Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginia and Virginia Tech also made the poll - the Cavaliers at No.19 and the Hokies at No.22.
The Wildcats, who reached the round of eight in last year's NCAA Tournament and return three starters, received 34 first-place votes and 1,550 points from the national media panel.
Kansas was just two points behind after receiving 24 No.1 votes. The Jayhawks have four starters back from the team that lost in the regional semifinals last season.
Then came the Big East - No. 3 Villanova followed by defending champion UCLA of the Pac-10, Georgetown and Connecticut.
Villanova, which had 1,369 points, and UCLA were the only other schools to receive first-place votes with two and four, respectively.
The Top 10 was completed by Massachusetts, Iowa, Mississippi State and Utah.
The next 10 spots went to Wake Forest, Louisville, Memphis, Missouri, Maryland, Arkansas, Michigan, Stanford, Virginia and North Carolina.
The last of the preseason ranked teams were Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, Indiana, Purdue and California.
Kentucky becomes the second straight Southeastern Conference team to be selected the preseason No.1. Arkansas, then the defending champion, had that distinction and reached the title game last April.
The Wildcats lost two starters from last season - Rodrick Rhodes and Andre Riddick - and have added consensus national prep player of the year Ron Mercer and Ohio State transfer Derek Anderson.
``We think we have a good basketball team, and if we do the right things defensively, maybe we can develop into a great team,'' Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said.
The Wildcats will find out a lot right away as they open the season with neutral-site games against Maryland and Massachusetts, then play at Indiana.
``I don't feel a lot of pressure when you have the basketball team we have,'' Pitino said. ``Pressure is when you don't have a bench, you don't have much quickness, you're short and slow.''
The previous 14 preseason No.1s have gone on to considerable success. None has finished out of the Top Ten in the final regular-season poll and each has made to at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament with eight getting to the Final Four, including national champions North Carolina in 1982, UNLV in 1990 and Duke in 1992.
The Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference led in the preseason poll with four representatives each - Iowa, Michigan, Indiana and Purdue of the Big Ten and Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina of the ACC. Four leagues had three teams each - the SEC, Big East, Pac-10 and Conference USA, which starts its inaugural season with Louisville, Memphis and Cincinnati as ranked teams. The preseason poll has representatives from nine conferences.
Virginia Tech, last season's NIT champion, is now part of the Atlantic 10 and is ranked for the first time since the 1985-86 season.
by CNB