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Sean Miller's Arizona Wildcats will begin the 2014-15 season ranked No. 2 in the country by his fellow coaches, unsurprisingly behind a two-deep Kentucky Wildcats team.
Arizona earned three first-place votes and 746 total points, while UK gathered 24 first-place votes and 785 points. Duke, Wisconsin and Kansas round out the top-5 schools.
As for top-25 schools on the Wildcats' schedule next year, there's not much to work with. San Diego State, ranked 17th, could meet UA for another showdown, this time in the Maui Invitational. No. 13 Gonzaga comes to McKale Center on Dec. 6 a week before No. 23 Michigan visits on Dec. 13. The Pac-12 doesn't have another ranked team, though Stanford is two spots outside the top-25 and Utah is ranked 30th. UCLA (33rd), Oregon (35th) and Colorado (37th) are also not far out of the picture.
So in a fitting sort of way since this Reddit user snapped a picture of the basketball team bowling, the Wildcats will be expected to bowl over the competition. But things could change, obviously, if those second-tier Pac-12 schools do some solid work in the nonconference schedule.
Preseason College Basketball Coaches Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | 1ST PLACE VOTES |
| 1 | Kentucky | 29-11 | 785 | 24 |
| 2 | Arizona | 33-5 | 746 | 3 |
| 3 | Duke | 26-9 | 715 | 2 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 30-8 | 706 | 3 |
| 5 | Kansas | 25-10 | 654 | 0 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 24-10 | 598 | 0 |
| 7 | Florida | 36-3 | 568 | 0 |
| 8 | Virginia | 30-7 | 519 | 0 |
| 9 | Louisville | 31-6 | 507 | 0 |
| 10 | Texas | 24-11 | 479 | 0 |
| 11 | Wichita State | 35-1 | 471 | 0 |
| 12 | Villanova | 29-5 | 439 | 0 |
| 13 | Gonzaga | 29-7 | 423 | 0 |
| 14 | Iowa St. | 28-8 | 323 | 0 |
| 15 | Connecticut | 32-8 | 292 | 0 |
| 16 | Virginia Commonwealth | 26-9 | 259 | 0 |
| 17 | San Diego State | 31-5 | 251 | 0 |
| 18 | Michigan State | 29-9 | 241 | 0 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 23-10 | 237 | 0 |
| 20 | Ohio State | 25-10 | 223 | 0 |
| 21 | Nebraska | 19-13 | 156 | 0 |
| 22 | Southern Methodist Univ. | 27-10 | 149 | 0 |
| 23 | Michigan | 28-9 | 139 | 0 |
| 24 | Syracuse | 28-6 | 128 | 0 |
| 25 | Iowa | 20-13 | 56 | 0 |
Others receiving votes: Harvard 47; Stanford 47; Kansas State 37; Pittsburgh 36; Utah 26; Memphis 25; Minnesota 18; UCLA 15; New Mexico 11; Oregon 9; Louisiana Tech 8; Colorado 8; Arkansas 8; Dayton 6; Providence 5; Notre Dame 5; Massachusetts 4; Georgetown 4; Illinois 4; Texas-El Paso 4; Florida State 3; Baylor 2; George Washington 1; Miami (Fla.) 1; Toledo 1; Saint Mary?s 1.