http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7160401/north-carolina-tar-heels-no-1-ap-preseason-men-basketball-pollUNC No. 1 in AP preseason pollUpdated October 28, 2011
North Carolina broke a tie with its fiercest rival and moved into one with one of college basketball's most storied programs.
The Tar Heels, who return all five starters from the team that reached the regional finals last season, were the runaway No. 1 in The Associated Press' men's preseason Top 25 on Friday. It is the eighth time they have received that honor since the preseason poll started in 1961-62.
That breaks a tie with Duke, North Carolina's Tobacco Road rival, and moves them into a tie with UCLA, the program that dominated the sport unlike any other under then-coach John Wooden.
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North Carolina received all but three of the No. 1 votes cast by the 65-member national media poll, finishing well ahead of Kentucky, the team that eliminated the Tar Heels last season one step from the Final Four.
North Carolina also was ranked No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today preseason coaches' poll.
With the frontcourt of Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller all passing up the chance to enter the NBA draft and point guard Kendall Marshall having a chance to run the team for the whole season instead of just the last 20 games, the Tar Heels have the personnel to start the season comfortably atop the poll.
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North Carolina has been the preseason No. 1 in three of the past five seasons. In 2008-09, the Tar Heels were a unanimous preseason No. 1 with five starters back, and that season ended with a national championship.
The Tar Heels' other preseason No. 1s were in 2007-08 (Final Four); 1993-94 (second round); 1986-87 (regional final); 1983-84 (regional semifinals); 1981-82 (national championship); and 1977-78 (first round).
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Ohio State, which got one first-place vote, was third, and defending national champion Connecticut, which received the other two No. 1 votes, was fourth.
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Syracuse, Duke, Vanderbilt, Florida, Louisville and Pittsburgh rounded out the top 10.
Memphis was 11th followed by Baylor, Kansas, Xavier, Wisconsin, Arizona, UCLA, Michigan, Alabama and Texas A&M. The last five teams were Cincinnati, Marquette, Gonzaga, California and Missouri.
Fourteen of the teams in the preseason poll were ranked in last season's final poll. Ohio State was No. 1 entering the NCAA tournament and the Buckeyes lost to Kentucky in the regional semifinals.
Duke was No. 1 in the 2010-11 preseason poll and went on to finish third in the final poll before losing to Arizona in the regional semifinals. Connecticut wasn't ranked before last season but worked its way to No. 9 in the final poll.
Vanderbilt had the longest stretch of not being in the preseason Top 25. The Commodores previously were in the rankings in 1993-94. Xavier had the next-longest stretch; its last preseason appearance was in 2002-03.
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The Big East has six ranked teams, two more than the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 had three each.
Duke has the longest current streak of being ranked at 78 polls, a run that started with the preseason poll in 2007-08. Kansas is next with 46, a streak that began on Feb. 2, 2009.