October 27, 2006
Texas A&M is ranked No. 13 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' college basketball poll, the school's first preseason ranking in a major poll since 1980.
A&M was ranked No. 11 in the old United Press International coaches' poll prior to the 1979-80 season, the highest preseason ranking in school history, and was No. 12 in 1980.
Defending national champion Florida is ranked No. 1, receiving all but one first-place vote. Other Big 12 schools is the rankings are No. 3 Kansas and No. 19 Texas. Oklahoma State received votes but did not break the top 25.
Several A&M non-conference opponents also were mentioned -- UCLA is ranked 5th, LSU is picked 7th, and Winthrop and Saint Louis received votes.
USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES POLL
October 27, 2006
Rank School (first place votes) Last Season's Record Points Previous Rank
1 Florida (30) 33-6 772 1
2 North Carolina 23-8 728 14
3 Kansas 25-8 714 22
4 Ohio State (1) 26-6 595 13
5 Pittsburgh 25-8 583 18
UCLA 32-7 583 2
7 LSU 27-9 556 3
8 Georgetown 23-10 538 16
9 Wisconsin 19-12 530 NR
10 Arizona 20-13 478 NR
11 Duke 32-4 477 7
12 Alabama 18-13 420 NR
13 Texas A&M 22-9 335 NR
14 Memphis 33-4 328 6
15 Boston College 28-8 284 11
16 Washington 26-7 240 12
17 Marquette 20-11 203 NR
18 Connecticut 30-4 200 4
19 Texas 30-7 172 9
20 Syracuse 23-12 138 NR
21 Georgia Tech 11-17 137 NR
22 Kentucky 22-13 119 NR
23 Creighton 20-10 113 NR
24 Tennessee 22-8 106 20
25 Nevada 27-6 101 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Gonzaga (29-4) 88; Wichita State (26-9) 78; Louisville (21-13) 77; Southern Illinois (22-11) 70; Illinois (26-7) 52; Xavier (21-11) 44; Villanova (28-5) 39; Air Force (24-7) 26; San Diego State (24-9) 24; Hofstra (26-7) 20; Oklahoma State (17-16) 19; Michigan (22-10) 17; Michigan State (22-12) 15; Maryland (19-13) 12; DePaul (12-15) 11; Florida State (20-10) 9; George Mason (27-8) 6; Indiana (19-12) 5; Houston (21-10) 3; Brigham Young (20-9) 2; George Washington (27-3) 2; Winthrop (23-8) 2; Bucknell (27-5) 1; New Mexico State (16-14) 1; Saint Louis (16-13) 1; Utah (14-15) 1.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2006-07 season: Mike Adras, Northern Arizona; Dana Altman, Creighton; Tevester Anderson, Jackson State; Ronnie Arrow, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; Eddie Biedenbach, North Carolina-Asheville; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Matt Brady, Marist; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Charles Coles, Miami (Ohio); Dick Davey, Santa Clara; Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Pat Flannery, Bucknell; Tim Floyd, Southern California; Greg Graham, Boise State; Tom Green, Fairleigh Dickinson; Johnny Jones, North Texas; Jim Larranga, George Mason; Bob McKillop, Davidson; Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph's; Ronald "Fang" Mitchell, Coppin State; Dan Monson, Minnesota; Dave Odom, South Carolina; Doc Sadler, Nebraska; Joe Scott, Princeton; Bob Thomason, Pacific; Jimmy Tillette, Samford; Perry Watson, Detroit Mercy; Gary Williams, Maryland; Doug Wojcik, Tulsa; Ted Woodward, Maine; Rich Zvosec, Missouri-Kansas City.