Nov 5, 2001

NEW YORK, N.Y. –

By JIM O’CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

Duke and Maryland were 1-2 Monday in The Associated Press’ preseason collegebasketball poll, just the second time two teams from the same conference haveheld the top spots.

The other time also involved two schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference,when Georgia Tech and North Carolina were 1-2 before the 1985-86 season.

Illinois was ranked third and Kentucky followed at No. 4, the Wildcats’ highest preaseason ranking since 1997. Southeastern Conference foe Florida followed UCLA at No. 6.

Duke, the defending national champion, was the runaway No. 1 choice by thenational media panel. The Blue Devils, who return three starters from the teamthat went 35-4 last season, received 61 first-place votes and 1,787 points.

Maryland, which lost to Duke in its first Final Four appearance, had sixfirst-place votes and 1,634 points to match the school’s highest ranking ever.

Duke and Maryland are scheduled to play twice this season – at Duke on Jan.17, and a month later at Maryland.

The preseason No. 1 ranking is the fifth for Duke and first since before the1998-99 season. The Blue Devils, who were No. 2 in last year’s preseason poll,have been ranked in the top 10 before each of the last 12 seasons, except for1995-96. Since the preseason poll began for the 1961-62 season, Duke has beenranked in the top 10 23 times.

“It’s always an honor and very nice to be ranked No. 1,” Duke coach MikeKrzyzewski said, playing down the preseason ranking for a team that lostconsensus national player of the year Shane Battier and fifth-year senior NateJames. “Experience means so much. Fortunately, this group has that.”

Record Pts Pv 1. Duke (61) 35-4 1,787 1 2. Maryland (6) 25-11 1,634 11 3. Illinois (2) 26-9 1,625 4 4. KENTUCKY (3) 24-10 1,614 9 5. UCLA 23-9 1,443 15 6. Florida 24-7 1,440 8 7. Kansas 27-6 1,336 12 8. Missouri 20-13 1,216 – 9. Iowa 23-12 1,157 2410. Saint Joseph’s 26-7 1,122 2211. Virginia 20-9 1,018 1612. Memphis 21-15 848 -13. Stanford 31-3 827 214. Georgetown 25-8 726 2115. Michigan St. 28-5 724 316. Temple 24-13 643 -17. Boston College 27-5 632 718. Oklahoma St. 20-10 561 -19. North Carolina 26-7 418 620. Southern Cal 23-10 411 -21. Syracuse 25-9 301 1722. Indiana 21-13 277 2023. Texas 25-9 273 1824. Alabama 25-11 230 -25. Oklahoma 26-7 204 13

Illinois, which received two first-place votes, was third and was followedby Kentucky, which was No. 1 on three ballots, The rest of the Top 10 was UCLA,Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Saint Joseph’s.

Virginia, another member of the ACC, led the Second Ten and was followed byMemphis, Stanford, Georgetown, Michigan State, Temple, Boston College, OklahomaState, North Carolina and Southern California.

The last five teams in the preseason poll were Syracuse, Indiana, Texas,Alabama and Oklahoma.

The preseason Top 25 came from eight conferences, with the Big 12 leadingthe way with five teams – Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma.The ACC, which also had North Carolina, and the Big Ten – Illinois, Iowa,Michigan State and Indiana – were next with four teams each.

This is third straight preseason poll and fourth in the last five that hastwo teams from the same conference in the top five.

The ACC did it last season with Duke and No. 5 Maryland, and so did thePac-10 with No. 1 Arizona and No. 4 Stanford.

Arizona, which lost to Duke in last season’s national championship game,returns only guard Jason Gardner from its starting lineup. The Wildcats werenot in the preseason Top 25, snapping the longest current consecutive streak ofpoll appearances.

Arizona had been in every Top 25 since the preseason poll of the 1995-96season, a run of 108 consecutive polls. The longest run now belongs to Duke andStanford, which have been in each poll since the preseason poll of the 1996-97,a run of 91 consecutive polls.

Eight teams in last year’s preseason poll weren’t in the final Top 25,including Tennessee and Seton Hall, which were Nos. 9 and 10, respectively, inthe preseason voting.

Duke was No. 1 in the final poll last season for the third straight yearmatching UCLA’s record set from 1971-73.