ESPN - Carolina is Pre-Season #1

[ABQCOWBOY]

Tar Heels close-to-unanimous No. 1

Updated: October 20, 2011, 1:43 PM ET


North Carolina was one first-place vote away from being a unanimous preseason No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

The Tar Heels, the heavy favorite to win the 2012 national championship, received 30 of the coaches' 31 first-place votes and outranked No. 2 Kentucky by 53 points (774 to 721) in the poll, which was released Thursday.

North Carolina returns a core of top players, including sophomore forward Harrison Barnes. He and three of his teammates -- John Henson, Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller -- are among the 50 players to appear on the Wooden Award's preseason list.

To read the entire article, click on link below..

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7126832/north-carolina-tar-heels-no-1-preseason-coaches-poll

[ABQCOWBOY]

Here are the actual Preseason rankings

1. North Carolina (30) 29-8
2. Kentucky (1) 29-9
3. Ohio State 34-3
4. Connecticut 2-9
5. Syracuse 27-8
6. Duke 32-5
7. Vanderbilt 23-11
8. Louisville 25-10
9. Memphis 25-10
10. Florida 29-8
11. Pittsburgh 28-6
12. Baylor 18-13
13. Kansas 35-3
14. Wisconsin 25-9
15. Xavier 24-8
16. Arizona 30-8
17. Alabama 24-11
18. Michigan 21-14
19. Texas A&M 24-9
20. UCLA 23-11
21. Marquette 22-15
22. Cincinnati 26-9
23. Gonzaga 25-10
24. California 18-15
25. Missouri 23-11

With regards to North Carolina, the Heels did recent lose shooting guard Leslie McDonald for the season with an ACL tear.

[casmith07]

That's what I like to see!