Just like the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Kentucky Wildcats are the preseason No. 1 team in the Associated Press Preseason Men’s Basketball Poll that was released on Friday.

ap-pollJoining the Wildcats in the top five are the Arizona Wildcats, Wisconsin Badgers, Duke Blue Devils and Kansas Jayhawks.

The defending national champions, the UConn Huskies, are ranked No. 17 to start the season and are the highest ranked American Athletic Conference team. They are joined in the top 25 by the No. 22 SMU Mustangs.

The Memphis Tigers and Cincinnati Bearcats are the only teams from the American among the others receiving votes.

During the season, as we have in the past, we will be posting both polls together when they come out on Mondays.

AP Top 25
RK TEAM REC PTS
1 Kentucky (52) 29-11 1,604
2 Arizona (5) 33-5 1,518
3 Wisconsin (8) 30-8 1,483
4 Duke 26-9 1,415
5 Kansas 25-10 1,346
6 North Carolina 24-10 1,274
7 Florida 36-3 1,153
8 Louisville 31-6 1,114
9 Virginia 30-7 1,090
10 Texas 24-11 1,061
11 Wichita St 35-1 1,027
12 Villanova 29-5 885
13 Gonzaga 29-7 840
14 Iowa State 28-8 781
15 Virginia Commonwealth 26-9 574
16 San Diego St 31-5 560
17 Connecticut 32-8 552
18 Michigan St 29-9 521
19 Oklahoma 23-10 426
20 Ohio State 25-10 340
21 Nebraska 19-13 309
22 SMU 27-10 285
23 Syracuse 28-6 178
24 Michigan 28-9 167
25 Harvard 27-5 98
25 Utah 21-12 98
Dropped from rankings:
Cincinnati 15, Creighton 16, New Mexico 17, UCLA 20, Baylor 23, Saint Louis 25
Others receiving votes:
Stanford 71, Iowa 58, Colorado 57, UCLA 35, Minnesota 34, Kansas St 27, Arkansas 21, Pittsburgh 20, Memphis 15, NC State 14, Louisiana Tech 9, Cincinnati 8, LSU 8, George Washington 7, Notre Dame 6, Oklahoma St 6, Dayton 6, Georgetown 5, Florida St 5, Maryland 3, Illinois 3, UNLV 2, BYU 2, West Virginia 1, Baylor 1, Stephen F. Austin 1, UTEP 1