

Second-year coach Mick Cronin has UCLA on a fast climb.

Leading scorer Johnny Juzang (16.0 ppg) headlines a Bruins roster that returns nearly intact after last year’s run from the First Four to the Final Four, where they lost to Gonzaga on a halfcourt shot in an overtime classic.

They are starting with their first top-10 preseason ranking since 2009 and their first top-10 ranking in any AP poll since spending 13 weeks there during the 2016-17 season.

“If we taught anybody anything last year,,” Cronin said this month, “your seed or your ranking does not matter come tournament time.”

Kansas has the program’s 10th straight preseason top-10 ranking, followed by the Wildcats and Longhorns, who open their first season under Chris Beard with the program’s highest preseason ranking since 2010.

The champs

Baylor has a second straight top-10 preseason ranking despite losing four starters from last year’s title winner, including AP All-Americans Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell. The Bears will try to join Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) as the only schools to win consecutive titles since UCLA’s run of seven straight from 1967-73.

“As we’ve talked with our team,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said, “we have a unique opportunity.”

Conference watch

The Big Ten and Southeastern conferences have a national-best five ranked teams each.

The SEC has No. 14 Alabama, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 22 Auburn joining Kentucky.

The ACC is next up with four, with No. 20 Florida State and No. 25 Virginia joining Duke and UNC. The Big 12 has its Kansas-Texas-Baylor trio, while the Pac-12 (UCLA and No. 13 Oregon), Big East (Villanova and No. 24 Connecticut) and American Athletic Conference (No. 12 Memphis and No. 15 Houston) are the others with multiple Top 25 teams.

Associated Press Top 25 

1. Gonzaga (55 first-place votes), 0-0, 1562 points (last year's final regular-season poll: 1)

2. UCLA (8), 0-0, 1459 (NR)

3. Kansas, 0-0, 1427 (12)

4. Villanova, 0-0, 1332 (18)

5. Texas, 0-0, 1315 (9)

6. Michigan, 0-0, 1255 (4)

7. Purdue, 0-0, 1213 (20)

8. Baylor, 0-0, 992 (3)

9. Duke, 0-0, 963 (NR)

10. Kentucky, 0-0, 894 (NR)

11. Illinois, 0-0, 861 (2)

12. Memphis, 0-0, 831 (NR)

13. Oregon, 0-0, 775 (NR)

14. Alabama, 0-0, 713 (5)

15. Houston, 0-0, 694 (6)

16. Arkansas, 0-0, 673 (10)

17. Ohio State, 0-0, 581 (7)

18. Tennessee, 0-0, 563 (NR)

19. North Carolina, 0-0, 547 (NR)

20. Florida State, 0-0, 381 (14)

21. Maryland, 0-0, 294 (NR)

22. Auburn, 0-0, 267 (NR)

23. St. Bonaventure, 0-0, 238 (NR)

24. UConn, 0-0, 161 (NR)

25. Virginia, 0-0, 125 (15)

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